Tricking HSBC in to giving me an Advance account

stevec59

Just noticed on their web page

'**£125 to say hello
If you open a 1st Account, switch your everyday banking to us using the Current Account Switch Service and pay in at least £1,000 within three months of opening the account, we'll top it up with £125 - it's the least we can do to welcome you on board...
This offer is limited to one payment per customer or joint account, and you'll get the money within 28 days of all criteria being met.
Sorry, we can only offer this to people who haven't previously held an account with us, and we reserve the right to refuse your application and extend or withdraw this offer at any time. Credit is subject to status.'

So maybe Co-op, I did think of M&S but it looks like they have dropped there incentive

djpailo

If you don't meet the yearly earnings to fund the account, then you have a high chance of rejection.

Biggles

Mishomeister wrote: »

Although I can arrange for £1750 to get transfered there monthly, I would then transfer that money back to an interest paying account elsewhere.

That's what all switchers do, with HSBC or any other account. They're not requiring (or even expecting) that you'll leave it there.

I just paid in £1,750, by FP, withdrew it instantly back to my 'main' account, and got it upgraded to Advance after three months. Then I opened a Regular Saver and paid £250 into that for a year.

I've closed both now, as they're no longer worth anything to me and I may be able to get a switching bonus a year or two further down the line.

stevec59

I called HSBC to apply over the phone, they told me to do it on the web, so I've just done it again and changed some of the numbers, I received a message saying that they will need to look at my application, so lets see what happens, if not I'll go elsewhere

JIL

I wouldn't hold your breath, I have never experienced such shoddy service as with HSBC, it took six weeks from me applying for an account for one to be opened. I phoned to transfer my account and wasn't able to be put through to the department that dealt with switching. This happened on three separate occasions. So I was advised to go into the local branch. I did, I queued up at the cashiers to be told I needed to wait to see someone else, I waited nearly twenty minutes. I was then told I needed to make an appointment. That's when I closed the account.
I will stay with my current bank, They can keep their £150.

bigadaj

It's £200 plus the regular saver.

Still slightly painful though.

TheEffect

I started paying my salary into my HSBC Bank Account (£2k/month) for the past few months and just received this email....







Am going to call them and see if they'll upgrade it sooner so I can make use of the Regular Saver and cheaper withdrawals for a trip next month.

That new debit card looks hideous.... oh well.

EDIT - Just phoned, they said they could upgrade without running an application or credit search if I had an 'upgrade marker' on my account, but I don't, so they would have to run a full app/credit search. I decided to wait until May where it'll upgrade automatically. Odd.

EDIT 2 - Thought I'd update this, tried calling again on the off chance I'd get a different response a day later, and this time the person upgraded my account straight away, ordered a new advance debit card. No credit check or application.

JIL

JIL wrote: »

I wouldn't hold your breath, I have never experienced such shoddy service as with HSBC, it took six weeks from me applying for an account for one to be opened. I phoned to transfer my account and wasn't able to be put through to the department that dealt with switching. This happened on three separate occasions. So I was advised to go into the local branch. I did, I queued up at the cashiers to be told I needed to wait to see someone else, I waited nearly twenty minutes. I was then told I needed to make an appointment. That's when I closed the account.
I will stay with my current bank, They can keep their £150.

I decided to make a complaint about the shoddy service, I got a reply to say they took complaints very seriously and I would hear back within five working days.
Wow seven working days later I received a holding letter. It's now been three and a half weeks.

Really shoddy service, why on earth do they do a massive marketing campaign and not have the staff to deal with it?

thomasagsmith

advance is subject to income requirements, if your salary is not in the region of this then your highly unlikely to be accepted, they are very nit picky of applicants for this type of account.

thomasagsmith

definitely one of the best accounts out there these days!