HSBC £20 to open Online Saver

rbulph

HSBC are refusing to pay me the £20 because they say that the account had to be opened between 14th and 17th April in order to qualify and their records show that I opened the account on 18th. This is absolute drivel. I applied for the account on 17th April (I have the e-mail to prove it) and the account was opened on 8th May. Unfortunately I haven't kept a copy of the terms of the offer, but surely it must have only required you to apply for the account on those dates, not open it? Opening it is in the hands of HSBC so they can make it impossible to qualify for the offer. Indeed how can anyone have possibly opened an account over the Easter weekend when HSBC would have been closed? If anyone has a copy of the terms of this offer, I'd be very grateful if you could forward them to me.

Also, when you try to contact HSBC through their website you get a message that your message cannot not be sent because it contains an illegal character. But it doesn't tell you what that character is. So you have to repeatedly go through your message taking out any slightly unusual characters (punctuation, pound signs etc.) until you discover the character their system doesn't like. This is very frustrating.

Not impressed at all.

Colin_In_Brum

I'd recommend anyone thinking about this have a look at the thread I started when they had their Easter offer.....and the 4 pages of negative feedback that followed. It was a lot of hassle and still don't know if I'm going to get my money.

gingercordial

rbulph wrote:

HSBC are refusing to pay me the £20 because they say that the account had to be opened between 14th and 17th April in order to qualify and their records show that I opened the account on 18th. This is absolute drivel. I applied for the account on 17th April (I have the e-mail to prove it) and the account was opened on 8th May. Unfortunately I haven't kept a copy of the terms of the offer, but surely it must have only required you to apply for the account on those dates, not open it? Opening it is in the hands of HSBC so they can make it impossible to qualify for the offer. Indeed how can anyone have possibly opened an account over the Easter weekend when HSBC would have been closed? If anyone has a copy of the terms of this offer, I'd be very grateful if you could forward them to me.

Wow, that would mean no-one could ever get the £20, seeing as they're always shut when the offers are on over bank holidays! Don't accept that argument, keep at them! Sorry though I don't have a copy of the t&cs on this computer.

gingercordial

greatbridge wrote:

I opened savins account with them over easter, up and running, sent email asking when i would get £20, had reply back saying would it by 30th june,

Activating the account over the phone, I was told 14 days from the date my payment arrived in my account. However that's been and gone so I'll wait for 30 June. Then I'll get annoyed...

rbulph

I think I'll wait til 30th June and take it up again then if they still haven't paid.

spandit

rbulph wrote:

I think I'll wait til 30th June and take it up again then if they still haven't paid.

Three days to go...




Am I right in saying that I've got to wait until 31st July for my payment? I opened mine on the 27th-29th May Bank Holiday Weekend.

sloughflint

I'm getting myself geared up to transferring the balance to another account on 3rd July. I was wondering whether then to close completely or just keep it dormant waiting for better rates. Does anyone know if this is allowed or does this particular account need a minimum amount left in?

sloughflint

spandit wrote:

Three days to go...




Am I right in saying that I've got to wait until 31st July for my payment? I opened mine on the 27th-29th May Bank Holiday Weekend.

Easter WE promotion got paid into people's accounts on 21/06 so you will probably get yours in the next batch.

codetown

sloughflint wrote:

I'm getting myself geared up to transferring the balance to another account on 3rd July. I was wondering whether then to close completely or just keep it dormant waiting for better rates. Does anyone know if this is allowed or does this particular account need a minimum amount left in?

I read the T&C and there is nothing preventing you leaving 1 pound on it to keep it alive. You will simply loose any interest on that pound you leave (or any balance you wish to leave below 500 pounds).

I too will be transferring the money out and leave that 1 pound in just in case interests improve at HSBC in the future.

sloughflint

Well I sent an emessage to be sure whether I could leave the account empty. Here is the reply:
I confirm that upon the discretion of the account holding branch, your account will be closed after a period of inactivity. However, you can inform the branch in advance (in cases where you need to leave the country for some time) if you want to keep your account open.
I wrote back to clarify as it was an internet not branch account and got this:
I confirm that the minimum deposit is GBP 500 in the online savers account.

And no interest will be paid on the entire balance for any month in which a withdrawal is made or on balances below GBP 500.

I have also updated the records accordingly in order to keep the account open.
So I am going to leave it empty but it will remain open. Anyone wanting to do the same just needs to send an emessage with their intentions.