Rejected for Bank account upgrade - HSBC

CliveOfIndia

stitchmaker85 said:

So as far as the advice that the rejected account upgrade would have a very negative impact on his credit score, and not do anything else for a while, are HSBC talking rubbish there?

They're not talking entirely rubbish.  They'll be referring to their own internal score - which is very different to the meaningless score you see on your credit report.

Broadly speaking, any lender will look at the data contained within your credit record, but they may also supplement that with their own internal records that they've kept during their relationship with you as a customer.

From what's been said on this thread, I strongly suspect that there will be nothing adverse reported on your credit history - and therefore, nothing adverse will be visible to any other lender.  HSBC have decided that they don't want to do further business with you, at least for the time being - whether that's down solely to the bounced DD or something else, you'll probably never know.  But that won't affect how any other lender views you (with the possible exception of a lender within the same group - I will admit I'm not sure whether banks share data amongst their subsidiaries).  For example, I do know that M&S bank is part of the HSBC group, so whether M&S would also reject you, I don't know.

stitchmaker85

Richard1212 said:

Richard1212 said:

When I first upgraded to NatWest Black Account, I had to meet stringent financial criteria such as having £100k sole income, £100k savings or investments with NWest or a mortgage with them of £500k or more. I assume HSBC use similar criteria for upgrading to a higher current account. Are HSBC being "diplomatic" ( though "diplomatic bank" is a huge oxymoron) and finding some minor excuse for turning down the application because your husband does not meet the financial criteria ? Just a thought, as I hadn't noticed this aspect mentioned in the thread so far, though I'm sure you took this on board before making the application-------+ I don't know how HSBC's criteria compare to NatWest.

As nobody has followed up this point, I'd just like to add that I have googled HSBC's criteria for upgrading current accounts and they have similar financial criteria to the ones mentioned in my previous post that must be met, just like my NatWest higher grade account. Does your husband meet the financial criteria for an upgraded account please ? 

Yes as far as I can tell. He was wanting to upgrade his Basic account (he's had it years) to a Normal Current account. I don't know if there are criteria for the earnings limit but he's not exactly on minimum wage.

And in HSBC's own words, the reason they gave us for the rejection is "due to a recent missed payment", not because he didn't meet the criteria.

Emmia

stitchmaker85 said:

Richard1212 said:

Richard1212 said:

When I first upgraded to NatWest Black Account, I had to meet stringent financial criteria such as having £100k sole income, £100k savings or investments with NWest or a mortgage with them of £500k or more. I assume HSBC use similar criteria for upgrading to a higher current account. Are HSBC being "diplomatic" ( though "diplomatic bank" is a huge oxymoron) and finding some minor excuse for turning down the application because your husband does not meet the financial criteria ? Just a thought, as I hadn't noticed this aspect mentioned in the thread so far, though I'm sure you took this on board before making the application-------+ I don't know how HSBC's criteria compare to NatWest.

As nobody has followed up this point, I'd just like to add that I have googled HSBC's criteria for upgrading current accounts and they have similar financial criteria to the ones mentioned in my previous post that must be met, just like my NatWest higher grade account. Does your husband meet the financial criteria for an upgraded account please ? 

Yes as far as I can tell. He was wanting to upgrade his Basic account (he's had it years) to a Normal Current account. I don't know if there are criteria for the earnings limit but he's not exactly on minimum wage.

And in HSBC's own words, the reason they gave us for the rejection is "due to a recent missed payment", not because he didn't meet the criteria.

The criteria for changing will be both that published e.g. income level, and also whatever internal criteria they have.

If he's looking to get a "non-basic" account, then he could open one elsewhere, if HSBC don't want his business. 

sourcrates

You don`t need to jump through a very high hoop to be considered for a current account, its likely the previous issue discussed may have been the reason why he was rejected, banks have timeframes that they work within, so any late or missed payments within a certain period will result in a rejection etc etc.

He may try again in 6 months and be accepted, that`s the way the system works.

Coutts Bank, for example require you to -

"Have assets of at least £1 million, or plan to borrow or invest at least £1 million with Coutts".

In order for them to offer you Banking services, I doubt HSBC`s acceptance criteria will be quiet so harsh.

Grumpy_chap

Richard1212 said:

As nobody has followed up this point, I'd just like to add that I have googled HSBC's criteria for upgrading current accounts and they have similar financial criteria to the ones mentioned in my previous post that must be met, just like my NatWest higher grade account. Does your husband meet the financial criteria for an upgraded account please ? 

HSBC have three "grades" of current account:
 - Bank Account
 - Advance (where you need to qualify for £1k overdraft)
 - Premier (which has the income / borrowing / savings criteria)

It seems as though the OP was upgrading to Advance rather than Premier:

stitchmaker85 said:

Yes as far as I can tell. He was wanting to upgrade his Basic account (he's had it years) to a Normal Current account. I don't know if there are criteria for the earnings limit but he's not exactly on minimum wage.

And in HSBC's own words, the reason they gave us for the rejection is "due to a recent missed payment", not because he didn't meet the criteria.

It seems as though that missed payment has flagged against the "qualify for an overdraft" criteria

eskbanker

Grumpy_chap said:

Richard1212 said:

As nobody has followed up this point, I'd just like to add that I have googled HSBC's criteria for upgrading current accounts and they have similar financial criteria to the ones mentioned in my previous post that must be met, just like my NatWest higher grade account. Does your husband meet the financial criteria for an upgraded account please ? 

HSBC have three "grades" of current account:
 - Bank Account
 - Advance (where you need to qualify for £1k overdraft)
 - Premier (which has the income / borrowing / savings criteria)

It seems as though the OP was upgrading to Advance rather than Premier:

stitchmaker85 said:

Yes as far as I can tell. He was wanting to upgrade his Basic account (he's had it years) to a Normal Current account. I don't know if there are criteria for the earnings limit but he's not exactly on minimum wage.

And in HSBC's own words, the reason they gave us for the rejection is "due to a recent missed payment", not because he didn't meet the criteria.

It seems as though that missed payment has flagged against the "qualify for an overdraft" criteria

Surely there are four levels in their product hierarchy, with Basic being the bottom rung of the ladder, and OP's husband is trying to upgrade from Basic to Bank Account, rather than Bank to Advance, i.e. criteria should be less onerous?

Grumpy_chap

eskbanker said:

Surely there are four levels in their product hierarchy, with Basic being the bottom rung of the ladder, and OP's husband is trying to upgrade from Basic to Bank Account, rather than Bank to Advance, i.e. criteria should be less onerous?

I think you may well be correct.
I looked at the website yesterday and interpreted "Bank Account" as the HSBC branding for their "Basic" account offering.  Looking today, from a different search string, it does seem as though there are for tiers of current account (plus their 'targeted' account such as "Student", "Graduate" etc).

adamp87

My advice would be to try somewhere like Halifax for a ‘full current account’. They are usually much leaner.

If your partner originally could only get a basic account with HSBC (whom are strict to begin with) I’d assume that there was an issue as to why basic was only offered. This could be no history, prior debts/defaults/negative fiscal history. 

It could be their internal score for your partner never changes much more to be honest,

moving to another bank might be a better option and as a new customer they won’t be using internal history of your partner to reject the account for the missed direct debit if that was the case

Of course they could decline either way but I think Halifax, Lloyd's or even Starling/Monzo would be worth a shout if you want a normal current account. The latter don’t have branches but can be opened in a few minutes if they accept you.

stitchmaker85

thanks for all your responses.

We are looking at moving him to Starling bank but are going to wait the 3 months before doing so as HSBC advised, as we are panicking about him getting rejected again. I am wondering if he will need to close his HSBC first as far as I can see, you are only allowed one bank account if it's a basic one, even with another bank.

I am a lot more tied to HSBC though as I've been with them for 20 years, 2 current accounts, multiple savings accounts and credit card, I like having it all in one place and it would be a huge headache to move it all (I know that most places offer a switching service, but I really don't trust that everything will go smoothly and that we won't end up with missed payments to try and sort out and have that affecting credit history etc.)

Emmia

stitchmaker85 said:

thanks for all your responses.

We are looking at moving him to Starling bank but are going to wait the 3 months before doing so as HSBC advised, as we are panicking about him getting rejected again. I am wondering if he will need to close his HSBC first as far as I can see, you are only allowed one bank account if it's a basic one, even with another bank.

I am a lot more tied to HSBC though as I've been with them for 20 years, 2 current accounts, multiple savings accounts and credit card, I like having it all in one place and it would be a huge headache to move it all (I know that most places offer a switching service, but I really don't trust that everything will go smoothly and that we won't end up with missed payments to try and sort out and have that affecting credit history etc.)

I think it's a bit nuts to have everything with a single bank - what if they decide they no longer want your custom, and shut everything? Or, you get defrauded and they empty the lot...

I run current accounts with 2 providers, in different banking groups (one of which is HSBC) with high st branches- I have savings with both, and held with providers elsewhere, and 2 credit cards (but not one.with HSBC)

I use 1 provider for my salary payments, and the other for my day-to-day spending, which helps me budget.