Bank Charges

Former Member

Quick question -

HSBC (cunts) have slapped on £150 worth of charges onto my joint account because we went overdrawn when 7 direct debits came out of my account and they've charged us £25 a pop.

Thing is, they've taken the money out of my account without even informing me they're doing so. I've not had a letter or call or anything from them. Is this legal?

Obviously i'm going to reclaim the charges, but i wondered if there were a quicker way to get it dealt with because they hadn't informed us that they were going to yoink £150 out of our bank account.

Former Member

Well... in my experience with HSBC and their kind £25 charges they do send out a letter at some point detailing the fee but it may or may not come before they charge you - however as they pointed out to me, they did send out a leaflet around Christmas time (who actually reads these?) which explains their new charging system when it comes to 'unofficial overdraft requests' so in their eyes they have already justified the costs... I think this gets them out of the statement bit.

You are however totally in your rights to claim back the costs - I found that emailing them got my fees dealt with quicker than snail mail so could be worth giving it a go - the email address is;

customerrelations@hsbc.com

Good luck!!

Former Member

Thanks Splodgey

What did you say in your e-mail? A similar format to the letter you'd send if you were reclaiming charges?

Former Member

I attached the letters recommended by MoneySavingExpert.Com with a covering note in the email... please find attached blah blah blah etc...

I also sent a copy snail mail just in case

Former Member

Ah, fair enough.

As it happens, my boyfriend went to the bank today and managed to get £100 refunded instantly, so i'm just going to put a claim in for the remaining £50 and point out that by giving us the first lot of money they've admitted they were in the wrong

Former Member

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Former Member

Oh no, i didn't explain that very well - they took the money out of the joint account. Basically, on the 8th of may the DDs came out, and the money (which we'd paid in on the 7th) didn't come through till the 9th. Bastards. We didn't hear anything about it and assumed we'd got away with it, continued paying money in etc then when i checked our account online yesterday there was a transaction for £150 called 'Notified charges/May'.

I'm pretty pleased about the bank charges too, I just need to try and get that extra £50 from someone now