HSBC Advance account criteria Query

MoneyEM

I am thinking of switching to the HSBC Advance account which requires £1750 a month to be paid in. I earn just £32,000 but I am paid 4 weekly and my travel is directly taken from my salary. Basically, I fall short of the £1750 requirement, but am I able to withdraw the extra £200 in cash and deposit back in to meet the requirement?

eskbanker

Anecdotally they're quite strict and picky about this, and IIRC have been known to demand sight of payslips as evidence of salary, so even though you may theoretically be able to achieve the minimum pay-in, chances are that an honest application may not be accepted, although there's only one way to find out for sure....

Ben8282

In answer to the specific question as to if you can pay in an extra £200 in cash in order to meet a minimum pay-in requirement then yes you can.
However, if you are trying to meet a minimum income requirement then no.
Am a bid confused about your travel being taken directly from your salary. Do you mean something like your employer gave you an advance on your salary to buy an annual season ticket or something similar and is now recovering the salary advance each month or what? Are you taxed on this 'travel' which is taken directly from your salary or not? The bank would want evidence of gross, not net, salary to meet a minimum income requirement.

Nebulous2

HSBC application is a slow laborious process. I earn more than the £1750 net but they did not ask for any proof. There was a question on the online application which asked how the funding payment would be met. I pay £1800 in from another account on the 1st of every month and was concerned that would cause a problem, but they obviously accepted it.

EachPenny

eskbanker wrote: »

Anecdotally they're quite strict and picky about this, and IIRC have been known to demand sight of payslips as evidence of salary, so even though you may theoretically be able to achieve the minimum pay-in, chances are that an honest application may not be accepted, although there's only one way to find out for sure....

This was my experience. Although the Premier account has a minimum income requirement the Advance account only requires a minimum pay-in. Branch staff appear to be confused about this as I was initially told my application for an Advance account had failed because I didn't earn enough.

HSBC are also particularly wary about fraud, so if you tell them your income from employment is (say) £1500 but you will be paying in an extra £250 per month, they may have a 'wobble' over what the source of the £250 payment is.

The T&C's actually say:

You must pay at least £1,750 into your account each month (or a minimum of £10,500 every
six months) not including money transferred from any other sole or joint personal account(s)
you hold with HSBC Bank

I used this to point out to branch staff that a monthly net salary in excess of £1750 was clearly not required if it is possible to simply make one payment of £10,500 every six months and still meet the conditions.

People report all kinds of experiences, and it varies between online and in-branch applications. Personally I'd go with the branch route and take along all the paperwork you need to prove you have the income and savings as an additional source of payments into the account. Also have a copy of their T&C's to hand and if there is a problem ask staff to explain the difference in wording between the Advance and Premier accounts. I found it easier to do all that face-to-face and had the ability to ask to speak to the manager when the computer again said 'no'

MoneyEM

Ben8282 wrote: »

In answer to the specific question as to if you can pay in an extra £200 in cash in order to meet a minimum pay-in requirement then yes you can.
However, if you are trying to meet a minimum income requirement then no.
Am a bid confused about your travel being taken directly from your salary. Do you mean something like your employer gave you an advance on your salary to buy an annual season ticket or something similar and is now recovering the salary advance each month or what? Are you taxed on this 'travel' which is taken directly from your salary or not? The bank would want evidence of gross, not net, salary to meet a minimum income requirement.

Apologies for the delayed response, I work for a rail company so get my travel subsidised and a interest free loan for the amount which is why it comes from my salary. Yes it's tax deductible

thomasagsmith

same situation here, applied in branch took proof of income and had to take screenshots of standing orders being setup. Worst case scenario you would be given the standard bank account and guaranteed advance in 3 months time providing you can prove that you can meet monthly pay in.

Roseanne1

I'd agree with those who say they can be quite strict and say that you need to be earning £1,750 a month net to qualify for the account. This happened when I tried to apply for one a few years ago, I was turned down and phoned up to query it explaining that I could pay in the money from other sources. I was given an appointment slot and went to my branch. My nearest branch is 30 miles from my home so I wasn't best pleased after trekking down there with proof of funds I had in other accounts to not even get a minutes hearing. I was told categorically you can't transfer the money from other accounts, it has to be salary that goes in. I knew this was rubbish so I lodged a complaint and ended up getting £50 compensation. I took the bank account but it just sat there with not much activity and I eventually switched out.

When the latest switch offer came round, I tried an experiment. I decided to open a joint account with my mother and, to my surprise, within two days of applying, it was open. :eek: My income on my own woudn't cover the £1,750 and neither would my mum's pensions hence why I went down the joint route. So, to my mind, while it isn't the income you earn that is the criteria, the people charged with making the decisions tend to base it on that.

Anyway, we have a switching bonus between us to look forward to, each have a 5% regular saver that we pay the maximum amount into and a free cinema ticket each from Advance Members. :T

Roseanne1

I meant to say, hopefully, someone knows. When paying the £1,750 a month, I realise payments from other HSBC accounts don't count but what about payments from M&S bank? I use that as my holding account for cycling money through but my concern is they are part of HSBC group. Has anyone funded their accounts with transfers from M&S and First Direct. If not, I'll just route it through one of my Tesco bank accounts.

YorkshireBoy

Roseanne1 wrote: »

I meant to say, hopefully, someone knows. When paying the £1,750 a month, I realise payments from other HSBC accounts don't count but what about payments from M&S bank? I use that as my holding account for cycling money through but my concern is they are part of HSBC group. Has anyone funded their accounts with transfers from M&S and First Direct. If not, I'll just route it through one of my Tesco bank accounts.

M&S would be OK, but FD would not. That's my understanding, having read the HSBC Advance T&Cs and their FSCS Information Sheet.

Roseanne1

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

M&S would be OK, but FD would not. That's my understanding, having read the HSBC Advance T&Cs and their FSCS Information Sheet.

That's smashing thanks YB.