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Hi everyone..
1st Credit have been attempting to claim a business overdraft of £2,374.97 I had with HSBC for the past year.. They seem to be more persistant than MKDP so I think I need to step up a gear or two as again, the reasons for this were unfair and unreasonable in the first place.
The account originally consisted of a Commercial Credit Card that stood at £1447.68. I originally asked for a debt card when I opened this account but the manager insisted that a Commercial Card would make it easier for me to manage my business. It was originally a charge card that had to be paid off each month, which was somewhat unrealistic for a start up. I asked for it to be changed to a credit card, whilst still enquiring whether I could change it for a debit card so I could access my own money without being charged £3 for a cash withdrawl. Of course, when HSBC closed my personal account, I couldn't access any cash without paying for the privilage! The banks just want people and companies to rack up a debt..
The rest of the balance consisted of unauthorised overdraft charges (£624.39 at the time when HSBC transferred the balance of the credit card to my bank account) where HSBC had made my account unusable over a period of about 6 months. In January 2014, HSBC put this commercial card balance onto my already overdrawn business account and continued to charge further overdraft fees (at the rate of £8 a day, if memory serves) until April 2014 when they shut the account down. They then started their internal debt collection proceedures demanding the whole lot in one go.
Fast forward to March 2015 when I received two letters (same envelope) one from 1st Credit and the other claiming to be from HSBC claiming that the account had been assigned to 1st Credit. Fast forward to now and their solicitors recently sent me a copy of my statements as a proof of how the arrears accrued.. Well, if anything, it proves that they accrued due to HSBC charging me excessive amounts a month, compounding the unauthorised overdraft and then lumping the credit card onto the account, effectively putting the account into an unrecoverable state. It still doesn't prove they own the debt though..
Going back through paperwork, I was overdrawn for the month of June 2013 apart from the 3rd June when I put £100 in to cover the overdraft from the the previous month. Why did I end up overdrawn? A £152 charge to my account for the previous month which bounced payments, though they were still happy to take payment for the commercial card. So I ended up overdrawn for the month again and struggling to keep the account positive and infront of payments.. I did make a complaint to HSBC and they did, much to my disbelief, refund these charges the following month (July) but it still made me overdrawn for the full month of June except for one day at the beginning.
I also received a letter dated June 2013 from HSBC notifying me of changes to their price lists and terms and condition that would take effect on 1st September 2013. This was a Sunday and I was overdrawn then too as a result of my commercial card payment going out. I made a payment into this account to get it back to positive territory on 2nd Sept only to be charged another £40 the following day and so the cycle went on, £88 in November (plus a refund of the same amount?), £189 in December, £173.50 in December, £294.55 in January, £93.50 in March, though there was also a refund of £88 so I have no idea what they were doing here, and finally charges of £165.50 in April but also refunds of £160, again I don't know what they were doing here..
By now, I had pretty much given up trying to maintain this account. Funnily enough, the advice the bank manager gave to me when I first started to get into difficulty was that I should let the business account go and save my personal account as my credit rating was affected by a personal account. My income was going into my business account at the time so it wasn't very good advice..
Would I be able to argue that this falls into the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1994 via Forst/Burnell, or some other means. I'm not sure if there were any further changes to the business account tc and cs between September 2013 and April 2014, when the account was closed..
It is too easy for banks to just charge people to the point of no return. And to be able to just sell these to some vultures (who don't prove they own the debt) who think they have struck gold and write if off as a tax expense is just plain wrong. They seem to treat people like their slaves instead of customers..
Thanks for your guidance..
Daniel
1st Credit have been attempting to claim a business overdraft of £2,374.97 I had with HSBC for the past year.. They seem to be more persistant than MKDP so I think I need to step up a gear or two as again, the reasons for this were unfair and unreasonable in the first place.
The account originally consisted of a Commercial Credit Card that stood at £1447.68. I originally asked for a debt card when I opened this account but the manager insisted that a Commercial Card would make it easier for me to manage my business. It was originally a charge card that had to be paid off each month, which was somewhat unrealistic for a start up. I asked for it to be changed to a credit card, whilst still enquiring whether I could change it for a debit card so I could access my own money without being charged £3 for a cash withdrawl. Of course, when HSBC closed my personal account, I couldn't access any cash without paying for the privilage! The banks just want people and companies to rack up a debt..
The rest of the balance consisted of unauthorised overdraft charges (£624.39 at the time when HSBC transferred the balance of the credit card to my bank account) where HSBC had made my account unusable over a period of about 6 months. In January 2014, HSBC put this commercial card balance onto my already overdrawn business account and continued to charge further overdraft fees (at the rate of £8 a day, if memory serves) until April 2014 when they shut the account down. They then started their internal debt collection proceedures demanding the whole lot in one go.
Fast forward to March 2015 when I received two letters (same envelope) one from 1st Credit and the other claiming to be from HSBC claiming that the account had been assigned to 1st Credit. Fast forward to now and their solicitors recently sent me a copy of my statements as a proof of how the arrears accrued.. Well, if anything, it proves that they accrued due to HSBC charging me excessive amounts a month, compounding the unauthorised overdraft and then lumping the credit card onto the account, effectively putting the account into an unrecoverable state. It still doesn't prove they own the debt though..
Going back through paperwork, I was overdrawn for the month of June 2013 apart from the 3rd June when I put £100 in to cover the overdraft from the the previous month. Why did I end up overdrawn? A £152 charge to my account for the previous month which bounced payments, though they were still happy to take payment for the commercial card. So I ended up overdrawn for the month again and struggling to keep the account positive and infront of payments.. I did make a complaint to HSBC and they did, much to my disbelief, refund these charges the following month (July) but it still made me overdrawn for the full month of June except for one day at the beginning.
I also received a letter dated June 2013 from HSBC notifying me of changes to their price lists and terms and condition that would take effect on 1st September 2013. This was a Sunday and I was overdrawn then too as a result of my commercial card payment going out. I made a payment into this account to get it back to positive territory on 2nd Sept only to be charged another £40 the following day and so the cycle went on, £88 in November (plus a refund of the same amount?), £189 in December, £173.50 in December, £294.55 in January, £93.50 in March, though there was also a refund of £88 so I have no idea what they were doing here, and finally charges of £165.50 in April but also refunds of £160, again I don't know what they were doing here..
By now, I had pretty much given up trying to maintain this account. Funnily enough, the advice the bank manager gave to me when I first started to get into difficulty was that I should let the business account go and save my personal account as my credit rating was affected by a personal account. My income was going into my business account at the time so it wasn't very good advice..
Would I be able to argue that this falls into the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1994 via Forst/Burnell, or some other means. I'm not sure if there were any further changes to the business account tc and cs between September 2013 and April 2014, when the account was closed..
It is too easy for banks to just charge people to the point of no return. And to be able to just sell these to some vultures (who don't prove they own the debt) who think they have struck gold and write if off as a tax expense is just plain wrong. They seem to treat people like their slaves instead of customers..
Thanks for your guidance..
Daniel
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