HSBC £20 to open Online Saver

happyhunter

received the £20 cashback straight into the online saver account on 21 July.

Not bad 'interest' for £500 savings under 2 months

red_flump

happyhunter wrote:

received the £20 cashback straight into the online saver account on 21 July.

Not bad 'interest' for £500 savings under 2 months

Just got my £20. Waiting till the interest is paid on the 1st so I can move it back to the offset current account. £500 in, ~£522 out !

red

sallysaver

Hi,
Unfortunately I am still waiting for the bonus payments too. 3 accounts opened Easter Weekend, namely a current account, an online saver and a credit card account. I have made lots of telephone calls to either 0845 or 0870 numbers as well as emailing them. The call centre in India directed me to my local branch regarding the on-line saver. I couldn't believe my ears. But despite repeating that it was an internet account, he insisted he was giving me the right info and off I went. The lady in the branch thought I was round the bend and of course couldn't help me!. I don't have the time or the inclination to go through the sequence of events which followed, but it can only be described as a joke.
However on the 5th July a very nice lady from the 'complaints' department rang me at home. She assured me the bonus payments would be in my account within 7 days and if not to ring the department (another 0845 number) I explained I would be away from the 10-21st July, to which she said, it would definitely be showing in the balance by then. Guess what - its not. I have just emailed them and its only just polite believe me. Until then, I'll just have to wait and see. Regards - Sallysaver

sallysaver

Hi,
Further to my posting above, earlier today I had a reply from our friends in India. According to them, I have not met the criteria - words fail me. The current account and credit card account were opened within a reasonable amount of time, but I have to say initially they opened a current account plus, which of course I hadn't requested. The lady at my local branch did the necessary correction for me. The online saver took absolutely ages. You've probably read about the letters not arriving on another thread on this site. When I first read the email, I couldn't believe it and at the time didn't have time to reply which is probably just as well. I have just checked again and amazingly the original email from India has been removed and another left in its place which originates from HSBC here saying they are looking into it and will get back to me. I can't believe they are one of the top 5 banks. God help us. Their inefficiency knows no bounds. Regards - Sallysaver

sallysaver

2 emails and 2 telephone calls since last posting, I have today been credited with £60 in my current account. 14 weeks and 3 days since initial contact with HSBC! On the QT, I have heard they are pulling out of India but don't tell anyone!!!!!!! Regards - sally

nutty

Hi took this offer up and got my £20 i dont think i will take the money out as it is good interest unless you no were there is better???

gingercordial

nutty wrote:

Hi took this offer up and got my £20 i dont think i will take the money out as it is good interest unless you no were there is better???

nutty, it's not bad, but there are better, for example ICICI which is 5.15%.

The major downside of the HSBC account is that you don't get any interest during any months when you make a withdrawal. If you know you won't need to get at your money then the rate's good. If you are going to want to make withdrawals more than occasionally, put it somewhere else as you'll end up not being paid much interest at all at HSBC.

nutty

cheers gingercordial

I was thinking of opening a ICICI account. Think i will anyway and but all my savings in there as thats a really good rate. I will wait for my firts bit of intrest of HSBC then take it all out.

Will i need to close accound down or will i be ok just leaving it open ?

thanks lee

gingercordial

nutty wrote:

cheers gingercordial

I was thinking of opening a ICICI account. Think i will anyway and but all my savings in there as thats a really good rate. I will wait for my firts bit of intrest of HSBC then take it all out.

Will i need to close accound down or will i be ok just leaving it open ?

thanks lee

Once I'd received my £20 bonus I transferred the whole lot to ICICI but I haven't actually shut the HSBC account yet. It's just sat there with nothing in it for now and they haven't objected.

If you're taking out the money from HSBC, make sure you take it out at the start of the month. Eg if you're going to take it out in August, take it out early in the month (on 1st August if possible) rather than late in the month, as HSBC won't pay you any interest for August at all if you make a withdrawal so you may as well have it somewhere paying interest for the whole month. If you leave it til the end of the month then you'll lose all the interest for that month. If you can't do it early on in August, leave it until 1 September.

nutty

Thanks gingercordial

I have just filled in the online stuff to join ICICI but now i have read that they are not that could or can be a bit of a pain and i just dont need that so what would you please say is the second best account easy and online

thanks for all the help