HSBC-charging to withdraw your own money!!

Telbell

Yesterday my wife went into the local HSBC branch to make an ISA withdrawal-her first in the several years with the account. The Bottom Line is she was told she could either have money in cash-(out of the question) or have a Bankers Draft-at a cost of £10. When she asked for a cheque she was told-they don't do them!! So she agreed to the £10 payment. After she told me and I'd climbed down from the wall I had a long "conversation" with the Bank Manager who agreed "because of the confusion"(!?) not to charge her.
But what happens for future withdrawals? The Manager was not able to quote any T's and C's which referred to this "scam". I've written to their Customer Service Dept but anyone else aware of this? How many billions did HSBC make last year????

rchddap1

Years back I moved my bank from Midland (old HSBC) to another. They also wanted to charge me for a cheque / draft. So I took the money in cash instead. Felt a bit nervous though walking down the high street with a little brown bag of cash in my hand.

They gave me the impression that this is standard practice.

deefadog

HSBC charge for everything!

I remember when i just started college and i wanted to pay a bill (britannia music thing) it was for £6 and their standard charge was £4! for the privillage of doing this for me!

lots of swear words come to mind

isasmurf

Could you not ask to transfer it to another account?

Midas

Telbell - your wife will be able to get a better rate of interest elsewhere. I'd suggest that she demonstrates her/your(!) disgust at the HSBC's service by transfering her money to a different provider - how about the 30 Day Notice ISA at the Yorkshire Building Society, which pays 5.25%?

In my experience Yorkshire BS are quite happy to issue cheques free of charge...

dunstonh

Banks cannot win in situations like this. Banks hold cash and dont have the need to issue cheques.

Building societies/ex building societies dont hold the cash like the banks do so issue cheques instead.

Personally, I think you are going over the top in a situation that has been like this since the year dot. This is not new. Banks charged for cheques when I was a cashier 18 years ago. Not that anyone wanted a cheque (apart from bankers drafts for cars). Everyone wanted cash.

Try going to a building society and drawing out £2000 cash.

MarkyMarkD

If you give notice, I'm sure you can withdraw £2,000 in cash from a building society/ex building society. I think that giving the choice (albeit requiring a few days' notice) is a better solution than refusing to issue counter cheques at all like the large banks.

moomintroll_3

Don't all banks charge for a bankers draft?

G

dunstonh

Ok, £2000 was not a great example but ask for £20k from a building society.

ManAtHome

dunstonh wrote:

Ok, £2000 was not a great example but ask for £20k from a building society.

You forgot to tell us the account name and number......