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 all overdrafts based ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: High Street Bank Disadvantages: High Street Bank
...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 ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
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 ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Great choice of accounts, helpful friendly staff Disadvantages: None that spring to mind
...a number of accounts with HSBC including two bank accounts and two savings accounts... and hopefully soon a mortgage.
In the past I have banked with Natwest, Nationwide and Northern Rock. I also have a range of other accounts in other places such as ISA's and a mortgage with RBS. I am telling you this to show that I have had experience with other banks and building societys.
I find it easy to say that banking with HSBC I have had the best possible ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
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 ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...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, ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...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 ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Many branches, easy access, internet banking Disadvantages: High charges if you break the rules
...grandparents were split evenly between HSBC and Barclays.
Having done my own research, I found that HSBC (of course, back then it was Midland Bank) was the only bank offering cold hard cash to student account openers, like myself. This, I am ashamed to admit, was the deciding factor, and I sold my soul to the bank for £30.
Now, as a student, the relationship between us was decidedly rocky. For one thing, I thought a SWITCH card was a license ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Friendly staff, decent interest rates Disadvantages: Total reliance on computers, no personal touch
...have been a customer of HSBC for some five years now and generally get good service, but over the last twelve months have had some quite serious problems with them.
Twelve months ago I applied for a loan to pay off my computer which I bought on interest free credit. I asked for more than I needed because we wanted to buy some other stuff too. At the time I was told that I could borrow up to £5000 but I decided I only needed £2000, which they duly ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: you can go to any branch Disadvantages: none so far
...bank accounts from Natwest to HSBC (after 12 years with Natwest) and I felt it only right to give them a pat on the back for what proved to be a fantastically smooth switch (excuse the pun).
The background is that after a long trouble free realtionship with Natwest they let me down when I needed them the most as I got into financial difficulty. Despite a perfect banking history, Natwest refused me a loan. I was actually shocked because I almost ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: none at the moment Disadvantages: poor service, tell lies
...and signed by my ex-wife.
The Hsbc woman said , at the maturity of the policy, they would sort this out and not to worry.
I carried on paying it, with assurance from them, only verbally though, that I wouldn't have any problems with the money owed to me.
Years later, in the month of May, 2001, I got a letter asking for my ex-wifes signature releasing the monies to me. Why did they send it to me, did they think I had hid her under the bed?. I ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good In-branch facilities, Lots of ways to bank, Lots of branches Disadvantages: Queues, Interest Rates don't stand out from other banks, high charges
Formerly known as Midland Bank, HSBC is the world's second largest bank (last I heard anyway). I've banked with HSBC since I was 16, so that's a good 6 years holding a Current, Savings account and Credit Card with them. Like most other major high street banks. They offer you a range of ways to bank such as visiting branches, using Internet Banking, by Post and even by Telephone.
BRANCHES
In central London's West End, there are HSBC branches ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Online Banking and Good Online Customer Service Disadvantages: The minimum deposit is too high in my currency
...to learn some opinions on HSBC submitted to CIAO UK. I saw that most friends gave good recommendation on HSBC.
The Site
Finally, it brought me to www.hsbc.co.id. The website is represented in two languages, English and Indonesian. I learned the information on the site well. The site is easy to navigate. Then, I reached a link to correspond with HSBC – Indonesia. I asked them if I could open a personal account, the minimum deposit, etc.
Online-Customer-Service
Unexpectedly, ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Many Many Branches, On-line Service Disadvantages: Interest Rates of Course!
...housemate took me to his HSBC branch. It did take a little convincing that I wasn't up to no good and a signed statement on his part (because he had been a member since he was 7 years old) to say he would vouch for me; but I finally got my bank account in the UK. So aside from having a safe place to store my money (not that a spotty mattress in a furnished rented flat wasn't a safe place - I certainly wouldn't have gone near it if I didn't have to ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...crashed in on us as HSBC replacing the more familiar Midland Bank we all knew and loved (?)
With the slogan ‘The worlds local bank’ HSBC is indeed a massive organisation, with 7000 offices worldwide and a customer base of around thirty two million, you can see why they would want to capitalise on their size without scaring the customers away with the threat of it being a huge, faceless corporation.
But as we all know, size isn’t everything, ...
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful