HSBC's New £120 Switch Offer

bluebell321

I applied online and have received a short letter 10 days later 'thanking me for my enquiry and enclosing a leaflet with info I requested'. The leaflet is just a flyer advertising the switching offer.

So what am I to make of that? Has my application been acknowledged? I can't be bothered pushing it if not.

colsten

bluebell321 wrote: »

I applied online and have received a short letter 10 days later 'thanking me for my enquiry and enclosing a leaflet with info I requested'. The leaflet is just a flyer advertising the switching offer.

So what am I to make of that? Has my application been acknowledged? I can't be bothered pushing it if not.

Same happened to me. Then another week or two later, I got more letters, and my account is now open. Hang on in there....

Gilbo_Baggins

bluebell321 wrote: »

I applied online and have received a short letter 10 days later 'thanking me for my enquiry and enclosing a leaflet with info I requested'. The leaflet is just a flyer advertising the switching offer.

So what am I to make of that? Has my application been acknowledged? I can't be bothered pushing it if not.

I also got that same letter the day after I got a letter saying congratulations I had been accepted and offered an advance account. I wouldn't read too much into it really. Sounds like they are struggling to satisfy the demand.

Westie983

I received a letter from HSBC, saying that you don't have to keep the money in the LISA, to get the incentive of £10 as long as you have got confirmation that you have qualified and your advance CA, is funded each month, so when you get the first payment then you are able to remove the money as after all its not a fixed ISA and you therefore have immediate access to any funds in the account.

cydney65

Went into local branch today to give signature specimen. I expected the hard sell but all I got was a gentle nudge towards the credit card, which had been pre-approved. I pretended to think about it (I actually wanted it for the 0% balance transfer and the £25 naturally) then agreed that it would be useful.

I mentioned the loyalty ISA and the regular saver but she didn't have time to sort those out, so I have an appointment in 2 weeks to look at those. She did initiate the switch from my Clydesdale account after asking me why I wanted to change. I told her that the customer service wasn't up to much; she liked the sound of that. She then mentioned the incentives and I acted a bit clueless and agreed with her that the timing was brilliant.

Hopefully then everything will be ready to go soon. OH is seriously peeved that I was accepted and she wasn't

Roseanne1

Well I went to the branch today for my appointment. I explained that, while my net salary was not enough to cover the £1,750 required funding each month, I did have plenty of funds in savings accounts (well current accounts with high interest) to cover the shortfall each month.

Apparently, transfers from other bank accounts, not just HSBC ones, do not count. The lady I spoke to showed me a screen with eligible income, which included salary, pension and a whole host of others. She also showed me a list of ineligible income that included things like bereavement allowance and others that I cannot now remember. I stated that I did not see anything on the web site saying that you could not transfer from other banks, only that internal transfers were not allowed. She explained that their intranet had more details than the external web site and that was what was meant on my rejection letter by me not meeting the required internal scoring for the account. Having said this, there was nothing on the ineligible income mentioning transfers from other personal bank accounts so I asked her and she said "I can't remember where I read that".

Why would they not just say on the external web site what income they deem acceptable and what they don't? It would save a lot of people wasting their time.

Has anyone been accepted that is intending to fund the account by transferring money in and out from another bank? If so, I should mention that I was told that if the £1,750 was not made up entirely of eligible income, they would downgrade the account to the normal bank account.

Westie983

I fund my account from another bank account via FP, then leave enough in there to pay my CC and Regular Saver and transfer the remainder back to another bank that pays interest.

I cant change where my salary comes from as its part of my contract, I have had my advance account since March..

Think you should try telephoning them, I was honest with them on the phone when I upgraded that I wont be changing my salary payments but I confirmed that I would make the payments as required...

Roseanne1

Westie983 wrote: »

I fund my account from another bank account via FP, then leave enough in there to pay my CC and Regular Saver and transfer the remainder back to another bank that pays interest.

I cant change where my salary comes from as its part of my contract, I have had my advance account since March..

Think you should try telephoning them, I was honest with them on the phone when I upgraded that I wont be changing my salary payments but I confirmed that I would make the payments as required...

I was thinking of doing that myself, your post has just encouraged me. I re-read the conditions on the web site tonight and the only accounts you cannot count as part of the £1,750 are HSBC accounts so I will give it a bash.

Roseanne1

Well I phoned and spoke to a very helpful chap. He has not made any guarantees because my online application was still showing on the system as referral status. Because in the letter rejecting me for the advance account they offered me the ordinary account, that is not considered an outright decline.

Anyway, he explained that the woman in the branch probably said what she did because, with it being a personal account funds would be coming from, there is scope for me to miss payments so they thought it too much of a risk that I would not consistently fund the account with the correct amount.

I made clear on the phone that I had more than enough funds in other bank accounts that I could consistently make up the shortfall between my net salary and the £1,750. He has put everything down that we discussed and is going to contact my branch again in the hope that I may be able to get the account. The decision still rests with the branch though.

The original letter offering me the bank account stated that the offer was valid for 28 days from the date of the letter. So that would be 15th August. He suggested, if it doesn't work with him getting in touch with the branch, I could phone up again after that date and get a decision that way.

So, without getting my hopes up, I await a phone call in the next week or so to let me know what the branch says now. Thanks for encouraging me to phone Westie983.

badger09

cydney65 wrote: »

I mentioned the loyalty ISA and the regular saver but she didn't have time to sort those out, so I have an appointment in 2 weeks to look at those.

Unless you enjoy visiting your HSBC branch :cool:, there is no need for another appointment. Once your Advance account is up and running, you can apply for both the Loyalty ISA and Regular online:)

cydney65 wrote: »

I pretended to think about it (I actually wanted it for the 0% balance transfer and the £25 naturally) then agreed that it would be useful.


She did initiate the switch from my Clydesdale account after asking me why I wanted to change. I told her that the customer service wasn't up to much; she liked the sound of that. She then mentioned the incentives and I acted a bit clueless and agreed with her that the timing was brilliant.

:T