HSBC Advance Changes

dotdash79

HSBC are stopping charging for the Advance account from the 10th November, anyone can have an Advance account if they pay in £1750 per month.

They are replacing the insurance side with an insurance package for £9.95 per month, with the following changes:

ID theft Assistance, and travel safety Assistance is no more
£3,000 life cover is no more

Mobile Phone insurance has now been added
Motor break down cover now has home start.

You can opt out of the insurance but not opt in again.

If you don't meet the criteria for an Advance account have you currently have one you can keep it for 12 months. All advance account offers are still valid.

theduch

I am disgusted that after 42yrs of holding the same account I received a letter telling me that I can no longer enjoy the privilages of my advance acc as I do not earn enough. I am a pensioner and feel really discriminated against because of this, shame on you HSBC.:mad:

anoncol

Banking loyalty doesn't exist. You are just a number.

pollypenny

Hmm, I expect there will be changes to to Premier Account to follow.

We will be saying bye bye soon, anyway. Their interest rates are dire.

eskbanker

theduch wrote: »

I am disgusted that after 42yrs of holding the same account I received a letter telling me that I can no longer enjoy the privilages of my advance acc as I do not earn enough. I am a pensioner and feel really discriminated against because of this, shame on you HSBC.:mad:

You're not being discriminated against because of being a pensioner - although I haven't seen your letter I believe they'll be applying exactly the same rules to everyone, i.e. pay in a minimum monthly amount and you continue to qualify. There are many other accounts that have similar stipulations and in all cases that I'm aware of, it's straightforward to satisfy this prerequisite by transferring money out and back in again every month. Obviously if you feel that strongly about HSBC then you can vote with your feet but personally I'd play them at their own game as it were!

EarthBoy

theduch wrote: »

I am disgusted that after 42yrs of holding the same account I received a letter telling me that I can no longer enjoy the privilages of my advance acc as I do not earn enough. I am a pensioner and feel really discriminated against because of this, shame on you HSBC.:mad:

You might have had the same sort code and account no. for 42 years, but it certainly hasn't been an Advance account for that long as HSBC, (previously Midland Bank) didn't have such accounts 42 years ago.

countingstars

I don't qualify for the account in that case. Only have £1500 coming in each month. I was mainly using it for the car break down cover, anyway.

Hm, just wondering whether they'll send us the standard silver debit cards to replace the red advance ones?

If that's the case, then I'll have to painstakingly go through every single shopping site I'm registered to and change my card details (as I assume the 16 digit card number on the front will change with the new card). Why can't more sites just accept PayPal? Le'sigh.

mikeyscott

Qualify without a prob, but questioning the point, I bank with HSBC and First Direct and will just switch everything to First Direct I expect.


I don't have any issues with customer filtering. The point about transfer funds from other accounts, does that included First Direct. First Direct service in my view thrashes HSBCs


Mobile insurance cover via contents and Vodafone
Breakdown covered by Ford and BMW.


Just got to be careful that don't waste money duplicating

PaulinCottingham

I have had an Advance account for 10yrs. I have also topped up an insurance plan over and above the £3k included in the plan. Now they are stopping this benefit, if I replace it with another plan, I will be penalised because I am 10years older than before when I started the Advance account. The death benefit was the most important advantage of this account because I have no other life assurance. If I stop paying the voluntary top up plan I took out with them, I forfeit all my money but they apparently can stop their part leaving me without the £3k benefit. I feel they should refund a proportion of my monthly fee to cover the insurance. They end the notification letter with a paragraph which says the hope I am pleased with their alterations. I couldn't be more annoyed!

camperdown9

pollypenny wrote: »

Hmm, I expect there will be changes to to Premier Account to follow.

We will be saying bye bye soon, anyway. Their interest rates are dire.

I received a letter yesterday, with regards to changes to my Premier Current account.

From 10th November

- Withdrawal of red24 Identity Theft Assistance
- Withdrawal of Premier member Get member scheme
- Changes to overdraft charges are set out in the letter then at the end of the paragraph it states "This free does not apply to HSBC Premier Bank account. (so not to sure about that)
-Then there are some changes to the T&C with regards to mobile banking.

Other than the travel insurance that comes with HSBC Premier I don't really use any of the benefits that comes with the product. As they don't charge for HSBC Premier current account I don't really feel that for me its an issue.

Alex

norbet

Got this letter too. My wife and I have an advance joint accwhich we pay £12.95 each month for the privilege) but have our salaries paid into our HSBC soleaccounts which are the standard accounts with the silver debit card.
We then transfer money (more than £1750/month) into ourjoint account to cover mortgage and bills. We do this as it helps with ourbudgeting.

The way I read it was that we’d be no longer eligible as oursalaries don’t pay direct into the advance joint account and there’s an exclusionto the £1750 requirement on transferring money in.
I called them and was told by the agent I spoke to that wewould be ok would be eligible as was his understanding.
I asked if I could have this in writing or if there was an area on the websitethat I could clarify this but was told no. So I’m non-the wiser.
We could arrange to pay our salaries into the joint account andthen transfer money back out to our sole accounts, but this would be somethingof a faff. I’ll wait to see how this pans out as the call centre chap said theywould let us know if we were no longer eligible.