HSBC Premier without meeting eligibility ?

Zonzolo

Hi

I was wondering if someone could help me. I want to get a HSBC Premier current account, but I don't currently have 50K or make over 100K a year. I like the benefits of the account, and it says of the HSBC website that it is available for £25 a month if you dont meet the criteria, but you may be downgraded.

Which if I was to change bank, only to be downgraded, it would be a waste of time.

Does anyone know if HSBC will give a Premier current account to a new customer if they dont meet the criteria ?

Thanks.

TheEffect

No, they will not. You must meet the criteria to get the account. The fee is if you stop meeting the criteria once you have the account.

gt94sss2

Zonzolo wrote: »

Does anyone know if HSBC will give a Premier current account to a new customer if they dont meet the criteria ?

Yes, they will. They certainly used to give HSBC Premier free for 6 months to new/upgrading customers to give them time to meet the criteria.

However, after this time they well downgrade you rather than offering you the chance to pay the monthly fee - I don't know.. you would need to ask them.

Regards
Sunil

CKhalvashi

gt94sss2 wrote: »

Yes, they will. They certainly used to give HSBC Premier free for 6 months to new/upgrading customers to give them time to meet the criteria.

However, after this time they well downgrade you rather than offering you the chance to pay the monthly fee - I don't know.. you would need to ask them.

Regards
Sunil

They don't now, as niece no.1 has been chucked onto Advance (on £90k/year), as she doesn't fit the £50k savings.

CK

Mr_K

I really wouldn't bother with the HSBC Premier account. The 'benefits' are virtually worthless and its a mostly snob factor value. (e.g the Flexible Saver - instead of the 0.04% which the punters get, a 'Premier' customer gets 0.08% - whoppee do !!!)

I had it for a couple of years when they offered it for free. The relationship manager (i.e HSBC salesman), never contacted me, presumably because I opt out of marketing which shows what they're really for i.e. selling their cruddy non-market leading products. It was over a year before they realised I had moved my savings elsewhere .

HSBC are ok for day to day banking , but i certainly wouldn't pay them or anybody else, for a bank account, or go out of my way to get the 'Premier' cobblers.

greenorange

Mr_K wrote: »

I really wouldn't bother with the HSBC Premier account. The 'benefits' are virtually worthless and its a mostly snob factor value. (e.g the Flexible Saver - instead of the 0.04% which the punters get, a 'Premier' customer gets 0.08% - whoppee do !!!)

I had it for a couple of years when they offered it for free. The relationship manager (i.e HSBC salesman), never contacted me, presumably because I opt out of marketing which shows what they're really for i.e. selling their cruddy non-market leading products. It was over a year before they realised I had moved my savings elsewhere .

HSBC are ok for day to day banking , but i certainly wouldn't pay them or anybody else, for a bank account, or go out of my way to get the 'Premier' cobblers.

I think it depends on the person. Just because the account doesn't fit your needs, doesn't mean it'll be useless for others.

For example I have a friend who travels for a living and HSBC Premier allows him to open accounts in different countries for free and instantly transfer money. It also has free travel insurance and a large interest free overdraft if required.

For some people it's worth it, for others maybe not.

InsideInsurance

As always these things are never one size fits all. Certainly RMs are just sales people but their travel insurance certainly used to be reasonable (and didnt charge extra for any of our pre-existing conditions) and an interest free overdraft etc all in exchange for no fee (if you qualify) cannot be that bad.

jinkster

Barclays Premier will give you the account for £25/month if you dont meet the criteria and for 17.50/month if you do meet the criteria (75K or above).

Personally I think these banks should offer the 'Premier' service if at some point you were to meet the criteria.

InsideInsurance

The Barclays Premier Life is closed to new customers. There is a different premier account from them but the preposition is different

vacheron

I've not looked at the HSBC advantages, however I applied for the Barclays "premier" alternative as they offered me it for free.
The result was a different colored Debit Card with a withdrawal limit of £750/per day (which I'm sure will be useful if I ever develop a drug habit!)

Other than that there is the option to take out a "premier" credit card with an awful APR and a lower credit limit than my current Morgan Stanley World Mastercard. The ability to apply for loans at less competitive than high street rates. And savings accounts with 5 figure minimum deposit requirements paying less than my Halifax web saver which I can open instantly with £1!

Even you travel a lot you have to pay extra for the travel insurance services anyway. (on top of the standard monthly fee if you don't meet the eligibility requirements) and I'm sure you could get an equivalent cover for far less elsewhere. Therefore the only benefit I can see is the perceived snob value of the card which no-one ever sees unless you like to impress checkout staff, all of whom wouldn't pay attention, know about, or care about what it is anyway!

.... oh and I can use the "priority tills" at the nearest branch that has one (7 miles away) which means that I can walk up to past everyone else and cut in line while probably being being spat on and swore at (quite rightly) for being an arrogant c**k. No thanks.:rotfl: