HSBC Behaviour score

brookerbabyisababy

Thanks for your quick response. It is odd that an organisation would go against people using the cashpoint - when every one does it so so often.

Does getting rejected for something from the bank affect the score?

loveandlight

I am ranked number one by both HSBC and Lloyds and have been for many years. I know this because they both told me this a couple of years ago and again just before Christmas. They also said how rare it is to come across someone who is in the first rank.

However, despite what you read and other say, it has no bearing at all on how much money you have, whether or not you own property and how frequently you use the cashpoint machine and it is no guarantee the bank will offer you money easily. You can still get rejected from the bank despite having this level of ranking.

If you want to know how they rate you just go in and ask.

I didn't do anything special. I have had these accounts for many years and always made sure that I have never been overdrawn apart from twice and even then I had an agreed overdraft in place and I have never ever bounced a cheque. I do use the cashpoint a lot and I have moved around a lot but like the article says, it is a behaviour score and I suppose because I have never given the bank any problems they have rated me accordingly. Hope that helps.

brookerbabyisababy

I don't think I will be ranked highly. Although this is very interesting. I wonder if an company like HSBC would share its information with First Direct as it is owned by the same people.

MABLE

loveandlight wrote: »

I am ranked number one by both HSBC and Lloyds and have been for many years. I know this because they both told me this a couple of years ago and again just before Christmas. They also said how rare it is to come across someone who is in the first rank.

However, despite what you read and other say, it has no bearing at all on how much money you have, whether or not you own property and how frequently you use the cashpoint machine and it is no guarantee the bank will offer you money easily. You can still get rejected from the bank despite having this level of ranking.

If you want to know how they rate you just go in and ask.

I didn't do anything special. I have had these accounts for many years and always made sure that I have never been overdrawn apart from twice and even then I had an agreed overdraft in place and I have never ever bounced a cheque. I do use the cashpoint a lot and I have moved around a lot but like the article says, it is a behaviour score and I suppose because I have never given the bank any problems they have rated me accordingly. Hope that helps.

With Loyds they have a rating from 0 the lowest risk to 9 the highest. No way can you stay constantly at 1 with them. I have even spoken to a manager of Lloyds and for no obvious reason he went up to 9 one month and dropped down again. I too have been with them for years and have an excellent record and my rating can vary between 1 and 3.

loveandlight

I am sorry you don't agree with what I have put MABLE but I am only repeating what the banks have told me. I merely replied to this thread to make the point that you don't have to have money or property and neither do you have to avoid using the cashpoint in order to rank high with the bank.

The way I have used my accounts has not changed in nearly 30 years so maybe the length of time also has something to do with it. I don't particularly care what my rating is anyway as I don't like banks and the least contact I have with them the better.

I didn't ask them for my ranking, they told me as they seem to take great delight in telling me.

I don't see what relevance being a bank manager is, as they are no different to the rest of us.

_Andy_

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

I don't think I will be ranked highly. Although this is very interesting. I wonder if an company like HSBC would share its information with First Direct as it is owned by the same people.

No, different companies.

_Andy_

loveandlight wrote: »

I am ranked number one by both HSBC and Lloyds and have been for many years. I know this because they both told me this a couple of years ago and again just before Christmas. They also said how rare it is to come across someone who is in the first rank.

HSBC were presumably referring to your 'value score' which is an additional measurement, ranging from one to five.

However, despite what you read and other say, it has no bearing at all on how much money you have, whether or not you own property and how frequently you use the cashpoint machine and it is no guarantee the bank will offer you money easily.

The above are factors which will/can affect your b/score and are not exhaustive.

You can still get rejected from the bank despite having this level of ranking.

Agreed but a b/score of 70+ will go massively in your favour for borrowings.

efallai

kbw271186 wrote: »

Hi all,

Could you tell me the best way to get a good behaviour score with HSBC and is this out of 100?

Many thanks & a Happy New Year! :beer:

Hi everyone

Just to briefly give you a breakdown of the scores from my experience which you can read below if you wish:

0-39 - Low - they wouldn't mind if you left and would not offer you any 'standard' products or borrowing

40-49 - Average - you would qualify for 'standard' products such as current/savings accounts, and a Maestro debt/cheque guarantee card

50+ - You would now qualify for borrowing from them, including loans and overdrafts (Not really sure how the higher scores go, sorry)

If you want to know your score, just ask in your branch or call telephone banking - some people are really helpful, others won't give it out. If they tell you that they can't see it, they're lying as it's on the first screen of your customer profile (and no, I don't work for HSBC, I'm just extremely inquisitive and look to see what mine is every time I go in and can see the right hand side of the screen!)

Also, HSBC are the only bank that I've banked with that (to my knowledge) haven't checked with a credit reference agency when I got their credit card, or asked for an increase to my overdraft, so by operating your account well, helps to get more products with them. (They credit check you when you open a brand new current account though.)

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Just thought that I'd add my experience of HSBCs behaviour scoring to this thread. I was unaware of this internal scoring system until last Summer.

At the time I had a current account and a mastercard with them. coming towards the end of the month I had a few hundred pounds left in my account and decided to pay it to my mastercard which I did using their internet banking. I didn't check the account for a few days and had no reason to use my card, but the next time I logged in I saw that I was overdrawn (without an overdraft facility in place) and that my £300 payment to my credit card account had been duplicated by the system. Only one £300 payment was made, but a £30(ish) charge was applied because the duplicated payment was refused, making me overdrawn but then a 0.79p direct debit for itunes was returned as they would not pay due to my account being overdrawn.

I called them, they were most helpful, refunded my charge and applied an overdraft to my account just in case something should go wrong with my payments on internet banking again.

I was happy as everything seemed to be sorted - until.... a fortnight later, my partner and I (partner also banks with HSBC) went to open a joint current account, and when looking at my profile on the computer I was told that they were not willing to offer me any more products due to the way in which "I choose to run my accounts"!!

I enquired further and was openly explained the behaviour scoring system. Because not only had I entered an overdraft that didn't exist and a direct debit subsequently failed, this showed "high-risk" behaviour. I asked if I could challenge the score due to the fact it was through their system's fault that this happened, and that my previous running of the accounts was perfect. They told me that it was impossible to override the system generated score. Out of a perfect 100, I was only 18 and was told that if the same happened in the current month they would most likely cancel my maestro card and issue me with a withdrawal book :mad:!!!

I was outraged, but my partner was not willing to leave HSBC and bank elsewhere so I asked for some advice on how to improve it and they said that maintaining a credit balance (rather than spending down to zero waiting for payday) and never missing payments, not having your HSBC credit card right up to the limit and succesfully applying for more products with HSBC would look much better. Also, if like me and you work in the NHS, or anywhere that gives you an incremental salary increase, make sure you call telephone banking or go into the branch and ask them to update your profile to reflect your new salary (I think they have thresholds on products you're entitled to by salary - in 2006 I changed jobs and had a salary increase. Months later when I updated it in the branch, I immediately qualified for the aforementioned credit card which I now have.)

So anyway, that month I cleared around £3000 off my credit card keeping only about 10% of the limit on there, and kept my current account balance at no less than £2000. By the 7th of the next month I had only gone up to 38 and was told that I still didn't qualify for a normal current account!! I did the same for another month and my score only went up to 43, but was high enough to open a normal joint current account.

In addition to the joint current account we have since also opened a joint savings account and I have opened my own savings account so now have a total of 5 products and my score is into the 50s.

Also, just to add, even though my partner and I both credited around £1500 pay to our accounts every month, he's had an overdraft since he was 18 and has a personal loan with them, never missed a payment or had a bounced direct debit/SO/cheque and keeps a minimum balance of around a few hundred pounds in the account; when we actually opened the joint account we asked what his score was and we were told it was 79 and that apart from mortgages and huge loans where he would be externally credit checked, he would be accepted for ANY HSBC product he asked for! So I think we can all see the moral of the story if you want HSBC to be favourable towards you!

Apologies for writing such a large reply, but really hope that this information can help you all out as a lot of bank clerks can be hostile when you ask for your score.

Marc

brookerbabyisababy

Thank you Marc for your really helpful post. I've also been looking at what increasing my score as I want to apply for a credit card with them but was refused recently. I have a current account and savings with them. How many months would you wait before re-applying again and doing exactly what?

efallai

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

Thank you Marc for your really helpful post. I've also been looking at what increasing my score as I want to apply for a credit card with them but was refused recently. I have a current account and savings with them. How many months would you wait before re-applying again and doing exactly what?

Firstly, ask them what your score is. My score was in the low 50s when they offered me the card so if yours in the high 30s-mid 40s, after a month of being really careful with your account, not letting anything bounce if you can help it, and also, I forgot to mention in my last post - use your debit card for everything you can rather than using the ATM for cash. If HSBC are the merchant's bank that authorise the card they get the authorisation fee but they can also see where you're spending, your score should have improved. Also definitely make sure that your salary is up to date with them - when they offered me my card I was 19 and only on about £18k and the limit was £3000. I had membership with CreditExpert and when I checked I hadn't even been credit checked so it all went on my behaviour with the bank.

But just to be sure, I'd look after your accounts for about 3 months and that should have boosted your score.

Let me know how you're doing with them as it would be great to hear another experience with HSBC. When I went through all of the problems last summer I searched on here and could find nothing about the scoring.

All the best

Marc