Top Bank Accounts Discussion Area

Marigold123

If you want this confirmed by an HSBC CS person who isn't just going to quote from a screen, you can sometimes get through to someone from the UK or Ireland, but it's pot luck, especially at busy times, and in the evenings. On the other hand, I've had some very good convos with overseas people from HSBC who weren't like robots at all, so it might just be a matter of keeping on phoning back until you get someone you can have a proper conversation with.

Good luck!

seaurchin

For a few years now Virgin Money has offered a basic current account but since its merger with Clydesdale Bank it now offers a new current account offering 0.5% interest on balances up to £2,000. While this may sound a little underwhelming there is also a linked savings account available offering 1% interest and it is one of very few banks that offer a sweep facility (hidden under alerts) that not only send customers a text message when their current account balance drops below a user defined lower limit but will also top the account up to a user defined upper limit using funds available in their linked savings account. All that the account lacks is a creaming facility to prevent the current account balance exceeding £2,000 where excess funds will not gain any interest.

abz88

ryanbest wrote: »

t now turns out three months down the road that although they have been happy to take my business they will not pay me the £100 because I did the work for them. So please be warned, DO read the small print and DON'T try to be helpful to speed things up. I phoned their customer relations Dept and asked for a copy of the 'small print' which she couldn't supply.

Can't see a previous post from you about this? Which bank, which switch offer and what do you mean "did the work for them"? If its a case of you opened an account and manually switched instead of using CASS, it won't have been in the small print, its one of the main terms for most switching offers.

Ian_Munro

I applied for an advance account with HSBC at the beginning of January and from the start it wasn't a great process. I didn't get any email or message to confirm my application was in progress - there had just been a message at the end saying they needed some more information and would be in touch.

5 days later, I called and was told that it was in progress and they could see the application and there wasn't any reason it was delayed, but could take 5-7 working days.

After 7 working days, I called again to be told that they have no record of my application.

Against my better judgement I followed the advice to apply again, but again, no confirmation of my application.

2 days later I messaged the HSBC twitter account and was told that a letter was on it's way

Today, the letter arrived - declined due to my credit score.

I haven't regularly checked my score, as I never miss payments, I'm always in credit and have never been declined anything before, but I did today and found that on the MSE Credit Club Experian score, my score is 999

Called HSBC to ask what the real reason was and surprise, they can't tell me. If they don't want my business that's fine, but a bit of an explanation would be nice.

Is there any way to find out what the problem was?

YorkshireBoy

Ian_Munro wrote: »

Is there any way to find out what the problem was?

Does your income (salary or pension) equate to a take home of more than £1,750 per month? If it doesn't then that's probably the reason.

Ian_Munro

Yes, more than that.

Roger.Wilco

Sorry - newbie... so if this needs a separate thread - let me know and I'll take it there.

I am needing to change my bank accounts... I've talked to my banks (HSBC & Metro) and they cannot provide an account switch service equivalent internally (payment forwarding to the new account is a requirement). My only option is to switch away to other banks (and in time maybe switch back).

The one Internet Banking feature I use every few days for both banks is the ability to download transactions to a CSV file to upload into my Accounting software or Excel for expenses reimbursement. I've tried to visit and/or ring various banks but I'm often met with blank stares or told that the "App" is all I need...

Could anyone help with identifying which banks have or don't have the Internet Banking feature of downloading transactions to a CSV file?

From my personal experience:

HSBC:

• Current A/C - yes - has worked fine for a decade.
• CreditCard A/C - yes - has worked fine for a decade.
• Savings A/C - kinda - is sometimes a bit hit & miss.
• Currency A/C - Kinda - needs tweaking to work.

Metro:

• Current A/C - yes - needs extra import rules - but works OK.
• CreditCard A/C - yes - needs extra import rules - but works OK.

Banks I have visited or rung to try to get an answer to my question:

• Lloyds - counter staff have no idea.. Callcenter staff say that Business A/C has the feature. (although, I have found screenshots online that show that it might be possible for personal A/C?)
• FirstDirect - Callcenter staff say its not possible... "transactions can be viewed in the mobile App"
• Barclays - Callcenter staff have no idea...
• TSB - Callcenter staff have no idea... "only PDF electronic statements are available".
• Monzo - Help-line say that "it is a feature of the Mobile App"; though, I'd need to copy the CSV file from the Phone to the Computer...

If anyone could help shine some light on which banks have this Internet Banking feature it would be much appreciated.

colsten

@Roger.Wilco yes, your query should be in a separate thread.

Anyway, I'll answer it. Have a look at Starling Bank, they definitely do CSVs. They are also part of the CASS scheme, so you can switch existing account in.

I think I have seen CSVs in Santander, Coop and TSB, too.

blue.peter

Roger.Wilco wrote: »

Could anyone help with identifying which banks have or don't have the Internet Banking feature of downloading transactions to a CSV file?

If anyone could help shine some light on which banks have this Internet Banking feature it would be much appreciated.

Royal Bank of Scotland offers this functionality. Since RBS owns NatWest and Ulster Bank, and both use the same online banking system (albeit with a bit of badge engineering), I assume that they also do.

However, RBS doesn't, in my opinion, warrant a recommendation on any other basis. My experience of it over the last six months has not been good. I haven't had any problem warranting a complaint, but have had a string of minor irritations. The cumulative evvect of these is that I intend to switch away in the summer (as soon as I've received the £50 incentive for remaining a year).


Edit: As colsten says, TSB also offers CSV export functionality.


Edit 2: CSV exports are also available from Nationwide.

polymaff

Roger.Wilco wrote: »

... the ability to download transactions ... to upload into my Accounting software or Excel

Might be easier to list the banks who don't offer either of those features:




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E&OE :):)