HSBC Switch Query

OneLife_OneShot

I am thinking of leaving my current bank as they are offering nothing to keep me. I see HSBC Advance Account is offering £150 upfront to switch. Not even interested in the overdraft I would just like the free money and have an app to check my balances.

It needs to be funded with £1750 per month. Now I don't quite earn that but if my dad for example was to transfer in the difference from a non HSBC account would that go towards the total or would they catch on?

Cheers

EachPenny

Make sure you get a copy of the terms and conditions and read them before applying for the account.

If you do, you'll see there is no requirement to earn £1750 a month, only to pay the equivalent in (not necessarily every month either)

Zandimos

From my experience, if you don’t earn the £26,100 threshold MSE states on the best bank accounts you won’t be accepted. You need to either not apply or lie about your income and transfer the money in/out etc.

OneLife_OneShot

I have looked at the terms, I am aware I do not need to earn that amount but just need to make sure external transfers in go towards the total, I know internal ones and transfers from other HSBC accounts are not allowed towards the £1750.

clivep

OneLife_OneShot wrote: »

I have looked at the terms, I am aware I do not need to earn that amount but just need to make sure external transfers in go towards the total, I know internal ones and transfers from other HSBC accounts are not allowed towards the £1750.

As Zandimos says, although not in the terms you will probably find that an online application will get rejected if you state your annual income as being under £26,100.

There's nowhere on the application form to state other forms of funding for affordability purposes.

My wife's application was successful but I was required to take proof of ID into a branch. They had problems continuing my application and started a new one from scratch. As part of this I was asked to show proof of income. Being retired but below state pension age my income is entirely dependent on what I decide to withdraw from my SIPP pension fund and ISA. Fortunately I had taken an ISA statement with me and she took a copy which satisfied the affordability criteria. She even tried to sell me on upgrading to a Premier account.

NineDeuce

Is it really worth taking money from your dad's account for the sake of a one-off £150?

There are other banks which offer free cash for less deposit.

EachPenny

Zandimos wrote: »

From my experience, if you don’t earn the £26,100 threshold MSE states on the best bank accounts you won’t be accepted. You need to either not apply or lie about your income and transfer the money in/out etc.

Lying on your application is likely to be fraud and if spotted can have serious financial implications. At best that might involve having your accounts closed down, at worst a conviction for a criminal offence.

Is it worth it for the sake of £150? It seems rather silly to suggest someone does this when there are plenty of other switching offers to take advantage of, and perhaps the OP can come back for the HSBC one when their income is higher.

EachPenny

OneLife_OneShot wrote: »

I have looked at the terms, I am aware I do not need to earn that amount but just need to make sure external transfers in go towards the total, I know internal ones and transfers from other HSBC accounts are not allowed towards the £1750.

You might want to try applying and see what happens, but don't be tempted to lie about your income (or anything else on the application form).

If you get turned down you can try complaining, or else just open an account with one of the other banks currently offering switching bonuses.

NatWest might be a good one to try because they haven't offered anything for a long time and currently have a time-limited offer of £125. There's a good chance HSBC will still be offering £150+50 in a year's time, perhaps less chance NatWest will still offer anything, so I would grab that one while it is still around.

Samsung_Note2

I think Martin stating an annual salary can be a bit misleading, no one should lie about how much they earn as im sure the CRA"s either know what's going into accounts or you could simply state you earn £75,000 from income when applying for credit.


On the other hand if your monthly income can go up and down due to say over time etc.,then why not see if an average over 12 months gives a realistic salary.


EachPenny has a good point regards Natwest...grab that and see what happens in the future.

Misslayed

I’ve just been accepted via phone application. I initially applied online, there are two boxes for income, one for your ‘main’ source of income and one for ‘additional’ income, so with FIT payments and what used to be called housekeeping, I qualified. However there’s a glitch on the online form at the mo, the initial form asks for your MONTHLY additional income, but the summary at the end gives that as an ANNUAL amount. I was declined online but accepted by phone, lady I spoke to said the last three people she had spoken to had the same problem. They didn’t seem too concerned about the source of the additional income.