I now bank online with three companies: Egg, Barclays, and HSBC (although I still keep wanting to call them Midland!).
I started with Barclays, both the normal account and Barclaycard, and those two services were almost enough to put me off online banking for good! Eggs service was better, but not enough to restore my faith.
I hardly ever use my HSBC account - there are three standing orders / Direct Debits coming out of it, but other than that it’s just an account I took out for the special student offer, so I saw no reason to ever sign up with their online banking service.
That was until I got a letter from HSBC complaining that a Direct Debit had been put through, and their was insufficient funds to process it. *What* I though, entering a mad panic. ‘But I put some money in for this month, what’s happened?’ I rooted around for my last statement, but realised I’d consigned it to the bin in my last tidy up. (You may not be able to guess if you saw what passes for a floor here,
but I do tidy up once a month you know.) So, what could I do?
‘I’d log on to their online banking but it’s probably rubbish’ I thought. Then I realised that the rest of HBSC is pretty good compared to Barclays, so maybe the same could be said about their online banking.
A trip to the HSBC web site showed an online banking button in the top right hand corner. I clicked on it and was presented with some options such as personal / business / tour / register. ‘Oh no, I’m not registered!’ I thought. ‘I want to know *today* not in a weeks time when they post out my passcode...’
I decided to try anyway and got a pleasant surprise. All I needed was my date of birth, the security number I chose when I opened the account, my account number and my sort code. Once those were entered I was allocated an Internet banking number (a code that starts IB then has a string of numbers after it.) and was allowed to get in straight away.
Instant registration! A novel concept that many other banks could learn from.
The web site itself, like the standard HSBC site, is quite simple and fairly low on graphics compared to others of its type. It’s quite speedy and reliable too. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it even works in Opera, my current browser of choice.
When you log in you are greeted by a page informing you of planned improvements to the service, and, further down the screen is a message telling you when you last logged in, with instructions to contact them if that information gives you any security concerns. It’s comforting to see that they care about security like that.
When logging in I have managed to mistype my details a couple of times - strings of numbers can be a pain, but so far I’ve never been locked out of my account for my mistakes. I understand the motives of sites that do that, but personally I find that many banking sites are far too strict over the number of mistakes they allow. HSBC seem to have taken the right line with this though.
Once you’re in you do have to enter you security number to confirm many actions, and it does get slightly irritating, so I’d encourage anyone signing up for a HSBC account to pick a security number that is simple to type, obviously not something like 123456, but something that won’t leave you making mistakes all the time either!]
There is a ‘user guide’ which is really a small introduction to the service and some extra T&Cs. It may be useful to some people but personally I find the service so easy to use that a guide isn’t necessary.
Check balances View statement information Transfer money between accounts Make payments (see payments & transfers section for cut-off times) Pay bills View details of standing orders and Direct Debits held View credit card balances and statements Send specific messages to the bank for common requests such as cancelling a standing order Download information to software packages”
If you have more than one account then you can view the balances of all of them at the same time, and select which ones you want to perform actions on. You can also transfer money between accounts, and have the option of setting a date for the transfer up to one year away. At the moment transfers do not take place immediately, but they do plan to introduce immediate transactions soon.
You have the option to either view your statements online, or download your statements in either .csv format (basically a text file so it should open in most spreadsheet programs.) or as quicken or Microsoft money compatible files. You can also choose to have those files zipped to save on download times. As a Microsoft Money user I find those options very handy.
Viewing standing orders and Direct Debits is a nice feature, and you can cancel Direct Debits online quite easily, although if the Direct Debit you wish to cancel is due to be paid within the following two days they recommend you call the bank to cancel it instead of use the online service.
There is a section for changing your address details, and also a list of useful telephone numbers.
The service logs you out after a period of inactivity. The period is around five minutes, and I don’t feel that such a period is long enough, although it’s easy enough to log back in again, and it’s a nice, simple security measure. I’d rather be logged out frequently than find it impossible to get in in the first place.
The main possible downside is that they do their maintenance between Midnight Saturday and 8AM Sunday and while maintenance work is going on their Online Banking service is not available. They say the work is usually finished by 8AM Sunday so I’m guessing that the service may only be inaccessible for a short period on some occasions, but since I have not tried to access the service at those times I can’t confirm that. Who wants to manage their finances at 3AM on a Sunday though! Actually, don’t answer that, it’s probably a common pastime....
All in all I think that HSBC have the best online banking service I’ve ever seen. It’s fast, reliable, easy to use, clear, and does everything I want it to do. By comparison, Egg are slow and unreliable, and also fiddly to use (you have to enter your life story to gain access, or so it feels!) and Barclays goes over the top on security to the point that you cannot use the service. They also have pages that take an age to use and a screen design that is impossible to use and in many places difficult to read. Using a browser other than Internet Explorer is considered a crime.
HSBC, on the other hand, have paid a lot more attention to use-ability whilst still implementing some sensible security measures. They’ve created a service that does everything you want whilst being accessible to those who don’t just use Internet Explorer, and don’t have high speed connections. The integration with Microsoft Money is a wonderful feature. I realise they aren’t the only bank to offer it but it’s still a plus.
HSBC isn’t my main bank account at the moment, but I am seriously considering switching over to them purely because their online banking is so good.
I urge all HSBC users to try this service, and everyone who is looking for a new bank to sign up with them!
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(¯`•¸·´¯) Excellent review, well written. Enjoyed reading. Verna :) (¯`·¸•´¯)
elkiedee 05.01.2005 01:43
3 am no, but midnight/1 am probably! All my colleagues seem to use HSBC online banking though I wouldn't do that at work because of security issues. I registered but kept losing the info to get in, must try again as I do have two other online accounts which I just about know how to work with online and this is my current account bank so it would help!!! Luci
Deru 11.10.2004 00:11
"Who wants to manage their finances at 3AM on a Sunday though! " I DO! LOL. Completely agree with you though. I had to phone up to sign up at the time but I use it frequently. I pay my bill through it...well, if I have enough money in my accounts that is.
Oct 2nd, 2002
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
