I agree with you about the banks. The problem is we DID have the paperwork to prove it, but the FO are now stating that they do not have it i.e. they have lost it (and my wife foolishly did not make any copies).

Hi all, hopefully someone can give me some advice. My wife had an account with HSBC which she closed in December 2007. Unbeknownst to us, they did not cancel a SO to her loan account, which then duly debited an account with no funds in it (as it should have been closed). They duly applied charges to this account without issuing any correspondence or telephoning her. The first inkling we had of this was when we applied for a mortgage, this debt was shown to be outstanding. Upon investigation we discovered what had happened and made a complaint to no avail. My wife then made a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, who started to investigate (and advised us to pay the loan amount which we duly did, only to discover later that it had been already been paid that month from her new account), HSBC agreeing to freeze the account whilst this was happening (approx £650). This has dragged on ever since, with people leaving the Ombudsman and new people taking over the case. A few days ago we received a letter from Buchanan Clark and Wells Debt Agency (BCW Group Ltd), stating that we owed £2500. Again upon investigation, we discovered that the Ombudsman ruled in favour of the bank, stating that there was not enough evidence for the claim (they had basically lost all the paperwork). Again, we have not received any paperwork from HSBC or the Ombudsman to confirm this, nor can we clarify when this took place. I struggle to work out how they have come to this new figure, or how the Ombudsman can justify there is not enough evidence. My question is mainly this; BCW state that they have been instructed by HSBC to collect this amount. Is this true, or have they bought the debt and trying to add more funds to it? If this is so, what can I do about it? Any advice would be gratefully received. Dave

Hi all, hopefully someone can give me some advice. My wife had an account with HSBC which she closed in December 2007. Unbeknownst to us, they did not cancel a SO to her loan account, which then duly debited an account with no funds in it (as it should have been closed). They duly applied charges to this account without issuing any correspondence or telephoning her. The first inkling we had of this was when we applied for a mortgage, this debt was shown to be outstanding. Upon investigation we discovered what had happened and made a complaint to no avail. My wife then made a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, who started to investigate (and advised us to pay the loan amount which we duly did, only to discover later that it had been already been paid that month from her new account), HSBC agreeing to freeze the account whilst this was happening (approx £650). This has dragged on ever since, with people leaving the Ombudsman and new people taking over the case. A few days ago we received a letter from Buchanan Clark and Wells Debt Agency (BCW Group Ltd), stating that we owed £2500. Again upon investigation, we discovered that the Ombudsman ruled in favour of the bank, stating that there was not enough evidence for the claim (they had basically lost all the paperwork). Again, we have not received any paperwork from HSBC or the Ombudsman to confirm this, nor can we clarify when this took place. I struggle to work out how they have come to this new figure, or how the Ombudsman can justify there is not enough evidence. My question is mainly this; BCW state that they have been instructed by HSBC to collect this amount. Is this true, or have they bought the debt and trying to add more funds to it? If this is so, what can I do about it? Any advice would be gratefully received. Dave