You close your bank account, and in doing so you hand over everything. At that point the balance will read £0.00 and you will owe no more.
Lisa Touhig, did supposedly just that, but later found out that her card was used to pay for drinks in Starbucks.
The 28-year-old logged into her online banking whilst on holiday only to find out that a payment had been made on the account she recently had closed - according to the Mail Online.
Somebody, whilst she was 3,000 miles away in Florida, had racked up a £9 bill (what's that, like one large Americano with sprinkles at modern prices?) in Birmingham.
When she returned from her holiday, the bank manager admitted that a member of staff had used her card to buy drinks.
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Lisa told the newspaper: "The manager on shift at the time came over to us and said they were really busy, they couldn't get onto the computer but would they mind if I signed a piece of paper instead to close it down and did I want to give them my card for it to be destroyed.
"I said yes and they said that's fine, we'll do that right away. I thought nothing more of it."
The office administrator, who doesn't even drink tea or coffee, was shocked when she logged on to her account whilst away with her other half.
When she confronted the staff in the branch, the office manager went into her bag and pulled out her undamaged card.
"She told me, I've still got our card Lisa, it should have been destroyed three weeks ago but it wasn't I'm really sorry," Lisa said.
Initially the manager told Lisa that the card's activity was a fraud error, but two months down the line admitted that a staff member had used the card.
HSBC declined to comment on the matter when investigated further, nor whether any member of the branch had been sacked.
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Lisa, who has been banking with HSBC since she was 14, said that it's been a 'nightmare' that something like this has been allowed to happen.
"It's quite astounding, you trust a bank to put your money in and then they go and do this. It's awful."
Lisa also claimed that her card was one of around 50 or 70 in the bank manager's possession at the time.
HSBC did offer Lisa a £50 goodwill gesture, which she refused, saying: "It isn't about the money, I'm not interested in that, I just wanted to get to the bottom of this and raise awareness to other people who may have closed down accounts or given their cards in to be destroyed."
Let's face it, it's just another error in a long list made by banks. Sadly, for Lisa, it never got off to a good start.
However, for Christine Jiaxin Lee, a Malaysian student, was accidentally given an unlimited overdraft and went on to spend £2.7m.
Not all that starts well, ends well though. She appeared in court to plead not guilty to dishonesty, obtaining advantage by deception, and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
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