Sunday Mirror article

The Sunday Mirror published an article on 1 March 2015 about the HSBC fraud. The article is very cautiously worded, contains a number of inaccuracies and some bad advice. But it’s a start.

Victims of the fraud should not go the Financial Ombudsman Service as the article advises. Apart from the fact they could take up to 2 years to deal with the complaint,  I received some very poor rulings from them when I was claiming money back for people. They allowed the bank to off-set the collection charge against an outstanding balance if there was still money due on the debt. This is contrary to the FOS policy on PPI claims, where they insist the bank repay the premiums even if there is an outstanding balance; and it is wrong in law. Under the law of set-off there is no right of set-off where there is no contract between the parties. The solicitors added the charges and retained the charges for their costs. There was no contract between the debtor and the solicitors, therefore no right of set-off exists.

I am preparing a civil group action against the bank and a private criminal prosecution, both of which are intended to obtain recompense for customers, including customers who still have a balance outstanding.

Furthermore, at the time of these erroneous rulings the CEO of FOS was Natalie Ceeney, who left to become Head of Customer Services at HSBC (!) and is now Chief Executive of HM Courts and Tribunal Service, which assisted in covering up the fraud in 2011.

Here is the article:

mirror