child benefits and hsbc

[indebt4eva]

we have been in debt in our overdraft for around a year now, we have a £1300 over draft, and at present we are around £1500 over drawn, my husband works 2 jobs,1 fulltime and 1 part time, and i look after our 3 and 4 year old daughters at home.

the bank rang me last week to say that they wanted me to put money into our account on that day,like i had £1000 just sat in my back pocket waiting for them to ring,when i said we dont have any but my husbands wages will be going in they said oh its ok,ive just seen you have £80 going in tomorrow for child benefit/tax credits which will cover our charges we are due, so i answered with well thanks a lot for using my childrens money to pay your charges and hung up as i was so mad. i dont know where i stand with this, this month so far they have returned 3 direct debits unpaid, which have a value of £82, for these 3 we so far this month have £60 in charges, which even the employee said over the phone did seem a little excessive,how on earth do they expect us to get out of debt when they do things like this,taking charges out, so our balance is lower than it should be, so leaving us with more charges for the next month.

this feels never ending,we reclaimed £2000 in bank charges last year but then had a few set backs and ended up back at square 1, i just feel theres no point in my husband working any more as we dont have any money to do anything,we have so much stress and we hardly see eachother. is there anyway we can stop the bank charges?we have offered that they toll up the charges and we will pay them back via a monthly amount or something just until we get on top of things,they said no,it seems they just dont want to help us out,yet when my husbands annual bonus comes through (not much, £500-£1000 which all stays in the account to help the overdraft)they are on the phone permanently asking if we would like a loan etc. we do want to change banks but we would need the over draft on the new account until we get sorted,plus we couldnt pay off the overdraft on hsbc in one go so the interest would continue to mount up as we tried to get it paid off. any ideas anyone??? we are at our wits end with this now

[enaid]

Re: child benefits and hsbc

Hi Eva, if thats not your name I apologise just shortening your user name.
Looks like you know how to reclaim your charges, but as you know all current claims are awaiting the OFT outcome.
You may be as well having your tax credit and child benefit paid into a PO account, it is a basic account that you only use to withdraw your benefit money. This will stop them swallowing that up. There is a bit of info on here about the law on taking your benefits i will find it for you.
Also someone with more knowledge on this will be along to advise you some more. Don't worry all will be ok Enaid x

[indebt4eva]

Re: child benefits and hsbc

thanks, i will look into it,it just seems so unfair,my 2 daughters are both in shoes that are way too small and we cant buy them any new ones,i feel like a terrible mum,i just wish we could start over. life feels like a constant uphill struggle!

[enaid]

Re: child benefits and hsbc

Well coming here will help you see you are not on your own, not by a long way.
It's because you feel like that it proves you are not a terrible mum at all, but a very good one. A terrible mum wouldn't give two figs, if her kids shoes fitted or not.
Do try and open a PO account they are a great thing for people getting benefits and keeping the greedy banks off the money.
I do believe when benefits and wages go into the same account it is harder to sort the rights and wrongs out if you understand.

[indebt4eva]

Re: child benefits and hsbc

i will get onto it straight away,and i know what you mean about having everything all going and coming from the same account,it gets messy!

[Amethyst]

Re: child benefits and hsbc

Yep I would second what Nelly says. Get a post office card account opened if you can purely for receipt of child benefit and tax credits - then you know that money is safe from the bank.

I have mine paid in every Friday and I just withdraw it in cash from the post office ....no messing about or worrying about charges. The account takes about 7 days to set up.

Just reading the rest

[Amethyst]

Re: child benefits and hsbc

Okay regarding setting up a new bank account - No you don't NEED an overdraft on it. Get a basic account. You can only use an overdraft once - you have used it. Get his wages paid elsewhere and your DD's etc set up to go out 2 days after his pay goes in if he gets paid monthly. Most companies are flexible on dats, or have a selection to chose from. Also many will accept payment by standing order which you have control over and can set up to go out when its convenient to YOU.

So firstly do that - get your money safe.

Then write to HSBC who will be paddywhacking about the overdraft left behind. Do a full Income and Expenditure budget sheet and show them what you can afford to pay back. If its £5 a month so be it. Offer them that and ask them to freeze interest on it etc. They will pass it over to debt collectors who will make empty threats. So long as you keep them informed what you are doing and show you are paying what you can afford you will be fine. If they decide to try take you to court for it, the judge will only award them the amount showing you can afford on your budget sheet.

Theres a load of letters in the debt forum - which we'll help you with. But first step get your PO account opened and you benefits moved over, and a basic account opened elsewhere for wages - Nationwide or Natwest have decent ones.

Then we can work on HSBC.

:hug:

Ame
xx