HSBC has voluntarily agreed to set up a redress scheme for customers who may have suffered detriment by paying an unreasonable debt collection charge imposed by HFC Bank Ltd (HFC) and John Lewis Financial Services Limited (JLFS), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced today. Both HFC and JLFS are now part of HSBC Bank Plc.
Between 2003 and 2009, customers of HFC and JLFS who fell into arrears were referred to the firms’ nominated solicitors. On referral, HFC and JLFS levied a charge to the account representing 16.4% of the balance as a "debt collection charge"*. The flat rate charge was identified as unreasonable by the Office of Fair Trading in 2010, as it did not reflect the actual and necessary costs of collecting the debt.
In November 2010, the OFT imposed a formal requirement on HFC to stop adding a collection charge until it had varied or introduced new terms in its agreements with customers. JLFS was not within the scope of the OFT’s review but was carrying out similar practices to HFC.
In practice, HFC and JLFS stopped adding a debt collection charge in November 2009 and in 2010 reversed the charge from all live accounts.
The FCA announced in December 2015 that it would reconsider its decision not to investigate allegations about the conduct of HFC following a complaint to the Complaints Commissioner. Since that announcement, the FCA has conducted a thorough review of the allegations in respect of HFC and JLFS and has been able to establish that approximately 6,700 customer accounts, the vast majority belonging to HFC customers, paid the debt collection charge prior to 2010, either in full, or in part, and are potentially entitled to redress.
Those customers will receive redress where they paid more than the actual and necessary cost of collecting their debt. HSBC has agreed their methodology for calculating the actual and necessary cost with the FCA.
In addition, for a small number of customers, the reversal of the debt collection charge in 2010 meant their account was placed in credit which was not returned to the customer. Affected customers will now receive a rebate of the credit amount.
During its review the FCA also identified certain customers where HFC had miscalculated the interest payable on their loan. HSBC has identified around 350 customer accounts which were affected by this error. HSBC has committed to repay the overcharged interest to these customers.
In total, it is estimated that approximately £4 million will be paid by HSBC in redress to affected customers. For each group of customers which are due redress, the firm will also pay 8% interest per annum.
There is no need for customers to take any action on this issue as HSBC will proactively contact all affected customers with offers of redress.
26 April 2019
HSBC is undertaking a further review to identify customers who may have suffered detriment by paying unreasonable debt collection charges. HSBC is contacting any customers who have been newly identified as potentially impacted. Any customer who thinks they may have been impacted can call 03455 857 564.
Notes to editors
- The FCA’s response to the Complaints Commissioner’s Report (FCA00050)[1]
- OFT requirement - HFC Bank (17 November 2010)[2]
- On 1 April 2013, the FCA became responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
- The FCA has an overarching strategic objective of ensuring the relevant markets function well. To support this it has three operational objectives: to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers; to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system; and to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers.
- Find out more information about the FCA.