I am writing this message in the hope that SOMEONE finally responds back to me with something other than ‘we are looking into this’.
I applied for and received a Bounce Back Loan with HSBC Bank. As soon as the money came into my account, my account was put on hold and i was sent 5 ‘security’ questions to answer, which i did straightaway.
You then wanted to see a copy of my loan agreement with HSBC, and although I found this a strange request as my loan agreement with HSBC is confidential between myself and them, I sent you this.
You then asked to see statements of my HSBC account showing the money being moved from that account to my Tide account. I explained that I do not have a bank account with HSBC and that they had created me a temporary ‘feeder’ account in order to facilitate my loan.
Despite this, I went into a branch of HSBC explained what was happening and the VERY helpful people there typed me a personal letter confirming my loan with them and gave my copies of statements of the account - which I sent to you.
My business has now been without funds for over 10 days. I have not been able to pay 2 rent installments, wages, raw material suppliers or post any orders out to my customers.
I have sent continuous messages via the app and I either get completely ignored or simply told ‘we are looking into it’.
I raised an official complaint and then received a response back saying that the money had been recalled and was being sent back to the account from which it came. We have spoken to HSBC who have confirmed that they have NOT recalled our money. Nobody is answering my messages where I am asking WHO has recalled the money and WHY.
I have made calls to the Tide ‘Customer Support’ Team, who simply tell me it is being looked into. When I ask to speak to someone else who can actually HELP me, all i am told is to send a message requesting that somebody calls me back - I have done this FIVE TIMES at least and have not received a single call back.
I have requested a final response to my complaint to that I can take this to the ombudsman - but I will hazard a guess and say that this is going to take you weeks to do as you know that as soon as you issue that final response then I CAN take it to the ombudsman.
I have never in my 30 years of owning and running businesses experienced anything like this before.
It is nothing short of theft! You are holding onto MY BUSINESS’ MONEY without a full explanation as to why you are doing this. And not ONLY are you doing this, but you are RUINING MY BUSINESS in the process.
I will not stop until I get answers on this… even if it means taking this to the media.
Alan Poole