Question - Should I be frustrated with HSBC?

ReubenjM

Hello all, I'm hoping you can help me. I'm keen to know if I have a right to be annoyed or I am being unreasonable. I am completely open to it being the latter.

To keep this short, my wife and I have a joint HSBC advance account. I am paid my salary into this account and it's also where 90% of all the direct debits, bills, club fees etc come out from. At the end of every month (on pay day), I take a good portion of money that is surplus to the required bills/standing orders/direct debits etc and I move it into our joint Monzo account. I leave a few hundred of surplus as reserves and will often pay this onto the credit card at the latter part of the week if not needed. Neither us use the debit card for anything and my wife has not accessed the account herself for around seven years.

Anyway, just under two weeks ago, without my knowledge, HSBC locked this account. It still functioned but on a few occasions I found myself confused when it wouldn't let me transfer money to friends or to my Monzo/credit card. Today I decided to ring up to find out what was going on.

They informed me over the phone that due to some letters for my wife going to an old address, they had locked it for security reasons. This is fair enough, but the issue for myself was that they didn't inform me so I could pre-empt the decision. They never called, text or sent me a letter. On the phone, I answered all the security questions to unlock the account but due to my wife also being on the account she has to do the same. Unfortunately, as she hasn't used HSBC internet banking at all and it's been so long since using a HSBC card, she couldn't answer her security questions. This has meant to unlock the account we have to now drive to an in-person branch 25 minutes away and show her photo ID. 

Again, I recognise they were simply trying to secure my account and protect me, but the fact they never gave me the heads up has now meant that I can't move money over to cover other costs which are timely. 

I explained I would like to issue a complaint for how this has been handled, but I'd just have peace of mind that I'm not being ridiculous.

Thanks!

Brie

So HSBC knows where your wife lives and still sent letters to an old address?  I'd be logging a complaint if that was the case.  State that you have been financially disadvantaged due to their error which results in you and wife having to take time off work losing wages and drive X miles to and from a branch which will cost you Y in petrol plus wear and tear on the car.  Might get you a tenner but that's better than nothing and will cost them 3 times that to process which might be satisfying. 

Out of interest did they state what type of ID would be needed?  If they didn't I might be tempted to show up with my library card and a work photo ID or something so that you can give them an extra kick.  

Hoenir

Regulatory requirements. 

KYC means Know Your Customer and sometimes Know Your Client. KYC or KYC check is the mandatory process of identifying and verifying the client's identity when opening an account and periodically over time. In other words, banks must ensure that their clients are genuinely who they claim to be.

If a trip wire is triggered the process will kick in. 

friolento

Brie said:

So HSBC knows where your wife lives and still sent letters to an old address? 

How are HSBC to know that a person lives at an address different from the one the person has given them?

ReubenjM said:

Again, I recognise they were simply trying to secure my account and protect me, but the fact they never gave me the heads up has now meant that I can't move money over to cover other costs which are timely. 

I think it is unreasonable of HSBC not to have tried to warn you that they would have to block your account due to an issue with the joint account holder. Whilst they weren't at liberty to tell you what the issue is about, it would have given you an opportunity to perhaps get the issue resolved without the inconvenience.

Brie

friolento said:

Brie said:

So HSBC knows where your wife lives and still sent letters to an old address? 

How are HSBC to know that a person lives at an address different from the one the person has given them?

ReubenjM said:

Again, I recognise they were simply trying to secure my account and protect me, but the fact they never gave me the heads up has now meant that I can't move money over to cover other costs which are timely. 

I think it is unreasonable of HSBC not to have tried to warn you that they would have to block your account due to an issue with the joint account holder. Whilst they weren't at liberty to tell you what the issue is about, it would have given you an opportunity to perhaps get the issue resolved without the inconvenience.

I assumed that both OP and wife would have updated their addresses with the bank when they moved.  And that the bank only clocked that with one account holder and not both of them.  

I do agree that it is unreasonable of HSBC to have not warned the OP given that, as the account is joint, they would know that either OP or wife could discuss anything about the account.  Unless, of course, they thought that OP had moved and left wife under that patio at the old address.

flaneurs_lobster

Neither my partner nor I have ever had a joint account so can someone tell me how much personal information about one holder can be shared with the other by the bank? Do the holders have to be in some kind of "relationship"? Do they have to share the same address?

born_again

Joint account do not have to share the same address. Some banks require each party to update their address when moving , rather than one party doing it. 
Security is one reason, so that should they split up, one party can not take control as well as to protect again financial abuse.
Pretty sure HSBC are on of these banks. This is one of the reasons that both parties need to have security set up on their accounts. 
Say something should happen to OP, then his wife is going to have to jump through hoops to sort the financial side out.

In reality no 2 parties would have a joint acc without some form of relationship, even if it only sharing the same property, although not living as a couple.

[Deleted User]

They can usually take instructions from either account holder for joint accounts but this definitely won't extend to solo products for the other partner. Many providers only allow a partner to update their own personal details even on joint accounts. 

Certainly complain but if they've not been properly informed then you might not get very far. 

friolento

[Deleted User] said:

They can usually take instructions from either account holder for joint accounts

This is true for financial transactions but I would be very surprised if it extended to personal information, such as the address of the other account holder. Address information must be kept personal and confidential as otherwise it would open the door to potential abuse, for example if one partner leaves the joint address in acrymoneous circumstances. 

hildasmuriel

You are right to be annoyed that you had no 'heads up' that there was a problem.
Even if you and the joint account holder were not partners, you would still be assumed to be the 'owner' of half of the account and have the right to know that the account was to be locked.

ReubenjM

Thanks everyone, due to a busy work schedule neither of us have been able to get to a branch yet, hopefully tomorrow... But until then, we're still locked out of the account. I was told complaints would call me yesterday but unfortunately nobody did. Been with HSBC for 28 years but it's very likely I jump ship when all of this is resolved. Bemused by their poor customer service.