so i noticed on my account i was charged a service fee of $8. so i called cause it was in very smart wording and just didnt understand it. When i asked what it was for I was told that my account was changed (without me signing or verbally confirming anything) that i had to have direct deposit and for making purchases over $500 (my rent). So i asked her if their were any free checking accounts and she chuckled and said “hsbc no longer carries anything for free sorry” (exact wording) . with that I told her i will be going to the branch to cancel my account (hoping she would give in and take the charge away or keep me on a free account) with out hesitation she said she was ready to cancel it right now free of charge… but yet they dont do anything free haha…
so tomarrow my business accounts, checking accounts, credit card, and over draft will be closed and shipped to another bank…
so you got charged because you have DD and took out over 500? or because you didnt have DD?
i never got weird service fees, ill have to start looking more often now.
i will say that i opened a key bank account when i had a job who used key bank, and i closed it within 3 weeks. im glad i never closed my hsbc account. ive had them since i was little with a savings account and never really had issues that weren’t my fault. (overdraft)
I have 52 cents in an HSBC account. I asked them to close it out and transfer the money into another bank account and the lady on the phone said “do you reeeeeeeally want to do that?” and I said “Yah know what…just leave it there I might need it in an emergency” and she said “good idea”. So I left it there lol
ROFL. Typical bank chat right there it seems.
I’ve been happy with M&T so far. No word of $5 per month like BofA. No sellout like HSBC. Yup…so far so good.
I only trust any bank as far as I can fly a paper airplane made from a check tho.
We don’t want to do local banking any more. Unless you’re packing $100k plus with the bank or use international services, you’re outside the target demographic and about to get shipped off to first niagara anyway.
I was never happy with HSBC but was too lazy to move funds and reset all my bill pay and direct deposit. The First Niagara buyout was what made me move to M&T and I’ve been pretty happy ever since.
I don’t understand their strategy or decision though Joe. Any word on why they think people that exceed FDIC are the best customers to have? Not that I put any faith in FDIC of course, even if it’s a policy “too big to fail”.
Just curious…of course you don’t owe an answer. PM if you have the juicy scoop for me.
The 100k requirement is a total funds with the bank thing so they qualify for Premier status, it isn’t meant to be all tied up in a deposit account. Basically they figured out their competitive advantage and most profitable business is in international services, wealth management/private banking, and commercial banking with a particular emphasis on Asia. Local banking is profitable, but it ties up a lot of resources and it’s a means to an end to hook their target customers…the new management team wants to boost ROE so they decided the best distribution of capital was to switch from The World’s Local Bank to The World’s International Bank and concede the local services in markets that don’t have enough of their target demo.
It wasn’t done without your notice. They sent you a letter explaining the change in policy and you either didn’t bother reading it or didn’t understand it. I got the same exact letter when I was still an HSBC customer.
