How can I avoid HSBC's new graduate interest rates?

feisty1985

Hi all,

I've just been into HSBC on the back of receiving their baffling letter conveniently dated "July 2007" so you do not actually know when/if it was received in relation to your account changing.

When i look on my internet banking the account has already been changed to a graduate account.

However.... the lady i spoke to in the branch informed me that i am in fact going to receive the first year at £1500 interest free overdraft followed by £1000 interest free the following year. This is not what the letter or accompanying pamphlet state at all and she basically thought i was being stupid which i did not appreciate.

My advice is to check with your branch whether the overdraft will remain free (or ring up). Even with this new information i am still inclined to switch to NatWest or another bank who know what they're doing. Surely these letters are going to cost HSBC a lot of customers whether the information is true or not. Why pay interest when you do not have to?

Hope this helps.

[Deleted User]

You will find it is not, next time get them to write it on a bit of paper so that you can sue them.

phlash

feisty1985 wrote: »

Hi all,

I've just been into HSBC on the back of receiving their baffling letter conveniently dated "July 2007" so you do not actually know when/if it was received in relation to your account changing.

When i look on my internet banking the account has already been changed to a graduate account.

However.... the lady i spoke to in the branch informed me that i am in fact going to receive the first year at £1500 interest free overdraft followed by £1000 interest free the following year. This is not what the letter or accompanying pamphlet state at all and she basically thought i was being stupid which i did not appreciate.

My advice is to check with your branch whether the overdraft will remain free (or ring up). Even with this new information i am still inclined to switch to NatWest or another bank who know what they're doing. Surely these letters are going to cost HSBC a lot of customers whether the information is true or not. Why pay interest when you do not have to?

Hope this helps.

I'm afraid to tell you that you have spoken to an ill-advised advisor.

What is going to hold more fire, the piece of paper that told you 9.9% was going to be charged, or "whats her name in my local branch said I wouldn't".
If your Internet banking account has successfully changed to "Graduate Account", then you will be charged.

Come on ask your yourself which is true, letter or advisor word of mouth. Which is more likely to make a mistake? Not the letter, it's been sent to 10's of thousands of people and published in the national press:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/borrowing/article1963602.ece

Even says it on HSBC's website:
http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/current-accounts/graduate-banking/graduate-service;jsessionid=0000IxgonPZP8NQqXVWHHNlyFAQ:11j77hvaa

Stick with your inclination and switch. RBS - £2000 Interest free - lovely.

[Deleted User]

Most till jockeys dont know there !!! from elbow hence why they are till jockeys.

feisty1985

Thanks, i just gave a call and it is definate i'm being charged interest from *possibly* 28th July, as they did not seem to know. They could not tell me when my account changed to a Graduate Account or when interest would begin.

As far as i'm concerned this is appauling customer service and i will look into moving elsewhere. Their own branch staff didn't even get it right. The lady in NatWest was far more helpful so i am going to arrange a meeting with the branch dept. manager to see about transferring my account to them.

Why would HSBC do this when it surely means thousands of customers will flee for alternate banks?

HJR

Does anyone know if there is anything we can do about this... such as complain to the ombudsman?

I read an article in the guardian about this a month ago. went into my branch and they assured me that it wouldn't be happening. I went away reassured.

Then on the 20th July I revceived letter to say it was happening and guess when my account changed... the 16th to top it off as a post grad student I don't actually finish until October (this was on their account) and they sent it to an address that I don't live at any more despite changing it a year ago... apparently it converted itself back thinking it was my home address! I left home 9 years ago!

I was planning on changing to nat west anyway as I have over the years had enough of HSBC in one way or another and now they have taken away the 100% mortagages I have decided to go but don't know where I stand with a mortgage application if I change my account so soon before applying.

Anyway back to my original question... can we make a formal complaint somewhere other than to HSBC?

Thanks

HJR

Sorry - missed the bit above that covered my question

Bella_b

I went into RBS this morning and they were most unhelpful! They were all busy, and no-one was able to talk to me. I had made a trip especially as it is quite far away from my house.. about 30 mins, whereas HSBC was just down in my local town. I go into RBS the people hardly acknowledged I was there! I asked to talk to someone.. preferably the man who had given me the application form for me to fill in two days previously, and he saw I was waiting but didnt do anything. Finally, a cashier got the reception girl to talk to me! She didnt have a clue so she just went and asked the man who I had spoken on the previous occasion. Why couldn't he have just come down and spoken to me himself? The girl just photocopied my application forms and identification.. and then said that I needed to get more statements cos the one I showed her wasnt good enough! So I had to walk 10 mins up the road to HSBC and asked to print off statements, they did that without any hassle.. (which was good as I have heard that sometimes they can be hard to get).

I then returned to RBS and there was no-one available yet again..and it was even worse than the time earlier because the receptionist girl wasnt even there! I waited for least 10-15 mins before someone acknowledged me.. and she told the man to come & talk to me. (Even then, it felt like the staff were trying to talk to you in as little time as possible so they could get back to whatever they were doing at their desks!) I gave the man the other statemenst and he made a stupid comment like "this looks heathier" .. I mean.. WHY?

Then he said they would set it up and that was that.. I was hoping someone would have sat down and gone through the account with me.. no such luck.
I left feeling annoyed because what could have taken a few minutes took much longer and I had to get back before 1pm! It took nearly all morning... argh!

Well all I can say is that, I hope they set it up smoothly and that I get the whole benefits from the account. And once it's set up I won't have to go into branches often.. maybe when I move up north they will be nicer there! After 3 years, when the graduate account ends, I am probably gonna switch again to the best current account at the time.

It seems customer service is bad in most banks these days.. a shame really.

wowzetov

Can you open the RBS graduate account online?And if you have an HSBC professional studies loan are they likely to demand immediate repayment if you close your account? Also, when they approved the loan and calculated the applicant's annual expenses they would not have calculated the annual interest fees for gradaute loans, which at the time were not in existance so they are actually making it harder to repay.Is it necessary to close the HSBC graduate account if you open an RBS or other graduate account? Can you have two in the same way that people have mulitple student accounts?

Crabman

Here's the actual Banking Code so you can cross check the exact clauses.

http://www.bankingcode.org.uk/pdfdocs/BANKING%20CODE.pdf

Assuming this is a change in T&C's, the following allows 60 days:

Banking_Code wrote:

Changes to terms and conditions

6.3 When you become a customer, we will tell you how we
will let you know about changes to terms and conditions.

6.4 If the change is to your disadvantage, we will tell you
about it personally at least 30 days before we make the
change. At any time up to 60 days from the date of thenotice you may, without notice, switch your account or close it without having to