I have banked with HSBC for the past few years and I must say that I am very happy with the service I have received so far. I will go through the products I have with them and let you know my thoughts!
Student Account
The student account is a really good account in comparison with the ... Read review
Advantages: Competitive, wide range, professional. Disadvantages: Not a seamless service. Lack of branches.
I have banked with HSBC for the past few years and I must say that I am very happy with the service I have received so far. I will go through the products I have with them and let you know my thoughts!
Student Account
The student account is a really good account in comparison with the current market - some banks make the huge overdrafts the selling point, but HSBC are striving towards being a responsible lender, and they have ... ...5.25%). I also find HSBC to be very fair with default charges - this their "Fair Charges Policy": 1) you will not have to pay fees for being overdrawn by £10 or less. 2) You will not have to pay more in fees than you are overdrawn by in your charging month, so a £15 overdraft will not cost you £50. The account also comes with fantastic discounts at BT, Dell booksofcourse.com, CD WOW! BSM, iwantoneofthose.com, Lonely Planet, The Pier and ... more
I have banked with HSBC for the past few years and I must say that I am very happy with the service I have received so far. I will go through the products I have with them and let you know my thoughts!
Student Account The student account is a really good account in comparison with the current market - some banks make the huge overdrafts the selling point, but HSBC are striving towards being a responsible lender, and they have all overdrafts based on status. Standard limit for a first year is £1000, 2nd year is £1250, third is £1500. Based on status, you may get more than those limit but they are charged at 3% above the Base Rate (currently 5.25%). I also find HSBC to be very fair with default charges - this their "Fair Charges Policy": 1) you will not have to pay fees for being overdrawn by £10 or less. 2) You will not have to pay more in fees than you are overdrawn by in your charging month, so a £15 overdraft will not cost you £50. The account also comes with fantastic discounts at BT, Dell booksofcourse.com, CD WOW! BSM, iwantoneofthose.com, Lonely Planet, The Pier and Blockbuster. Student advisors are also available and the website offers a budget planner to manage finances online.
Bank Account Plus I have two bank accounts with them and I opened the Plus account to take advantage of its countless features. The price at first put me off, but when you add the benefits up it is a good package - especially if you're like me and like to travel! The deal I got was £9.95 for the first 6 months and £12.95 for the next. You get annual travel insurance, preferential rates on overdraft, credit balance and on the Flex Saver and ISA accounts, discounts from loads of hotels, restaurants and day trip operators, price promise insurance (which is handy as everything I buy goes on sale the say after I buy it!), cash back on interest paid on the Credit Card and loads more - you would be best checking the website for full details. For £3.23 a week at most its not that badly priced, but they are constantly adding features to it so I don't mind paying for it.
Savings I have quite a few savings accounts as I do have plans to make myself rich at some point (!) - I have given all the rates as AER so that the tax deducted from Gross doesn't mess your opinions. I have the Flex Saver which is your 'Average Joe' Savings account with the 3.50AER. I use that for random little leftovers from wages which I will dip into whenever! I have the Online Saver with the 5.75AER (if you make withdrawals you get no interest for that month - its pain on the neck but do help me save). My ISA has a preferential rate of 5.50AER due to my holding the Plus Account, and I have the Regular Saver which boasted an 8% interest rate, but they have now informed me that it has gone up to 10% due to the new feature added to the Plus account!! Nationwide bank even has an advert for "banks letting you down with regular savings" - HSBC isn't one of them!
Credit Card We love them but can't live without them! My Credit Card with HSBC has had a few problems in it's time, but nothing that wasn't sorted out promptly. I had a fraudulent transaction on the card, and HSBC had it resolved within 3 weeks - which I believe to be a timely fashion. Knowing my consumer rights I called them and immediately they sent me a Declaration form, to dispute the transaction. The amount was credited back to my account and I was sent to new card to make sure the fraudsters didn't have my new details. Three weeks may sound like a long time but one does have to remember that the banks ONLY obligation is to prove that it is in fact fraud. If they cannot see that it was fraud then you are liable for it unless you have taken out extra protection. To prove that it is in fact fraud they need to liaise with the merchant to get it resolved. I had ordered a replacement card a few months back which was going to be sent to the branch (which is ages away as they only have 3 so far in Scotland - definitely a negative!) but the card didn't arrive. I sent a message on the online banking (I hate giving people an earful down the phone) to say what had happened. They transferred the funds I needed for my shopping from the Credit Card to the bank account, refunded the charge for the transfer, and credited my card with £20 goodwill. I was annoyed, but they did take ownership and solve my problem for me - and they did it willingly.
Health Plan I wear glasses so I took out this health plan to let me get £100 cash back from purchasing glasses and dental work per year. Considering my glasses costs me around £150 a year I felt it would be of good use. Other features of it are 24-hour Health Information Helpline which is a free phone number, you can have dependant children under 18 added to policy for same benefits and same cost, and you can also claim for time spent in hospital. Up to £300 of alternative health can be claimed which includes chiropody, physiotherapy, acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic and homeopathy. The premiums come out my wage and are free of tax.
Online & Telephone Banking The online banking with HSBC is much better than most bank sites - it is a plain profile of the accounts held, showing the names of the accounts and the account numbers. To the left is a panel with different buttons sorted into categories MY Accounts, My details, my offers. You can make payments, set up direct debits, standing orders, apply for account, transfer money, check recent transactions and order PINs. The telephone banking is something I use as rarely as possible as I hate discussing my accounts. When I have called, everyone bar one staff member has been lovely and helpful - and he was reported! I demand the best for me and my money! Over the telephone they really do take the time to build up rapport and offer you products and services that they think would suit you - many people see it as purely sales but the way I see it is that I would have a basic bank account and rubbishy savings if people at the bank didn't make such an effort to make sure I made the most of my money.
Overall, I like banking with HSBC and have very few negative points. I respect them for being very proactive - particularly with default charges as I know they were one of the banks offering to help the OFT with making charges fair and have always conducted a sound approach to charges and refunds. With the Farepak disaster at Christmas 2006 - HSBC ran a hug campaign to help the victims and publicly promoted to make sure all HSBC customers affected knew that HSBC was willing to help. Also, they are very pro-active about global warming - if you look to their website you will see the "Green Sale" banners.
Many criticize it for "jumping on the Indian Call Centre band wagon" but in reality - they are a foreign bank. They don't just use India; they have call centres in Manila, all over the UK and Malta. I do agree that their service isn't as seamless as one would hope - to discuss numerous accounts you may see yourself being transferred from one area to another which can be time consuming, particularly if it is busy and you are on hold. If staff were multi-skilled I think it would be much better for customers.
I think they do a wonderful job at managing my accounts, paying my bills and keeping me informed about how I could manage my money to get the best out of it. They are a very approachable, professional and friendly bank which has a general attitude of wanting to help.
Advantages: High Street Bank Disadvantages: High Street Bank
...in a tight corner.
HSBC (it’s known as Honkers and Shankers in the City!) and I go back to the days when it was The Midland Bank. It’ll be thirty five years this year. I don’t like to dash into doing an opinion, you see. I opened an account with them because they were convenient. If they’d been any closer to where I lived I’d have been living in the strongroom. In those days it didn’t really make a lot of difference which Bank you used, they were ... ...going to like you and HSBC is no different in this respect. Nor, indeed, should it be. It’s a publicly quoted company and it’s the shareholders who ultimately pay if money proves to be irrecoverable. Quite rightly they’re not keen on this, so HSBC has a firm (some say aggressive) approach to such accounts. I do think that they could be better at communicating with people and helping them to understand their finances, but I wouldn’t recommend them ...
SueMagee 30.06.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of HSBC
Advantages: A good bank when tailored to suit my needs. Disadvantages: Overcharging for use of cash machines.
...them. I have been with HSBC for twenty years, and whilst not the perfect bank, it does cover my needs quite adequately, in that my bills are paid on a regular basis in an orderly manner, my statements arrive on time and are detailed enough to give me the information I need to know, and their Internet Banking service compares well against my other Banks, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays.
The problem stems from people not understanding how ... ...it works", and then grumbling. HSBC offers me a lot of things that I don't like, need or desire. For example, I never asked them to give me an evaluation of my account on a regular basis showing graphs of how much I overspent, but they send it anyway. I never asked for increases in my credit card allowances, although they gave them to me anyway. What I do ask for is personal service. It's my money. The bank should and does work for me, although only ...
thingywhatsit 05.09.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of HSBC
Advantages: Use the phone or the Internet Disadvantages: Waiting times, nobody's perfect
...way that Midland - or HSBC as they now are - have responded to those changes. I've divided the rest of this opinion into three areas reflecting the main ways that I can carry out my banking, describing how these benefit me and how HSBC performs in each case. BRANCHING OUT
The handy thing about being with a High Street Bank is that you can go down to the high street and walk into a branch. I must confess that this is the option I use the least but ... ...I have walked into several HSBC branches and asked for information and in each case have had a useful conversation with a helpful and personable individual. It may have been the janitor for all I know, but they all seemed very nice.
Oooh! Just thought of another one. Blimey, I'm almost getting excited. Foreign exchange. Should you require it in advance, you can get it here via Thomas Cook who have representatives in many (if not all) of the branches. ...
Paiceyjohn 29.05.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of HSBC
...have now been banking with HSBC for about a year, I'm not one to visit branches so I find their internet banking facility brilliant, it's very easy to use, you can bounce between your savings,current account and credit card account - if you have one (you guessed it... I do!) When you check your balances you can also see all transactions on all accounts, including your credit card The transfer of money between them is very self explanatory & simple, ... ...internet bank myself...! I find HSBC one of the most attractive & easiest to use. I'm not the best person at handling or budgeting my money & since I've used the internet I haven't had a problem, I've never gone over my overdraft and budget a lot better. I know exactly where I am with my money & can transfer between account which is updated instantly for any of the unexpected shopping I do regular!
I have never had to call the helpdesk with any ...
Redhead 04.05.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of HSBC
...personal needs centred around your HSBC premier bank account.
Opening the account This was pretty routine, I simply had to fill out the paper work, and produce two forms of identification for each account (I have two children) one with proof of name, e.g. passport and one verifying permanent address (of course this was just a formality as we lived in the same street!) and of course the cheque for the opening balance. That was it! Within a week they ... ...example the interest rate on HSBC current account is the standard rate of 0.10%. The HSBC premier bank account has tiered levels of interest, if the account balance is £2,000 then the interest is 0.20% and this rises gradually, when the account balance is £100,000 the interest rate is 0.99% (we are talking gross interest here)
· You are also given a HSBC premier debit card with £250 cheque guaranteed facility. This card allows you to withdraw up ...
redpen 02.08.2003 (14.08.2003)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of HSBC
Advantages: Saves lots of time Disadvantages: Very few
I have had a current account with the HSBC for many years and have not had any problems or hassles that I can think of, I know that many of you will have had bad experiences for one reason or another but I have not. My main moan however is that over the last couple of years it has become increasingly difficult to contact my branch or to see someone in person as most branches only open a few hours a day and now even the two main branches where I live are no longer staffed on Saturdays. As I both work full time Monday to Fridays and I also have my own business I was finding it ever more difficult to get to a branch and so when I was told about their online banking facility I decided to give it a go.
Of course I had the usual concerns about security but a friend had recommended the online banking to me and I was assured that in the event ...
Advantages: It is simple, easy to use and just excellent Disadvantages: You need the internet to use it
HSBC INTERNET BANKING ? www.hsbc.co.uk
I have decided to write this opinion, because I feel that this has been one amazing find of mine. My uncle recommended that I tried Internet banking because you can do so much with it and I thought that I would give it a try.
There are many features that the site has to offer. You can order booklets to help you with your banking and you can register to fully use the site. After you have registered you can easily use the site to look at your accounts
I have two accounts and I can easily look into both of them with a simple click. All of your accounts are on one page and you can click on them to look into them into depth. This then shows your statement, but the reverse way to normal by having the most recent at the top instead of the bottom.
You can also change standing orders, direct ...
Sweetiesarahjane 24.10.2001 (21.07.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of HSBC Online Banking
Advantages: Personal Relationship Manager Disadvantages: Qualifying Criteria
There seems to be a distinct lack of reviews on banks "Premier", high value customer services.
Most of the banks on the high street now offer a service for high income, high worth individuals. However, the services and products available are rarely known, even by the customers who supposedly benefit from them!
HSBC Premier has been a worldwide service for many years. Being the second biggest bank in the world HSBC has honed and expanded Premier Service to become one of the most prolific banking services today without the major costs that Private banking entails.
Its criteria are threefold. A mandated salary of £75k or joint of £100k. Savings/Investments of £30k plus or a mortgage of +£150k. By meeting one of these criteria the benefits are endless.
One of the latest benefits of HSBC Premier is its Premier International service ...
newbon 24.10.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of HSBC Accounts
Good rates, good service, good branches: all the benifits of a building society without the disruption of carpetbaggers!
It's not officially a building society, and like all plcs, has a duty to make profits for it's shareholders. It does a good job of hinding this fact t (*)
