HSBC current account. Confused about eligibility

puk999

Hi,

I want to open a current account with HSBC. I've chosen what I think is the vanilla current account. The eligibility requirements state

Will you be paying at least £500 per month into this account?
(Should you fail to make the £500 monthly payment required to maintain your account, we will either change it to a Current Account or give you notice that we will be closing your account. If you are under the age of 24, the qualification criteria will not apply).

They said they'll change it to a current account but isn't it a current account already? I was also surprised to see the £500/month requirement for a plain current account. I'm used to seeing this stipulation for high interest current accounts but not for bog standard ones. Is this normal? Before I apply I want to ensure I've not chosen the wrong account.

colsten

They do have a thing called "Current Account" which is no longer on sale but they can convert a "Bank Account" to it if you don't meet the eligibility criteria. I.e. if you don't pay in at least £500 a month, you will be downgraded to "Current Account", which then also stops your eligibility for the Regular Savings account.

As long as you pay in £500 a month, you can pay £250 of it into the Regular Saver, and the remaining £250 can come out the day the £500 went in. I have been doing this for several years now.

Gory detail is in their T&Cs, from around page 33: http://www.hsbc.co.uk/content_static/en/ukpersonal/pdfs/en/personalbankingterms_conditions.pdf

As to what is "normal" with bank accounts: they can all stipulate whatever terms they please, as long as they don't break any law. The HSBC Bank Account has had the min £500 monthly deposit for as long as I can remember.

I would recommend you apply online, not in Branch or on phone, as some HSBC folks can get a bit jobsworthy if they realise that all you want is access to the Regular Saver. Plenty of stories about that people have been told they can't have an HSBC account if they want to keep an account elsewhere.

grumbler

puk999 wrote: »

Hi,

I want to open a current account with HSBC.

Why HSBC?
IMO, it's possibly the least attractive bank to have a current account with.

puk999

Thanks, very helpful. I think the link you supplied was the wrong one, but I'll find them on the HSBC site.

puk999

grumbler wrote: »

Why HSBC?
IMO, it's possibly the least attractive bank to have a current account with.

Unethical perhaps, but I want an account that I can later switch somewhere else to get a bonus. I don't intend to use the account.

colsten

grumbler wrote: »

Why HSBC?
IMO, it's possibly the least attractive bank to have a current account with.

They have the joint 2nd most attractive Regular Saver interest rate in the market. Agree that the current account is very little use for anything else

puk999 wrote: »

Thanks, very helpful. I think the link you supplied was the wrong one, but I'll find them on the HSBC site.

soz, have corrected the URL now

colsten

puk999 wrote: »

Unethical perhaps, but I want an account that I can later switch somewhere else to get a bonus. I don't intend to use the account.

If that's the purpose, you'd do better opening an additional account with a bank you are already with. That way you don't have to wait for internet access and other stuff.

puk999

colsten wrote: »

If that's the purpose, you'd do better opening an additional account with a bank you are already with. That way you don't have to wait for internet access and other stuff.

I'll take your advice on that. I plan to do multiple switches so might still get an HSBC one too.

dingdong3000

Does the minimum £500 deposit have to come from external account or can it be from internal hsbc savings account?

LplateSaver

colsten wrote: »

If that's the purpose, you'd do better opening an additional account with a bank you are already with. That way you don't have to wait for internet access and other stuff.

Does that bypass the credit search or do you still get that?

System

Sometimes they may be happy to open an additional account based upon the data they already hold on you.

There is almost zero chance of this with a new provider.

LplateSaver wrote: »

Does that bypass the credit search or do you still get that?