Having been with many banks in the last 10 yrs (every time i change job i seem to change banks) i have to say that hsbc is by far and away the best. Their customer service over the telephone is 2nd to none. Dont know how many times i have phoned different companys to be put on hold for ages or to hear silence at the other end of the phone while the call centre staff try to solve your query - none of this with hsbc, they take an interest in you and are freindly and chatty. I have only needed to visit my branch twice and on both occasion have found the staff to be helpful and courteous.
I know some people (usually older folk!!)moan about the death of the branch networks but you very rarely need to visit a branch due the varying number of ways you can access your hsbc account, not only do they have the usual internet+telephone banking they also have tv banking (if youve got sky/cable). You can also send secure emails as well and from what one of the reps was telling last week in the near future you will also be able to have a live email/chat over the web with a memeber of hsbc.
The only sort of downside is that some of their products arent very competitve, for example they only pay 0.1% gross on their bank a/cs, and even thier savings rates are pretty poor (0.8% gross on a instant access + 2.10% gross on a 60 day notice account) on saying that thier cash isa are not bad for value 4.35 or 4.5 (cant remember which). Their new debit rate on the current a/cs of 14.9% when overdrawn , whether within or above your agreed lmt, is welcome news aswell(it used to be 18.3% when within an ageed lmt and 29.5% when over your lmt)
As far as credit cards are concerned again they arent the most competitve on the market. i started on the bog standard visd which gave me an intro rate of 11.9% for 6mnths then a standard rate of 18.9%, i now have been upgraded to a gold card with the standard rate of 14.9%. the good thing about hsbc credit cards though is their is no penaltys for late payments (i had an internet based card which charged me £25 when i was 1 day late!!) and you can get a statement sent out at any time (try getting that from an internet company)
Their personal loans are again hardly market leading but they are honest about their rates. a lot of company advertise lowe rates but when you apply they tell you that you fall outside their criteria for that rate then offer you a much higher rate ( i know i got caught out with one of these so called lower aprs). the more you borrow the less the interst is which i suppose is pretty much standard. you only pay 1 months interest for closing the loan early.
Their mortages are very good and easy to understand. their's not any hidden charges and no extended tie ins. there range of mortages isnt huge which i think is a bonus cauz it makes everything easy to understand.
anyway in the 3 years that i have been with hsbc i have never had any real problems. any probs that ive had, have been sorted out with a minimum of fuss.
to sum up basically i would reccomened hsbc to anyone. ive no doubt people have had troubles with them before and changed accounts for whatever reason but nobodys perfect but hsbc are the closest thing (in banking terms) that i have found
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Comments about this review »
maklhouf 16.09.2004 13:45
Your spelling and grammar is very original. Do you do it on purpose?
roberthart 28.01.2003 17:24
Hi, good op, i'v ebeen with HSBC for about 4 years. I've only had one real problem with them for which i got financial compensation for. Other than that customer service is usually very good. You write about the poor rates though, but hey interest rates don't matter when you have know money! (and an interest free overdraft.)
Advantages: excellent customer services, many products available,good internet site, telephone banking and many branches all over the country Disadvantages: none
coolchanty 31.07.2001 ·
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Review of HSBC
Jan 24th, 2003
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