5 ms·

> Don’t bank with HSBC. After having similarly-frustrating things happen with my HSBC personal accounts over the years, I fully support this suggestion. They a

> Don’t bank with HSBC. After having similarly-frustrating things happen with my HSBC personal accounts over the years, I fully support this suggestion. They are awful. They take extreme steps (suspending accounts, rejecting payments, etc.) without contacting the customer; when you reach out to them, it's hours of being passed around before you reach the right person. If you reach a person at all.

xroche 9y ago
> Don’t bank with HSBC. Unless you are a drug cartel, of course.
- travmatt 9y ago
  Then you go into a special category, where you go from fighting to find a person to talk with, to having banks designed to more easily accommodate your dropoffs.
  - carapace 9y ago
    Oh yeah! I remember that. But it wasn't the banks, it was the boxes the cash was deposited in. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/outrageous-hsbc-se... > Breuer admitted that drug dealers would sometimes come to HSBC's Mexican branches and "deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, in a single day, into a single account, using boxes designed to fit the precise dimensions of the teller windows." So lame: > Though this was not stated explicitly, the government's rationale in not pursuing criminal prosecutions against the bank was apparently rooted in concerns that putting executives from a "systemically important institution" in jail for drug laundering would threaten the stability of the financial system.
- calimac 9y ago
  In America small regional business banks are the way to go. Credit unions are ok but have fallen into bureaucracy.
- gcb0 9y ago
  I don't think drug cartels have any trouble finding banks that will accommodate them. and I doubt it will be hsbc nowadays since they become scapegoat on this issue a while ago.
  - jaclaz 9y ago
    >I don't think drug cartels have any trouble finding banks that will accommodate them. I would also believe that drug cartels have somehow more convincing/effective ways ;) to get their money than sending an e-mail to the "Safeguarding" people.
Pharylon 9y ago
With all their bad press, I'm actually kind of surprised anyone would purposely open an account with them right now. I'm not even up-to-date on whatever crap they're pulling today, but they're on my mental list of "companies I keep hearing bad things about".
- bradleyankrom 9y ago
  They offered competitive rates for online checking and savings accounts about a decade ago, which is what captured my attention. I moved all of my finances over to a credit union a few years ago, but have left my HSBC accounts open because closing them may negatively impact my credit (which is ludicrous). I have a combined two cents in my HSBC accounts; I move the pennies around every few months to avoid being shut down for inactivity.
  - gambiting 9y ago
    Closing a bank account affects your credit score negatively for about 3 months. Hardly worth worrying over.
  - ryanmarsh 9y ago
    Oh gosh, that's a tough lesson to learn. We don't select business banks on the basis of fee competitiveness we select them based upon customer service. The two appear to have an inverse correlation. Funny thing is, the banks with low fees IME make it up in the "small print" fees. Two things I don't bargain hunt for anymore: Insurance, and Banks.
  - reeddavid 9y ago
    If you're talking about a checking or savings account, you can safely close it without it affecting your credit score. Closing a credit account could affect your score, but unless your checking account has a credit product attached (e.g. an overdraft protection line of credit) that gets reported to credit reporting agencies, it won't have any impact. You can use https://annualcreditreport.com https://annualcreditreport.com once per year to get a copy of your report from each of the three agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). If your HSBC account doesn't show up on any of those reports, you can be assured that closing it won't affect the scores generated from those reports.
Twirrim 9y ago
Had HSBC screw over a co-worker. Someone, somehow, transferred money through his account. A fair sized amount, in and out within an hour. He reported it and they suspended his account immediately while they investigated, which is fine. What wasn't fine was it took them well over a month to investigate, in the mean time all of his money was locked up tight and he was unable to access it, pay rent, buy lunch etc (we ended up shouting him for meals for a bit to help out until work organised an advance on his salary). In the end he really regretted 1) having all his money in a single account, and 2) ever having bothered telling HSBC about the transfer.
- daemin 9y ago
  How can someone else other than the account holder transfer money out of that account? Based on my experience anyone can transfer money in to an account, but only the account holder or an authorised user can transfer it out.
  - richardknop 9y ago
    Yeah this is quite strange. I know I can send my money to any account I want to. But from there it's not my money anymore, I can't send it further. Perhaps it was some social engineering hack.
  - sl4i6j3o4i98g 9y ago
    There are many flows that permit direct debit, and that may not have the strongest authentication or protections. If you want to test, post your bank details here!
    - kalleboo 9y ago
      It's different for every country but for the article's example of the UK, Jeremy Clarkson put his bank account details in a column and got owned by someone setting up a direct debit from his account https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinancenews.scamsandfraud https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinanc...
gcb0 9y ago
I bank with them and will continue to do so for a while. years ago, they were the only bank to open an account with my history from another country. all other us banks had the same bullshit "you won't even have a credit card with us until you have credit history in the us, even though we have branches in the country you have history". then they were the only ones offering investments with no administration fee and with returns above the monopoly of .5 point under official inflation. they were actually 1 point above. but yeah, every time I travel and forget to tell them before, my card get lots locked. and they claim they didn't call me before locking because it was sleep hours in my home timezone, in case I wasn't really traveling. also driving in the us, every time I stop in a motel 6 and such, locked card.
- bradleyankrom 9y ago
  The constant locking when traveling has been my experience, too. Every time I moved, I would tell them in advance... only to have my card declined at the first gas station. And the next. Etc. I eventually started traveling with a wad of cash so as to ensure that I wasn't going to be left in a ditch somewhere with no money and a truck full of my belongings. Traveling with cash is not the safest thing to do, but they left me with no other choice. I've never worked with a bank that tried so hard to keep me from my money.
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    Strange. When this happens to me, Hsbc will send me a text message asking me to confirm that I made the transaction or nor. I simply reply YES and it's done.
- joering2 9y ago
  What country you came from if i can ask? I hailed from Europe to USA in 2003. Got SSN, went to first Bank of America branch and opened account with $100 initial deposit. No problems at all. Credit Card was tricky - yes many banks will tell you "bad credit is better than none", but after 60 days of direct wire from my employer to the Bank, they gave me secured $500 Amex. That was enough to show them for the next 60 days I used it and paid on time. Within 3 month from getting SSN and my first banking and working legally full time W2, I already got "you are preapproved for credit card" letters in my mailbox. 2 years later I opened Business Account with Bank of America and never had problems with them since then (online sales-related business). Not to say they are perfect, as BOA was known to claim they own properties (by mistake) and being stubborn in courts even if they knew they are wrong.
oneeyedpigeon 9y ago
Their online banking is truly appalling, too. No full history of past payments to make a repeat payment easier. Weird distinction between 'current payments' (or whatever they call the default 'account' screen) and 'past statements' — seems like a hangover from the days when we used to get paper statements. Still a crazily short session timeout. I would add to the list, but I can't login to my account at the moment since I don't have my bespoke HSBC 2FA physical device (despite having a far-superior, non-polluting equivalent on my phone...)
- bradleyankrom 9y ago
  Oh man, that 2FA device... what a weird, weird product to deploy in this day and age. I still have mine somewhere.
- cool_username 9y ago
  > I would add to the list, but I can't login to my account at the moment since I don't have my bespoke HSBC 2FA physical device (despite having a far-superior, non-polluting equivalent on my phone...) If someone banks and does 2FA on the same phone, if the phone gets hacked (malicious app) you have a big problem on your hands.
- Doctor_Fegg 9y ago
  That infernal physical device is the main reason why I switched from HSBC to Lloyds. Much happier since moving.
  - isostatic 9y ago
    I have no problem with a 2FA for sending money, but for just looking at my statement it's crazy. I too stopped using HsBC - after about 15 years (from when it was Midland bank), when that was introduced.

xroche 9y ago

> Don’t bank with HSBC. Unless you are a drug cartel, of course.

travmatt 9y ago
Then you go into a special category, where you go from fighting to find a person to talk with, to having banks designed to more easily accommodate your dropoffs.
- carapace 9y ago
  Oh yeah! I remember that. But it wasn't the banks, it was the boxes the cash was deposited in. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/outrageous-hsbc-se... > Breuer admitted that drug dealers would sometimes come to HSBC's Mexican branches and "deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, in a single day, into a single account, using boxes designed to fit the precise dimensions of the teller windows." So lame: > Though this was not stated explicitly, the government's rationale in not pursuing criminal prosecutions against the bank was apparently rooted in concerns that putting executives from a "systemically important institution" in jail for drug laundering would threaten the stability of the financial system.
calimac 9y ago
In America small regional business banks are the way to go. Credit unions are ok but have fallen into bureaucracy.
gcb0 9y ago
I don't think drug cartels have any trouble finding banks that will accommodate them. and I doubt it will be hsbc nowadays since they become scapegoat on this issue a while ago.
- jaclaz 9y ago
  >I don't think drug cartels have any trouble finding banks that will accommodate them. I would also believe that drug cartels have somehow more convincing/effective ways ;) to get their money than sending an e-mail to the "Safeguarding" people.

Pharylon 9y ago

With all their bad press, I'm actually kind of surprised anyone would purposely open an account with them right now. I'm not even up-to-date on whatever crap they're pulling today, but they're on my mental list of "companies I keep hearing bad things about".

bradleyankrom 9y ago
They offered competitive rates for online checking and savings accounts about a decade ago, which is what captured my attention. I moved all of my finances over to a credit union a few years ago, but have left my HSBC accounts open because closing them may negatively impact my credit (which is ludicrous). I have a combined two cents in my HSBC accounts; I move the pennies around every few months to avoid being shut down for inactivity.
- gambiting 9y ago
  Closing a bank account affects your credit score negatively for about 3 months. Hardly worth worrying over.
- ryanmarsh 9y ago
  Oh gosh, that's a tough lesson to learn. We don't select business banks on the basis of fee competitiveness we select them based upon customer service. The two appear to have an inverse correlation. Funny thing is, the banks with low fees IME make it up in the "small print" fees. Two things I don't bargain hunt for anymore: Insurance, and Banks.
- reeddavid 9y ago
  If you're talking about a checking or savings account, you can safely close it without it affecting your credit score. Closing a credit account could affect your score, but unless your checking account has a credit product attached (e.g. an overdraft protection line of credit) that gets reported to credit reporting agencies, it won't have any impact. You can use https://annualcreditreport.com https://annualcreditreport.com once per year to get a copy of your report from each of the three agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). If your HSBC account doesn't show up on any of those reports, you can be assured that closing it won't affect the scores generated from those reports.

Twirrim 9y ago

Had HSBC screw over a co-worker. Someone, somehow, transferred money through his account. A fair sized amount, in and out within an hour. He reported it and they suspended his account immediately while they investigated, which is fine. What wasn't fine was it took them well over a month to investigate, in the mean time all of his money was locked up tight and he was unable to access it, pay rent, buy lunch etc (we ended up shouting him for meals for a bit to help out until work organised an advance on his salary). In the end he really regretted 1) having all his money in a single account, and 2) ever having bothered telling HSBC about the transfer.

daemin 9y ago
How can someone else other than the account holder transfer money out of that account? Based on my experience anyone can transfer money in to an account, but only the account holder or an authorised user can transfer it out.
- richardknop 9y ago
  Yeah this is quite strange. I know I can send my money to any account I want to. But from there it's not my money anymore, I can't send it further. Perhaps it was some social engineering hack.
- sl4i6j3o4i98g 9y ago
  There are many flows that permit direct debit, and that may not have the strongest authentication or protections. If you want to test, post your bank details here!
  - kalleboo 9y ago
    It's different for every country but for the article's example of the UK, Jeremy Clarkson put his bank account details in a column and got owned by someone setting up a direct debit from his account https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinancenews.scamsandfraud https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinanc...

gcb0 9y ago

I bank with them and will continue to do so for a while. years ago, they were the only bank to open an account with my history from another country. all other us banks had the same bullshit "you won't even have a credit card with us until you have credit history in the us, even though we have branches in the country you have history". then they were the only ones offering investments with no administration fee and with returns above the monopoly of .5 point under official inflation. they were actually 1 point above. but yeah, every time I travel and forget to tell them before, my card get lots locked. and they claim they didn't call me before locking because it was sleep hours in my home timezone, in case I wasn't really traveling. also driving in the us, every time I stop in a motel 6 and such, locked card.

bradleyankrom 9y ago
The constant locking when traveling has been my experience, too. Every time I moved, I would tell them in advance... only to have my card declined at the first gas station. And the next. Etc. I eventually started traveling with a wad of cash so as to ensure that I wasn't going to be left in a ditch somewhere with no money and a truck full of my belongings. Traveling with cash is not the safest thing to do, but they left me with no other choice. I've never worked with a bank that tried so hard to keep me from my money.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  Strange. When this happens to me, Hsbc will send me a text message asking me to confirm that I made the transaction or nor. I simply reply YES and it's done.
joering2 9y ago
What country you came from if i can ask? I hailed from Europe to USA in 2003. Got SSN, went to first Bank of America branch and opened account with $100 initial deposit. No problems at all. Credit Card was tricky - yes many banks will tell you "bad credit is better than none", but after 60 days of direct wire from my employer to the Bank, they gave me secured $500 Amex. That was enough to show them for the next 60 days I used it and paid on time. Within 3 month from getting SSN and my first banking and working legally full time W2, I already got "you are preapproved for credit card" letters in my mailbox. 2 years later I opened Business Account with Bank of America and never had problems with them since then (online sales-related business). Not to say they are perfect, as BOA was known to claim they own properties (by mistake) and being stubborn in courts even if they knew they are wrong.

oneeyedpigeon 9y ago

Their online banking is truly appalling, too. No full history of past payments to make a repeat payment easier. Weird distinction between 'current payments' (or whatever they call the default 'account' screen) and 'past statements' — seems like a hangover from the days when we used to get paper statements. Still a crazily short session timeout. I would add to the list, but I can't login to my account at the moment since I don't have my bespoke HSBC 2FA physical device (despite having a far-superior, non-polluting equivalent on my phone...)

bradleyankrom 9y ago
Oh man, that 2FA device... what a weird, weird product to deploy in this day and age. I still have mine somewhere.
cool_username 9y ago
> I would add to the list, but I can't login to my account at the moment since I don't have my bespoke HSBC 2FA physical device (despite having a far-superior, non-polluting equivalent on my phone...) If someone banks and does 2FA on the same phone, if the phone gets hacked (malicious app) you have a big problem on your hands.
Doctor_Fegg 9y ago
That infernal physical device is the main reason why I switched from HSBC to Lloyds. Much happier since moving.
- isostatic 9y ago
  I have no problem with a 2FA for sending money, but for just looking at my statement it's crazy. I too stopped using HsBC - after about 15 years (from when it was Midland bank), when that was introduced.