HSBC: My Experiences

Aimee-lou

Just wanted to let everyone know about our recent experiences with HSBC. It's taken me over a year to get to the point of leaving but I've done it! And here's why:

1. Last year my now husband and I got a joint account. Prior to this they had been great, now with the Joint A/c I seemed to do nothing but get on their nerves, all because hubby had previously been successful in re-claiming!

2. We decided to get married - my Dad transfered £400 into my old student account, which they had now called the OD in on. I had asked him to use the other one but he had got confused (he's 80). I called to explain as we needed the money to pay the registrar. They refused to put the money accross into the main account. My dad went to see his bank to re-call it and was told that HSBC were refusing to return it. ( theft in my eyes!) We finally got it sorted by me threatening to get the police onthem so they gave me a new, higher rate loan! All because of £400 - I bet they were laughing at me!

3. Since about September last year we have been a grand total of £110 OD spread over about 10-15 occasions. For this I was rewarded with £360 in Bank charges (all of which I will be re-claiming)

4. Because of these bank charges we were continually going overdrawn and unable to take money out. One week it got so bad my husband called them to ask them to re-imburse some so we could eat (according to the financial ombudsman they should do this) and they said they couldn't help! We ended up un-doing all our hard work and put more money on the CC.

5. And finally.....this week we have finally got a new bank account sorted and up and running. I put a form in about 3 weeks ago to transfer all the DD's and HSBC would appear to have done that to a couple of them. Most of them though, including the rent and the COuncil Tax they have simply cancelled, or, as in the case of my husbands personal account, have duplicated.

Today I have spent the best part of and hour on the phone to various people explaining the situation. I rang HSBC to arrange for my loan payments to come from another account, which they said I had to go into the branch. I asked if I could make an appointment to see someone at the same time - they said No. No explaination , just no! In actual fact the man said, 'It's not a sale' so i couldn't see anyone. This is ridiculous as all I want to do is set up a new DD from my new account....I actually said 'But I want to make sure you get paid' and they refused to help.

I am utterly livid about the way I have been treated, spoken to and have been expected to take time off work (which costs me money), go into town (fuel and bus fare), wait god knows how long to be seen because i can't make an appointment, to ask them nicely if I can give them money!! They should be ashamed.

I will be writing all of this in letter form to HSBC and making sure I get some kind of response! But for now, be warned. HSBC are not the the world's 'local' bank....far from it! They're the world's worst bank for miles around!

Thanks for taking the time to read and please feel free to share your experiences.

olly300

??

You have an overdrawn account and the bank wants their money back.

So obviously they will take it back anyway they can because their terms and conditions allow them to do this. In fact you are lucky they didn't raid another account in your name to pay off the overdraft.

It's not their fault your dad put money in the wrong account.

They are a business not a charity.

And nearly every bank posted about on these boards mucks up DD debit transfers when changing accounts. Lots of times it's not actually the bank's (old or new) fault it's actually to do with the companies involved not co-operating by refusing to answer correspondence. If you bother to ask some of the companies concerned the ones who will bother to answer you will make up an excuse like they can't do it for security reasons, when the real reason is they can't be bothered to pay any staff to deal with such requests.

VfM4meplse

Aimee-lou wrote: »

HSBC are not the the world's 'local' bank....far from it! They're the world's worst bank for miles around!

Maybe remote (telephone / internet banking) might suit you better. I have the highest praise for First Direct, a subsidiary of HSBC. Yes there are accounts offering better interest, but for your day to day transactions they can't be beaten. Staff are always friendly, professional and above all happy to help! (No I am not on commission, just had many happy years of banking and long may it continue).
:j