My new hatred for HSBC and a search for a new Bank account...

[Arthalen]

Of course they make money but not very much on the average person's free account. They are a business and operate within the law which is really the end of it. They don't have to be nice.

The most sensible model for an ethical bank in theory is not to offer free account, charge every customer a set fee annually for their account. Then don't invest (much) of their money. But how many people here would actually swallow paying, say, £25 a month for a bank account? Really?

So that's why we are where we are, people would like a nice ethical, morally upright system but aren't prepared to pay for it. As per usual.

I couldn't agree more with these points.

However, advertising certainly shows us a 'Understanding, World-friendly' face of the bank. As is splashed on the front page of every daily newspaper, the reality is far far different.

 

[Fegruson]

Banks are there to make money. They are business'es. They are not there to make life easier for customers. They only look after your money.

He didnt have the money to pay for his O2 bill. He was then charged by HSBC £25 and because he didnt have the money in his account HSBC cancelled his DD.

Read the small print for gods sake. They are within they rights to do that.

Surely to avoid all this would have been to have the money in your account to pay for the O2 bill?

I love it when people blame banks for stuff like this.

Blame banks for what? For him missing his DD - I don't think he was. I think he is clearly saying, I think it is unfair they cancelled the DD without letting anybody know, I would like to move to a bank that doesn't cancel the DD if it has been missed.

 

[geekyEd]

Well no the reality is you could cover your outgoing with your income. Thus you got charged for effectively going into unauthorised overdraft or incurring admin charges for declining a transaction.

To the above, perhaps with the OP's history they wouldn't allow his account into negative balance or over the agreed limit hence having to cancel the DD to stop the transactions and further transactions if they feel the OP wouldn't end up paying them.

The sooner you realise that this is your fault and stop trying to blame the bank the better.

 

[drunkenmaster]

I never asked for charity. I want to know what the bank does with my account, and when it makes changes to it, so that I dont end up getting more charges.

Is everyone missing this point?

Not really sure what your point is to be honest, in your first post the only thing that seemed to surprise you was that they wouldn't disclose information as to why the DD was refused, to a 3rd party thats not you, in this case O2.

Still not seeing the point, i'd be incredibly angry if my bank went around telling people why a charge was failed, its no one elses business and doesn't effect them in the slightest. What would you have wanted them to tell O2 exactly and how would that have changed anything, the charge was refused, you still owe O2 money and O2 know they haven't been paid.

You clearly did know about the refusal as you went in to talk to them about the charge, so I'm still clearly missing the point.

Banks screw you for whatever they can get, which is in no way surprising to me, even more so when investing your money to generate you interest(as pitiful as its become). But, what always amuses me is how people are shocked this is how banks work, how does anyone not know this, how can anyone be shocked when charges occur. I've had charges and interest charged on missed/failed payments, I don't get angry, I knew and expected them, life happened and you are a few days late with payments, big whoop.


What I find funnier is in almost every one of the past 3-4 of these threads someone trashes HSBC then proclaims they get hugely better service by First Direct, you know that other bank owned and run by HSBC.

 

[Scam]

I never asked for charity. I want to know what the bank does with my account, and when it makes changes to it, so that I dont end up getting more charges.

Is everyone missing this point?

I think there's a lot of people on their high horses in here. I wouldnt dash over to Natwest or whoever was advertising their lower charges, because they'll treat you exactly the same. It's just the way the banks are. You just need to decide whether or not to contest it all the way and make sure you get your money back, or just pay up and move on.

The 'hating banks' thing is more than just a cliché and a bandwagon. They really don't have a care in the world, and do treat their customers like absolute garbage. The argument against is that they're their to make money, but so are a lot of other companies that actually manage to provide decent products and services. Pull the other one. Banks need to sort themselves out.

 

[Arthalen]

Not really sure what your point is to be honest, in your first post the only thing that seemed to surprise you was that they wouldn't disclose information as to why the DD was refused, to a 3rd party thats not you, in this case O2.

Still not seeing the point, i'd be incredibly angry if my bank went around telling people why a charge was failed, its no one elses business and doesn't effect them in the slightest. What would you have wanted them to tell O2 exactly and how would that have changed anything, the charge was refused, you still owe O2 money and O2 know they haven't been paid.

You clearly did know about the refusal as you went in to talk to them about the charge, so I'm still clearly missing the point.

Banks screw you for whatever they can get, which is in no way surprising to me, even more so when investing your money to generate you interest(as pitiful as its become). But, what always amuses me is how people are shocked this is how banks work, how does anyone not know this, how can anyone be shocked when charges occur. I've had charges and interest charged on missed/failed payments, I don't get angry, I knew and expected them, life happened and you are a few days late with payments, big whoop.


What I find funnier is in almost every one of the past 3-4 of these threads someone trashes HSBC then proclaims they get hugely better service by First Direct, you know that other bank owned and run by HSBC.

The point is why didn't the Bank tell me the DD was cancelled after refusing the payment? Fair point on them not telling O2 ' the reasons why ' from a privacy point of view, but it takes a phone call from the Bank for me to take pre-emptive action to make sure further problems don't occur.

The point about first Direct made me grin, as I know that HSBC Group run First Direct

As for everyone who says "should have had the money to pay it, should sort your life out and your finances", I really hope you never find yourself in this position with unexpected financial issues that you cannot cover.

I've personally 'work' my finances, and make adjustments too them, every month, planning for as many eventualities as possible. I know how to handle my money, I'm just sorely dissapointed that my bank failed to communicate a change to me that would result in further charges/costs.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

You really are not reading what I'm writing. HSBC will charge me for simply saying "No" to O2. No money will change hands, but it will class as a failed Direct Debit that HSBC has to deal with and thus the 'administrative' charge.

You really don't understand how a DD works. There will be no attempt at taking money, the DD has been cancelled - you, nor anyone else, cannot attempt to take money from a cancelled DD.

 

[cactuscake]

I don't understand why the banks think £25 is a fair charge. If the entire process (pay DD, notice account is over limit, reverse DD, charge customer) can be completed automatically, then why can't the automatic process be: check funds FIRST, then only pay DD if there are enough funds to cover it. This is the way debit card transactions work in a retail store - the software already exists, the banks are just choosing not to apply it to the direct debit system so that they can put exorbitant charges on accounts.

That's just EVIL!

 

[Fegruson]

I don't understand why the banks think £25 is a fair charge. If the entire process (pay DD, notice account is over limit, reverse DD, charge customer) can be completed automatically, then why can't the automatic process be: check funds FIRST, then only pay DD if there are enough funds to cover it. This is the way debit card transactions work in a retail store - the software already exists, the banks are just choosing not to apply it to the direct debit system so that they can put exorbitant charges on accounts.

That's just EVIL!

Prepare to be flamed mate.

 

[Basher]

That's just EVIL!

It's called business.

 

[Glaucus]

HSBC is one of the cheapest and most resnable.
They only charge you once, if you pay it of in 24hours there is no charge.

other banks charge a fee everday you are over.

 

[meghatronic]

I'm with the bank on this one.

Seeing as you bank for free (presumuably)....

 

[Pudney]

What I find funnier is in almost every one of the past 3-4 of these threads someone trashes HSBC then proclaims they get hugely better service by First Direct, you know that other bank owned and run by HSBC.

In fairness, just because they are part of the same group doesn't mean they have to operate the exact same business methods and use the same processes, internal controls, staff, pretty much anything else. They can be part of a group and actually the running of each could bear absolutely no resemblance to each other. So that's not the greatest point in the world.

 

[Basher]

What I find funnier is in almost every one of the past 3-4 of these threads someone trashes HSBC then proclaims they get hugely better service by First Direct, you know that other bank owned and run by HSBC.

My company is owned by the same company that own Toys r Us. Do we use the same tills? Do we sell toys? Do we have the same business processes? Do we have the same operational management team? No.

 

[Surfer]

Seeing as you bank for free (presumuably)....

I can remember a time when something being free was not "prostituted" out to all and sundry.....

Such notions are exploited in these times sad to say (at least i can still *feel* that...)

Originally Posted by Arthalen
I never asked for charity. I want to know what the bank does with my account, and when it makes changes to it, so that I dont end up getting more charges.

Is everyone missing this point?

Melodramatic much? The T & Cs of the bank will answer these.

 

[meghatronic]

I can remember a time when something being free was not "prostituted" out to all and sundry.....

This was before Britain evolved a financial sector centric economy.

 

[CaptainComedy]

I agree with the op, I had over 1700 owed back to me from hsbc for overdraft charges made up by themselves (honestly it was like a subscription!) and then they started blacklisting me while I was taking them to court - only a couple of months ago I found out they had been blacklisting me since 2006! Last week they removed them checked my experian last night and no record of them making entries. I would say joy but it shouldn't be happening in the first place.

 

[Basher]

I can remember a time when something being free was not "prostituted" out to all and sundry.....

Such notions are exploited in these times sad to say (at least i can still *feel* that...)


The T & Cs of the bank will answer these.

HSBC are known for not abiding by their T's and C's

 

[Rabtech]

Me and the missus recently went overdrawn by a fiver and a DD failed, we contacted the bank and they cancelled the £20 failed DD charge.