HSBC Forcing online statements

brianposter

If they will let me off doing a tax return I will happily forego paper statements.

northwalesd

j.p said:

It should be enough to print at home an online statement and send that,

We don't all have printers at home.

colsten

northwalesd said:

j.p said:

It should be enough to print at home an online statement and send that,

We don't all have printers at home.

That is no good reason for banks to make free paper statements available to all. 

Local libraries offer printing at a small charge, and may be friends or neighbours can help out on the odd occasion where a printed bank statement is essential. Even banks offer one-off paper statements on request.

northwalesd

colsten said:

northwalesd said:

j.p said:

It should be enough to print at home an online statement and send that,

We don't all have printers at home.

That is no good reason for banks to make free paper statements available to all. 

Can you point me to where I said it did? And you're the one extolling not going to bank branches to avoid covid, yet saying we should be going to libraries to print statements?

Eco_Miser

colsten said:

northwalesd said:

j.p said:

It should be enough to print at home an online statement and send that,

We don't all have printers at home.

That is no good reason for banks to make free paper statements available to all. 

Local libraries offer printing at a small charge, and may be friends or neighbours can help out on the odd occasion where a printed bank statement is essential. Even banks offer one-off paper statements on request.

However, while PDFs are digitally signed, the printouts from them are not, and it is possible to edit copies of PDFs to show anything you want, and then print them, indistinguishably from a printout of the real thing.  I'm not surprised home print-outs are not accepted for ID verification.

spenderdave

Back to my original posting, it is not whether online statements are a good thing (I have mixed views) but the recent action at HSBC where they clearly changed many customers who had been having paper accounts for years to online without even asking them. My own notification last year implied it was just the current account being switched but they switched every other account in error.

Tokmon

spenderdave said:

Remember that online only works if you have an internet connection. As it happens mine went down the other day and I was without a connection for several hours. Also something like a credit card bill needs action. A paper copy you can put in a prominent place to pay next day. It is easy to forget about a reminder email after you have read it.
I realise many on here prefer online but I was really moaning about the HSBC policy of switching to online unrequested and also doing it for all my accounts rather than just the current account suggested in the original email, as per the comments from username.

Most people have a reliable internet connection and even if it went down for 2 hours then you can just look another time. 

I regularly check my emails on my phone and if i see what i need to take action later then i just "snooze" it and it will remind me at a specific time/location or i can set a notification on Alexa/Google home or in a digital calendar which works far better than leaving paper lying around the house.

adamp87

spenderdave said:

Back to my original posting, it is not whether online statements are a good thing (I have mixed views) but the recent action at HSBC where they clearly changed many customers who had been having paper accounts for years to online without even asking them. My own notification last year implied it was just the current account being switched but they switched every other account in error.

I mean to be blunt it’s in the terms and conditions of the account that they can do what they want really. With modernisation it’s rare you get a choice, most time with many banks somethings changed I’ve had a letter a month or so in advance to warn me. Not a choice.

Option is to move and go elsewhere. But I think most already do this, charge or will be doing this eventually 

eddie7612

If you have access to a good laser printer you can often print the online statements in higher quality than the banks do themselves!

General_Grant

adamp87 said:

spenderdave said:

Back to my original posting, it is not whether online statements are a good thing (I have mixed views) but the recent action at HSBC where they clearly changed many customers who had been having paper accounts for years to online without even asking them. My own notification last year implied it was just the current account being switched but they switched every other account in error.

I mean to be blunt it’s in the terms and conditions of the account that they can do what they want really. With modernisation it’s rare you get a choice, most time with many banks somethings changed I’ve had a letter a month or so in advance to warn me. Not a choice.

Option is to move and go elsewhere. But I think most already do this, charge or will be doing this eventually 

So you know the T&C for every account that the OP has with HSBC?