!!!HELP!!! HSBC Charges

[J&K]

Hello to all,

 

As I'm new to this I was hoping someone could help me???

 

My partner and I opened a joint account with HSBC around Dec/Jan time and initially were told we couldn't put an overdraft onto the account until they'd seen regular debits and credits on the account.

We accepted this quite happily and thought nothing of it, until one day I was sat working out our income and outgoings for the following weeks and realised that there would be an instance where we were likely to be overdrawn. Rent coming out before wages go in, that sort of thing.

 

Now by this point we'd had the account fully active for a good couple of months and we're advised in the branch that we should have no problem being accepted for the overdraft we wanted. May I add, we only wanted to ensure there was a couple of hundred, not thousands, available.

 

I applied a few days later through the online service, only to have it show £25 admin charges on our account a short while later. When i then looked into this I found it was as the overdraft had been denied and they were charging us £25 for the priveledge, even though, they hadn't actually informed us the application had been refused! This amount was then taken directly out of the account.

 

In the meantime, as predicted, we went slighly overdrawn (when i say slightly, I'm talking about £7) which has since resulted in us being charged a further £25.

 

I'm feeling a little conned by this, in a nutshell, we told them we would be going overdrawn, applied for the overdraft, they refused it, we went overdrawn despite trying our utmost not to and they've charged us twice anyway!!

 

All I'm hoping to find out, is if they can do this? And if not, how do i go about getting our money back???

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[jowalshy]

Hi J & K. Unfortunately HSBC do charge you an admin fee for an overdraft request whether they give you the overdraft or not. also this fee is not reclaimable. It should have stated somewhere that this fee would be charged when you applied online. I know that they do tell you this when you apply over the phone.

 

As for the other charge, this is what we refer to as a penalty charge and is reclaimable.

 

have you phoned HSBC to talk to them about this? As there is only one penalty charge you might be best to phone them and explain the situation to them. You never know they might make a goodwill gesture and refund it. If they don't, you could go down the route of a claim.

[freakyleaky]

Hi J&K and welcome to the forum.

As Jo has said this is a penalty charge and is what makes up the majority of the money people have been and still are claiming back from the Banks.

A phone call should sort it out as it is only one charge. Just be aware that the person you speak to may not be authourised to refund the charge and if they say they can't refund it ask to speak to a supervisor or manager.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

While I am here, Jo, I thought they had a new policy of not charging more than the amount you had overdrawn by? EG if you were £7 overdrawn for 1 day they would only charge you £7. Is that right or have I been hallucinating.

 

 

. .. . . .. .. .. .. ..

[jowalshy]

Yep you are right Freaky. Below is the bumph from their website:-

 

Our Fair Fees Policy

 

Our Fair Fees Policy - we will not charge any fees for agreeing either formal or informal overdraft requests, unless they occur frequently.

 

• You will not have to pay for your first agreed overdraft request (formal or informal) in any six-month period. Each further agreed request in a six-month period may incur an arrangement fee
  
• You will not have to pay fees for being overdrawn by £10 or less
   
  
• You will not have to pay more in fees than you are overdrawn by in a charging month, so a £15 overdraft will not cost you £50
  
• You will not have to pay a fee for an informal overdraft request if your account is credited with covering funds by the end of the same day
  

I would definately give them a call and ask why you were charged more in fees than what you were overdrawn by. Also why you were charged at all when the amount you went overdrawn by was only £7, which (if my maths is correct) is less than £10 . And, if this was the first offence, they shouldn't have charged you.

[freakyleaky]

I thought that was the case. Thanks Jo.

 

Also J&K I would ask why you were charged an admin fee at all as this was your first o/d request.

"You will not have to pay for your first agreed overdraft request (formal or informal) in any six-month period."

 

They really are the pits arn't they.

[J&K]

Hello to all,

 

As I'm new to this I was hoping someone could help me???

 

My partner and I opened a joint account with HSBC around Dec/Jan time and initially were told we couldn't put an overdraft onto the account until they'd seen regular debits and credits on the account.

We accepted this quite happily and thought nothing of it, until one day I was sat working out our income and outgoings for the following weeks and realised that there would be an instance where we were likely to be overdrawn. Rent coming out before wages go in, that sort of thing.

 

Now by this point we'd had the account fully active for a good couple of months and we're advised in the branch that we should have no problem being accepted for the overdraft we wanted. May I add, we only wanted to ensure there was a couple of hundred, not thousands, available.

 

I applied a few days later through the online service, only to have it show £25 admin charges on our account a short while later. When i then looked into this I found it was as the overdraft had been denied and they were charging us £25 for the priveledge, even though, they hadn't actually informed us the application had been refused! This amount was then taken directly out of the account.

 

In the meantime, as predicted, we went slighly overdrawn (when i say slightly, I'm talking about £7) which has since resulted in us being charged a further £25.

 

I'm feeling a little conned by this, in a nutshell, we told them we would be going overdrawn, applied for the overdraft, they refused it, we went overdrawn despite trying our utmost not to and they've charged us twice anyway!!

 

All I'm hoping to find out, is if they can do this? And if not, how do i go about getting our money back???

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Castlebest]

Hiya J&K I dont think any of us can add any more to what we said the other two times you have posted this

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/hsbc-bank/145406-help-hsbc-charges.html

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/welcome-consumer-forums/145404-help-hsbc-charges.html

 

pete

[J&K]

Sorry, but i'm really really new to this and VERY VERY confused. I'm hoping someone can advise me what the bests steps are to take. Until now i've just been advised to ensure the post was on the hsbc bank section.

[J&K]

Ah ha, see now that does make sense! HURRAH! Thank you all sooo much, i'll call them in a little while. Gotta dissappear now or my other half'll kill me for burning the tea. Wouldn't be worth all this if i'm dead now, would it???

[Castlebest]

Not a problem J&K have a look at Jo and Freaky's advice on the first of the two threads....

 

IF HSBC wont refund the charge over the phone, and it looks like they haven't adhered to their own terms and conditions so they should, you will need to start a claim for repayment of these penalties.

 

pete

[J&K]

I've read numerous diferent things to date and wondered if anyone could clarify this for me?

 

I had an account from approx Aug 2002 until about Jan 2008 with Halifax and duringthis time they charged me for abvsolutely flaming everything.

 

Am i right in thinking that i can send the £10 fee and an S.A.R to them and then attempt to dispute the charges, eventhough the account is now closed???

[Castlebest]

I'll get a mod to merge the two threads and clean them up for you

 

pete

[Michael Browne]

Am i right in thinking that i can send the £10 fee and an S.A.R to them and then attempt to dispute the charges, eventhough the account is now closed???

Correct, makes no difference whether the a/c is closed

[ukaviator]

Threads Merged.

[J&K]

OK so I've just rung HSBC and spoken to a guy that not only couldn't speak hardly a word of english but what he could say was with an attitude that was incredibly rude and disrespectful. He did, eventually, after about 20 mins of being on hold, explain that both £25 charges have been due to going overdrawn. Surely there must be some way to dispute this? I'm not a happy bunny at all and at this moment in time I'd quite happily squash the manager of HSBC like a bug! Any ideas where I go from now?

[GreatWonder]

All I would suggest is calling back until you are put through to someone who you can hold a better conversation with. I find if you select the 'To discuss your borrowing needs' option on their automated service, you generally get connected to someone in the UK.

 

And they best correct their charge, as it is an obvious breach of their own T&C's.

 

Finally, not wanting to jump to HSBC's defense, I have generally, over the years found them to be one of the fairer banks when it comes to charges. I KNOW I may be an exception here! I've never had a problem getting the majority of them back and sometimes they've not charged me at all.

[johnnymitch]

I've never had a problem getting the majority of them back and sometimes they've not charged me at all.

 

Now, that's a Great Wonder!!!! LOL! -sorry couldn't resist that GW...

[freakyleaky]

 

Finally, not wanting to jump to HSBC's defense, I have generally, over the years found them to be one of the fairer banks when it comes to charges. I KNOW I may be an exception here! I've never had a problem getting the majority of them back and sometimes they've not charged me at all.

I have been meaning to start a list of satisfied customers. I will add your name to it. This is the full list so far:

 

1. GreatWonder.