Basic no fee current account needed

Jolly_Roger

Archi Bald,

That's a great reply, thank you. I have suggested to my daughter that she goes back and asks HSBC to convert her existing "graduate account" to a "basic bank account". After all, she is an existing customer. If they say no, she can indeed use one of her statements from HSBC and passport to try and get a basic account somewhere else. She needs to get this fixed quickly, so staying with the same bank would be the obvious route.

Otherwise, you do mention other options that could be explored.

I suppose I can't blame HSBC for not mentioning to the offspring that there is a more basic account available. But then they probably don't want that sort of business, do they?

grumbler

Jolly_Roger wrote: »

I suppose I can't blame HSBC for not mentioning to the offspring that there is a more basic account available.

Why? You can.

I would just call the bank (not the branch) and ask to downgrade the account to the basic one. I don't see any reason why they can refuse.

System

If they ask for a UK employer - whats the issue with putting down her UK employment?

JordyC

I received the same letter in relation to my graduate account, but was told by staff in branch that the £500 requirement is for new customers; existing customers will only have accounts closed if they do not use them (at all) after one year. I only use my HSBC account for the regular saver, so never meet the £500 requirement and the account still functions fine.

10pence

Ignore what HSBC branch staff say, they will not close the accounts if you cannot pay £500/m or don't use them for a year or more and they will not convert them to a basic bank account.

If you cannot pay £500/m into the account it will be downgraded after 3 months as thats when HSBC monitor accounts, meaning no lending or extra facilities until you meet the criteria.

Don't use it for year it is marked dormant for security - plus it saves HSBC money as they don't need to monitor the account.

Carry on using the account as normal, if it has an overdraft make sure you pay something into it, preferably something over the monthly interest, otherwise HSBC can and will close the account down and send off to a debt collector, as part of the TOC with an overdraft is to pay funds into the account.

EDIT;
Just read the bit about the overdraft being taken off her. If that was done in a branch I would suspect someone was acting above their station as there is no need to remove the OD facility regardless of income. An income is only required for HSBC's internal scoring system to run an application for any form of lending; whether to increase or decrease lending, as without an income the application is automatically rejected.

I fear your daughter has been mis-advised by HSBC.