My HSBC account is getting closed. Has anyone experienced it?

yeyejia

Hi all,

I have been with HSBC Premier for a while, with at least £50,000 in my account all the time. I kept getting phone calls from them offering me investment options but I turned them down each time

Got a letter today from HSBC today, saying after a review that they will close down my account in 2 months. I called them and asked for reasons, they said they cannot let me know the reason, it is their decision.

I am so confused. Now I have to switch a bank. Anyone has any suggestions? Thank you.

grumbler

There seems to be an epidemic of account closures spreading around ATM.
Typically they are caused by some paranoid suspicions in ML. They freeze an account first without any notice, then shut it down without any explanations.

Your case is possibly different as you were given 60 days notice. It's worth checking your credit files for CIFAS markers.

henm2

see point #21 of this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4772408 as this may explain what is happening.

henm2

" following their very heavy fine last year by the USA of $1.9 billion HSBC have drastically strengthened their anti moneylaundering (AML)procedures worldwide and as a consequence are beginning to close some personal accounts with links to countries not meeting international minimum AML standards or have transactions which appear to them to be irregular going through accounts (e.g main current accounts not having typical wage/pension payments in and usual bills, small cash payments,shopping transactions going out and have strange large cash lump sums in and out, unusual faster payment transactions etc)"

Mr_K

yeyejia wrote: »

Hi all,

I have been with HSBC Premier for a while, with at least £50,000 in my account all the time. I kept getting phone calls from them offering me investment options but I turned them down each time

Got a letter today from HSBC today, saying after a review that they will close down my account in 2 months. I called them and asked for reasons, they said they cannot let me know the reason, it is their decision.

I am so confused. Now I have to switch a bank. Anyone has any suggestions? Thank you.

Are you sure they are closing the account, rather than downgrading to a normal account ? This wouldn't involve closing the account as you'd keep the same account no. None of their business if you don't want any of their poxy products. I had 'Premier' for a while when it was offered for free . The 'benefits' are mostly worthless and its got mostly snob value. Since I opted out of marketing their 'financial adviser' never contacted me, which show they are no more than salespeople for HSBC's poor products. Put your £50k elsewhere.

John1993_2

grumbler wrote: »

There seems to be an epidemic of account closures spreading around ATM.
Typically they are caused by some paranoid suspicions in ML. They freeze an account first without any notice, then shut it down without any explanations.

There's nothing paranoid about money laundering suspicions. HSBC were recently hit with a $1,900,000,000 fine for not having robust enough checks, and so they are unsurprisingly erring on the side of caution now, exactly as the regulator wants them to do.

I seem to recall at the time the howls of outrage in the general public that the bank was so lax with their checks. This is the natural, and correct, outcome of that.

People have been demanding that banks charge less, check more, refund all sorts of iffy amounts, give free credit, and write off debts. They demand that the bank doesn't call when people default, that they keep branches open, not charge a spread on FX transactions, and so on, and as a result they are looking at their retail business, and decising that all sorts of customers are not worth the effort.

Perhaps when enough people find that no bank will touch them we'll start to see a bit of recognition about just how important a service the banks have been providing down the years.

grumbler

John1993 wrote: »

There's nothing paranoid about money laundering suspicions. HSBC were recently hit with a $1,900,000,000 fine for not having robust enough checks, and so they are unsurprisingly erring on the side of caution now, exactly as the regulator wants them to do.

IMO "on the side of caution" = "paranoid".
I don't think that regulator really wants accounts to be closed "on the side of caution". If they have suspicions it would be natural to ask the customer for explanations and proofs before rudely and unceremoniously closing the account.

...they are looking at their retail business, and decising that all sorts of customers are not worth the effort.

This looks like a plausible explanation in this particular case when they did give a 60 days' notice instead of bellicose freezing.

henm2

grumbler wrote: »

IMO "on the side of caution" = "paranoid".
I don't think that regulator really wants accounts to be closed "on the side of caution". If they have suspicions it would be natural to ask the customer for explanations and proofs before rudely and unceremoniously closing the account.

This looks like a plausible explanation in this particular case when they did give a 60 days' notice instead of bellicose freezing.

However as has been mentioned many times before asking for explanations as you suggest falls foul of the criminal offence of 'tipping off' maximum penalty of 2 years gaol time.
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/29/29-crimeact.htm

System

The point Grumbler was probably making is that the 60 days notice doesn't apply to suspected money laundering and so forth.

60 days is the minimum timeframe that a bank can get rid of you and not justify itself to the FOS.

henm2 wrote: »

However as has been mentioned many times before asking for explanations as you suggest falls foul of the criminal offence of 'tipping off' maximum penalty of 2 years gaol time.
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/29/29-crimeact.htm

Milarky

HSBC do seem to close accounts like this where other banks don't seem to. I've has HSBC current accounts closed on two occasions. They just didn't like activity on the accounts which, although somewhat unusual (paying-in £500 cash per day and forwarding & paying 2.5k through the account daily) would not be things that other banks would react to in this way.

And for those who might be jumping to the conclusion that their recent criminal admissions to years of Mexican drug money laundering (no bosses going to face jail, of course) and 'record' fine of $1.9bn (which HSBC customers will be picking up the tab for) has somehow sensitized the bank, well my small infractions occurred well before that came to light.

henm2

HSBC appears to be very risk adverse currently. It is worried particularly about losing its US banking licence if there are any more significant anti money laundering AML lapses. So everything has been tightened up.

The transactions mentioned if they went through a personal account would attract attention. Anything through a personal account outside the usual norm of wages/pensions/benefits paid in and bills household payments and small encashments out can attract attention. Unfortunately quite a few law abiding people will be caught up in the wash of all this but the bank would rather take the complaints than take the risk of continuing so called irregular payments.