HSBC Currency Account Exorbitant Fees

[Deleted User]

2chairs said:

[Deleted User] said:

pieroabcd said:

Isn't the UK still in the SEPA area?

The UK is a non-EU/EEA participant now - i.e. outside the Single Market. 

Regardless, the UK is still in the SEPA zone. 

It's not regardless - had the UK still been part of the EEA we would not be having this conversation as you wouldn't have been charged...

Mahogany4280

2chairs said:

2chairs said:

[Deleted User] said:

Probably better that you change the title as HSBC UK appear to have not charged you.
If you check currency cloud - you've likely made the mistake of sending Euro via SWIFT rather than a SEPA credit.

The HSBC website gives this information (as also posted by Grumbler above) 

"We don’t charge for any payments you make to other HSBC accounts. We also don’t apply any charges for payments in euros to another account in the EEA, regardless of the currency of your account."

However, HSBC UK have confirmed that HSBC France deducted the 31.50EUR. 

When you make a payment online there is no option to choose SEPA or SWIFT . 

I'd say that my statement is still correct - whether it was HSBC UK or France it's HSBC that have charged me according to their own call center and contrary to what it says on their website. 

Anyway I have raised a policy complaint and they are investigating. My issue is that because it's not clear why this happened, will it happen again and how to I get more funds to The Currency Account in the meantime...... 

As an update, I've had a response today from HSBC's complaints department. They have told me that in order to send EUR from my HSBC UK bank account to the Barclays UK bank account;
1. they had to route the funds via HSBC France (also called HSBC Continental Europe)
2. HSBC France has charged the 31.50

They claim it is perfectly clear on their website because there is a statement under the table (which shows no charges for sending Euros within the EEA) which says "Any transfer of money outside the UK may attract additional charges raised by the receiving bank and any non-UK bank needed for the transfer. HSBC has no control over these charges and cannot advise on their amounts."

They have closed my complaint as apparently it should be obvious that they would transfer the money outside the UK and they have said they don't have control over HSBC France charges (apparently it should be obvious that when they refer to HSBC that is HSBC UK and not HSBC group). 

I can't believe I would be the only one to whom this really ISN'T obvious. 
My only recourse now is to raise it with the Financial Ombudsman. 

Sorry for necroposting, but did you find a solution to this? I also fell for the exact same scam. This is an obvious scam.
I withdrew from my investment account 9700 Euros, which were sent by a German bank to HSBC UK Euro Currency account. So an obvious SEPA transfer from a EEA country. Only 9668 Euros arrived to my account, which means HSBC (Continental?) withheld 32 Euros(!!!) for a SEPA transfer in Euros, which they clearly state as completely fee-free. How is this not a false advertisement?
What is the purpose of this Currency account, when it's attracting such exorbitant fees for incoming transfers? This should be investigated by the Financial Ombudsman and/or the FCA as obviously false advertisement.
As a side note their "acclaimed" Global Money account does not support incoming transfers in any currency other than GBP, so it also cannot be used for this purpose.

sheramber

This should be investigated by the Financial Ombudsman and/or the FCA as obviously false advertisement.

Have you done that?

Mahogany4280

sheramber said:

This should be investigated by the Financial Ombudsman and/or the FCA as obviously false advertisement.

Have you done that?

This happened just today, so not yet but I'm definitely planning too. Just wanted to get some feedback about what happened with the above similar situation.

mad_max_99

Have exactly the same Problem with HSBC. They take 31.50 EUR per Transaction from my pension every month. Made some payments from the EU to other Bank in the UK, and there were no charges. It is clear HSBC is ripping us off.

Any solutions yet?

wmb194

mad_max_99 said:

Have exactly the same Problem with HSBC. They take 31.50 EUR per Transaction from my pension every month. Made some payments from the EU to other Bank in the UK, and there were no charges. It is clear HSBC is ripping us off.

Any solutions yet?

Can you use Wise? Can you use HSBC’s Global Money account to receive the funds? It integrates with your existing HSBC Internet banking and offers good rates and zero commission.

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/current-accounts/products/global-money/

Marchitiello

wmb194 said:

mad_max_99 said:

Have exactly the same Problem with HSBC. They take 31.50 EUR per Transaction from my pension every month. Made some payments from the EU to other Bank in the UK, and there were no charges. It is clear HSBC is ripping us off.

Any solutions yet?

Can you use Wise? Can you use HSBC’s Global Money account to receive the funds? It integrates with your existing HSBC Internet banking and offers good rates and zero commission.

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/current-accounts/products/global-money/

I have just noticed that my global money has finally been assigned with a working IBAN, which it did not have originally and thus needed  the relevant currency accounts alongside (my case USD and EUR).

I have only ever used my Currency Accounts to receive Money from Wise and my other continental accounts and was never charged, which looks to have been lucky event at this point… 

nyermen

31.50 EUR seems high, sepa is pretty cheap.  Suspect it is indeed going via SWIFT?  (especially with mentions of correspondent banks).  That or HSBC France is taking a big chunk of commission.

Edit: This https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/what-is-sepa/ seems to confirm they must be using swift.

pecunianonolet

Used my € currency account plenty of times to receive Euro and if I wanted to send it I just transferred it from currency to Global Money account and could spend it or send it to my € account in another EU country. Never been charged anything. 

Being charged fees for transactions within the EEA seems like it is a user error using the wrong method rather than a bank error. 

Use currency account to receive Euro

Use Global Money to send Euro or any other currency

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/currency-account/

mlz1413

I'm with HSBC and I live the Global Currency account they offer.

I just put in the amount I want and spend it via the global card with no fees.  Even getting cash out in a different country. 

You get shown the exchange rate before any transfer.

I haven't personal moved more than £2000 for holiday use, but every transaction I have made has been fee free.