Barclays > HSBC Switch, overdraft problems

investme · 19 April 2018 at 9:50AM

Hi folks,

I switched my account from barclays to HSBC as my interest free £1000 OD was expiring, plus HSBC had a £200 switch incentive.

From what i could tell the switch went okay. The day of the switch my balance with barclays was -£700~ or so. I was on holiday at the time, and as the HSBC account is new i had no access to online banking. When i came back a few days later and checked the balance, it was -£900 or so (after some DDs) as expected and barclays had written to me to confirm my account closure.

Fast forward to yesterday (still no online banking codes with HSBC) and i thought i'd check my balance in an ATM to discover it was £75 (so nearly £1000 up from what i anticipated). Telephone banking refused to help me and i went in branch, who couldn't work it out either and printed me a statement to show me opening the account with a balance of £0 and a few odd transactions since.

She said the only thing she could think of was that the OD was paid off initially but for 'some reason' it bounced back. I can't fathom why this wouldn't show on the statement she printed. My online banking for barclays is now showing an account in 'arrears'.

I have tried barclays this morning on live chat as i am at work and all they had to say is that the account has no OD but has a balance of £-700. I am concerned at being in arrears with barclays, i am in the middle of buying a house and any sort of flag on my credit report is not what i need (yes i know closing an account will impact my score slightly).

Is this normal for the switch service? From the info i had read, the whole thing is supposed to flow through seamlessly. I am going to speak to Barclays as soon as i have the time to make a phone call today but would appreciate any advice.

eskbanker · 19 April 2018 at 10:26AM

Did HSBC offer you enough of an overdraft to pay off the Barclays one?

investme · 19 April 2018 at 10:39AM

eskbanker wrote: »

Did HSBC offer you enough of an overdraft to pay off the Barclays one?

Yes they did. 3x more infact, although i "only" took £1000

Edit: Just on the phone with barclays. Whole thing is a joke. apparently they needed to give HSBC the 'internal sort code and account number' to be able to clear the OD, which they didn't. Neither of the banks informed me of the issue. Apparently i am only just within the first cycle (whatever that means) of being in arrears, so i am clearing it now by debit card on the phone, however if that hadn't been done i would have been on a repayment plan reported to credit referencing agencies.

Little warning to anyone that switches with an OD, keep an eye on it and make sure it definitely has cleared the balance a few weeks on even if it appeared to go through initially and you've received a letter confirming account closure.

EachPenny · 19 April 2018 at 11:58AM

investme wrote: »

Little warning to anyone that switches with an OD, keep an eye on it and make sure it definitely has cleared the balance a few weeks on even if it appeared to go through initially and you've received a letter confirming account closure.

Another suggestion for people.... never choose a switch date for when you will be on holiday. If it goes wrong you may not know until you need money from your account, and sorting it out while you are out of the country might be expensive and/or complicated. And could spoil a very nice holiday

investme · 19 April 2018 at 2:26PM

EachPenny wrote: »

Another suggestion for people.... never choose a switch date for when you will be on holiday. If it goes wrong you may not know until you need money from your account, and sorting it out while you are out of the country might be expensive and/or complicated. And could spoil a very nice holiday

The thing is it was fine after the switch, and for a week after and i was keeping an eye on it. The transfer of funds 'bounced' back after 2 weeks or so :mad:

meer53 · 19 April 2018 at 2:45PM

A debit balance doesn't switch from the old to the new account. It stays on the old account, you have to arrange to clear it yourself.

Westie983 · 19 April 2018 at 3:20PM

It would have been easier to use the overdraft given at HSBC to pay into Barclays and then switched, as you now owe the money to HSBC.

Please explain if you initiated the switch while you were still in an overdraft? I have had experiences with switches being denied due to the overdraft and has to be paid off before the switch can be completed.

What happened in your case?

Westie983

Barclays > HSBC Switch, overdraft problems

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