Bank addresses overdraft issue

Jun 14 2009 by Mr Justice, Sunday Sun

YOUR consumer champ rose to the challenge when Henry Smith complained about bank charges.

Henry told me how he had to pay a total of £250 for going over his overdraft limit.

However, he said he was not aware the money had been taken out of his account.

The bank said he had been told in advance that the charges would be imposed.

Oh no, he hadn’t. I found out that the bungling bankers had written to his old address.

Now the charges have been scrapped after the bank owned up to their mistake.

I opened my latest financial case when Norman told me how he learned of the cash crisis.

He said: “I went to take money out of my account and was informed I was £300 over my £1000 overdraft limit.

“It was explained I had incurred £100 and then a further £150 of what they called pre-notified charges.

“I was shocked because I had never been notified of what was happening.”

Henry had earlier moved from his old address and had told the bank of his change in circumstances.

He said: “I discovered HSBC had failed to process the change of address authority form I had handed in some months earlier. Correspondence had been posted to my old address and had therefore failed to reach me.

“At this point, HSBC agreed that they would refund £100, but not the remaining £150 and that was the best that could be done.”

Henry, of High Shincliffe, Durham, decided to ask for my help.

A spokesman admitted they did not act on Henry’s change of address form.

And he agreed to waive the remainder of the charges.

He said: “One of our service managers spoke with our customer yesterday and we have agreed to refund all the overdraft charges he had incurred because his change of address instruction had not been put in place.

“This happened because the signature on the form did not match our records and Mr Smith did not respond to our letter requesting him to come to a branch with identification.

“This letter was sent to his new address.

“While we certainly apologise to our customer for not taking other steps to get in touch, it is still important to keep track of the money in your account, and you can do so at ATMs, on the telephone, internet or in our branches.”