HSBC charged me Four Hundred and Fifteen Pounds between the 5th of August and the 5th of September 2007. Below is a breakdown of the charges;
Notified charges are what the banks call the charges that they levy for unauthorised overdrafts. Prior to the following charges I was £156 pounds overdrawn.
05/08/2007 £150 "Notified Charges"
08/08/2007 £25 Reversal of Standing Order
15/08/2007 £25 Reversal of Standing Order
30/08/2007 £10 Reversal of Standing Order
30/08/2007 £50 Reversal of Standing Order
05/09/2007 £150 "Notified Charges"
Now it is important to note that I was paid on the 17th of August so I had not been pushing an unauthorised overdraft to its limits, however because of charges I was almost £400 overdrawn when I reached payday. £400 is a large amount to lose out of a single paycheck hence the later reversals, strangely whilst the bank is willing to allow me to go £400 overdrawn to pay their charges they would not let me go £40 overdrawn to pay my standing orders into another HSBC account.
I was then charged for the reversal of those standing orders before being hit with another £150 of "Notified Charges" on the 5th of September.
So I went into my local HSBC branch and was told that I would have to put it into writing. I was told that in the meantime I should consider taking a loan to consolidate my debts, given that I was still due to pay the 5th September Charges I had little choice but to consent to this, it costs money to get to work unfortunately.
The bank then told me they would not lend me enough to pay my debts and pay the September charge off, as I had no money to pay for transport to work I had to agree to this and then borrow money from my family.
For those wondering if I have some huge debts that I am not disclosing, I borrowed £1370 in order to put all my accounts back into credit and to pay off a loan I had with HSBC, I am not a serial borrower and I wasn't in debt until very recently.
I wrote HSBC their letter which can be read below;
31st August 2007
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you today in relation to account number ******** with sort code **-**-**. I am aware that HSBC are currently involved in the OFT test case, and I am also aware that were I to bring this matter to a court HSBC would immediately apply for a stay of action. However my circumstances and the charges being levied are sufficient, I believe, to successfully contest such an application. These charges are extortionate and as such are, I believe, in breach of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts regulations.
I strongly suggest that HSBC reimburse me for the money removed from my account without my prior authorisation. HSBC now has 14 working days to comply with this request, if not then I shall be forced to take further action. If I have not received a reply by the 20th of September, confirming that my funds have been replaced, then I will be forced to bring this matter before a County Court. As HSBC is no doubt aware, many County Courts are still not issuing stays on cases related to bank charges.
I would also like to note that the number of charges levied upon my account has increased dramatically since the FSA agreed to issue a waiver to the normal time-lines of dealing with these issues. Due to this I will also be contacting both the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority about this matter.
As HSBC should be well aware, the waiver does include certain exceptions in order to protect consumers rights. In cases of Financial hardship the waiver does not apply. HSBC may argue that we are not currently a Genuine case of Financial Hardship, however I believe that a court would agree that HSBC's charges are pushing us to that point and must be stopped.
For your information the charges I am contesting are laid out below;
Due to be applied
5th September 2007 - £150
Applied
30th August 2007 £50
30th August 2007 £10
15th August 2007 £25
8th August 2007 £30
5th August 2007 £150
As you can see from these charges, this is not a small amount of money. In total, within the period of a month HSBC wishes to penalise me to the amount of Four Hundred and Fifteen Pounds, as HSBC can see from my account this amounts to more than half of my monthly salary. This is completely and utterly unacceptable. I am unwilling to allow this extortion to continue, and will pursue every possible avenue to reclaim my money. In addition I will now be moving bank.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you in the next 14 days.
Yours sincerel
Ben Tasker
Its just a case of waiting for a reply and planning the next step in my strategy. I have sent an email to the Office of Fair Trading mentioning my issues. I am aware that the OFT cannot investigate individual claims but if it is of use in their test case then the email is worthwhile.
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