HSBC - check your account interest

Mr_Frugal

Like most people (not the ardant Moneysaver) I have remained loyal to the same bank for years - BIG MISTAKE !
I joined the HSBC (Midland back then) as a student in 1990. For years (as a student) they bent over backwards to help me - obviously to retain my loyalty and custom for later in life.

How ironic then that when I have reasonable savings they treat me so poorly !!!!

When I was recently made redundant I decided to money health check myself and went on a quick crash diet. I got my spending down from just under £2k/month to £800/month.
I had squeezed everything I could with the exception of my bank so I decided to look to see if there was much merit in swapping my account.

I assumed there would not be a lot of difference (0.1/0.2% max) between what my savings account and others ! Boy how wrong was I !!!????

When I set up my HSBC savings account it was one of the best on the market. However upon making a phone call to enquire what the current % was I was GOBSMACKED to find that my SAVINGS account was only offering 1% (versus inflation of 2.2%) - a savings account that erodes your money !!!!!!

I am annoyed (with myself) that I was not aware of the current interest rate (and that I had not checked earlier) but am ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS that noone from HSBC had pointed it out to me and the fact that there are MUCH better savings vehicles available at HSBC.
According to the Banking Code (clause 4.8) the bank are supposed to notify you if the rate drops significantly below the BOE rate and also advise of better ways to invest your savings within their company.
I had just short of £80k in their account and at NO time in my 16 years banking with this company have they EVER informed me that I could make more interest by simply switching to one of their other accounts.
For example they have an "Online Savers" account where you do all your banking online (which I did anyway) that pays 4.75% (versus the 1% I was getting) !

To make matters worse when I complained they took 8 weeks to "investigate" the matter and then wrote back a letter that did not even address my complaint (ie why has noone notified me of a better savings vehicle within your company) and merely stated that the interest on my account was 1% !!!!! 8 weeks of investigation to tell me what I already know !!!!!!!!

Following up that letter I was then told that the bank had made contact with me on various occasions in the last 2 years to discuss my savings. When I rang to challenge this (and got through to the lady that had written the letter) she admitted that all the computer showed was WHEN there had been contact between HSBC and me and NOT who had initiated it NOR what it was about !
All the occasions mentioned (bar 1) were initiated by myself and NONE were to discuss my savings (one of the dates they had allegedly made contact to "discuss my savings" was actually the day I had rang up to lodge my complaint !!!)

HSBC were paying me £43/month on my interest whereas I now get £237/month. I calculated (and presented the bank with my workings) that had they notified me (as per their obligation under the Banking Code) and helped me switch to their higher rate Online Savers account I would have been better off to the tune of £1600 in interest (ie their failure to comply with their industry standards cost me £1600 in lost interest).
I got a verbal apology and a promise to switch me now that I had noticed (nothing about making up for my financial loss due to their negligence).

Suffice to say my money was moved very quickly (didnt wait the 8 weeks of the investigation !!!!)

Am currently getting DD's switched to new account and will then go in and formally close the nearly empty accounts at HSBC !

The moral of the story is DONT ASSUME that because your bank is one of the "big boys" that they will be looking after your best interest and dont be as niave as I was to assume that they might actually follow their own code of practise. DONT leave YOUR money to the bank check your own affairs !!!

richgirl

Set up a spreadsheet and check your accounts ona monthly basis.

And inflation is 3.6% RPI, don't be fooled by the goverments inflation fiddle

Froglet

Both hubby and myself used to have Isas with the HSBC.They were a good rate but when that changed and all their rates starting sliding we changed.I only keep the instant access becuase i have my wages paid in and it is easy online to transfer,.I didn't know you could use the online account for direct debits.However as you lose interest in the month you withdraw that would not suit me,and probably many others .However we keep the current account as they are in our village and handy to pop in and use when need be.

Like the original poster i have been loyal to then for 30+ years but what price loyalty when they don't keep in contact.They are quick enough to offer loans or a credit card though!!

going2die_rich

So you expect a Bank (which is a business at the end of the day), to say look your money's not in the best account even though they'd make less money by moving your account to a higher interest rate account?

What world do you live in?

You are responsible for your money and it's up to you to keep an eye on it.

If you have only realised the difference in interest between the HSBC accounts I suggest you don't look at what other banks are offering as you really will be furious - HSBC isn't the best paying bank!

I suggest you go and read the Savings guides and sign up for the newsletter from this site (to keep you up to date) as you will see just how much more in interest you could get from another bank compared to HSBC.

Anyone who expects loyalty to be rewarded from a bank in this day and age is a FOOL! Loyalty had some value a decade or two ago, but now it's big business so can't afford such sentitment.

gelato_cat

Glad you've managed to sort this out at last!

Two things strike me here:

1) If, as you say, the bank had not notified you of the "significant" drop in interest rates, this could have been because you ticked boxes on forms when you first joined them which said you did not want them to contact you about other products or services which they think may be suitable for you. This means that they can't post you any marketing stuff/ring you up/e-mail you, despite what the Banking Code says.

2) If you are that annoyed with them, why are you keeping your money there? You say you are getting 4.75% with their Online Saver but there are plenty of instant access online savings accounts which pay in excess of 5%. Add this to the fact that they've p!ssed you off...

Suze

Mr_Frugal wrote:

Like most people (not the ardant Moneysaver) I have remained loyal to the same bank for years - BIG MISTAKE !
I joined the HSBC (Midland back then) as a student in 1990. For years (as a student) they bent over backwards to help me - obviously to retain my loyalty and custom for later in life.

How ironic then that when I have reasonable savings they treat me so poorly !!!!

When I was recently made redundant I decided to money health check myself and went on a quick crash diet. I got my spending down from just under £2k/month to £800/month.
I had squeezed everything I could with the exception of my bank so I decided to look to see if there was much merit in swapping my account.

I assumed there would not be a lot of difference (0.1/0.2% max) between what my savings account and others ! Boy how wrong was I !!!????

When I set up my HSBC savings account it was one of the best on the market. However upon making a phone call to enquire what the current % was I was GOBSMACKED to find that my SAVINGS account was only offering 1% (versus inflation of 2.2%) - a savings account that erodes your money !!!!!!

I am annoyed (with myself) that I was not aware of the current interest rate (and that I had not checked earlier) but am ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS that noone from HSBC had pointed it out to me and the fact that there are MUCH better savings vehicles available at HSBC.
According to the Banking Code (clause 4.8) the bank are supposed to notify you if the rate drops significantly below the BOE rate and also advise of better ways to invest your savings within their company.
I had just short of £80k in their account and at NO time in my 16 years banking with this company have they EVER informed me that I could make more interest by simply switching to one of their other accounts.
For example they have an "Online Savers" account where you do all your banking online (which I did anyway) that pays 4.75% (versus the 1% I was getting) !

To make matters worse when I complained they took 8 weeks to "investigate" the matter and then wrote back a letter that did not even address my complaint (ie why has noone notified me of a better savings vehicle within your company) and merely stated that the interest on my account was 1% !!!!! 8 weeks of investigation to tell me what I already know !!!!!!!!

Following up that letter I was then told that the bank had made contact with me on various occasions in the last 2 years to discuss my savings. When I rang to challenge this (and got through to the lady that had written the letter) she admitted that all the computer showed was WHEN there had been contact between HSBC and me and NOT who had initiated it NOR what it was about !
All the occasions mentioned (bar 1) were initiated by myself and NONE were to discuss my savings (one of the dates they had allegedly made contact to "discuss my savings" was actually the day I had rang up to lodge my complaint !!!)

HSBC were paying me £43/month on my interest whereas I now get £237/month. I calculated (and presented the bank with my workings) that had they notified me (as per their obligation under the Banking Code) and helped me switch to their higher rate Online Savers account I would have been better off to the tune of £1600 in interest (ie their failure to comply with their industry standards cost me £1600 in lost interest).
I got a verbal apology and a promise to switch me now that I had noticed (nothing about making up for my financial loss due to their negligence).

Suffice to say my money was moved very quickly (didnt wait the 8 weeks of the investigation !!!!)

Am currently getting DD's switched to new account and will then go in and formally close the nearly empty accounts at HSBC !

The moral of the story is DONT ASSUME that because your bank is one of the "big boys" that they will be looking after your best interest and dont be as niave as I was to assume that they might actually follow their own code of practise. DONT leave YOUR money to the bank check your own affairs !!!

dealseeker

Mr_Frugal wrote:

I had just short of £80k in their account and at NO time in my 16 years banking with this company

I am amazed that you had £80k in an account and were not aware of the rate of interest or what is available on the market. How much would you have had had you taken more care with you cash over the last 16 years?

I agree they could have told you specifically and got in touch with you but please ..... from now consider carefully what you do to take advantage of all the savings routes using ISAs saving on tax etc. Close reading of the articles on this site will help.

Good luck in finding a new job.