Matthew Hughes

I’m not going to lie, I’m a huge fan of the American rock band, Jack’s Mannequin. I’ve seen them live in concert twice, and without fail, they’re been some of the greatest gigs of my life.

When they announced that the lead singer of Jack’s Mannequin, Andrew McMahon had released a documentary of the making of the first Jack’s Mannequin album, Everything In Transit (which, I intend to review here on a later date) and McMahon’s battle with Leukemia, I made sure I had pre-ordered a copy of it.

Now, I have three bank accounts. My student current account, my savings account and another current account with HBOS, which is largely unused.

I had a bit of money in the HBOS account, as this was the account I used to fund my freshers week debauchery. Late September, when pre-orders were available, I placed one on my HBOS Visa. In the middle of October, I asked how much money I had in my account at my local HBOS branch, where I was informed I had £30. Thinking that the money for Dear Jack had been taken out of my account, I withdrew the £30 and went on my merry way.

In early November, Warner Brothers took the money out of my account. Now, when I set up my HBOS account, I explicitly said that I did not want an overdraft, as I didn’t want to get into debt. I thought that this would have meant that any withdrawls where there was not sufficient money in my account would have been declined. Boy, was I wrong.

Because I said that I didn’t want an overdraft, I ended up having an unauthorized overdraft, where I was charged £5 a day. That works out at an eye-melting 7300% APR. I’m certain loan sharks aren’t that bad! Although, I think the penalties for defaulting on a loan are much more severe when you borrow from a loan shark, than when you borrow from a high street bank. I’m certain HBOS would not put my testicles in a vice grip for a missed payment.

To HBOS’ credit, they did send me 4 letters informing me that I was in the financial shitter, although, I didn’t get them as I was living 200 miles away at the time. Still, they didn’t know that, and I think it’s admirable that they went out of their way to let me know about the huge fees I was racking up, rather than let me continue with my financial self-immolation.

I also had to pay £10 import fees, because Warner put the total value of the product on the DVD, instead of spreading it on the other things I ordered,

Anyway, in case you’re wondering, Dear Jack was most definitely worth the £150 I spent on it, and I’d encourage you all to buy it. It can be found at http://jacksmannequin.com.