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HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece

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Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#121

Post by daemin »

Retric wrote: post #93
woodylondon wrote: post #12

I think this is a huge problem and one that is going to continue and get worse. How is it the banks were the ones at fault, but the customers are paying for it. They just hide behind AML / Knowing your customer and say talk to your MP. I was locked out of internet banking for my business account with Lloyds for over 3 months due to a technical fault in the way it was setup. Was paid compensation in the end, but alrea…

I think part of the problem is banks don't make much money from the average account outside of fees. I would rather banks just charged say 20$ a month and had actual customer service instead of the mess big banks evolve into.

Banks already do that for business accounts. Actually depending on the type of account it could be much, much more than that.

For reference I used to pay close to $10 / 30 days to have a business account open in Australia. Note that I said every 30 days, not every calendar month. This makes it slightly more expensive than you think.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#122

Post by _red »

lushn wrote: post #19

I'm not entirely clear why the author felt it was a productive use of his time to write several thousand words on this. HSBC aren't likely to be swayed by such an article. They've been fined billions, they're probably not worried about being "called out". First of all: Why are you depending on only one bank account to run your business? It's very easy to set up two or more business bank accounts and use them both. Ju…

I don't know about the OP's actual banking needs, but in many cases your choices narrow considerably depending on what services you want.

Its a little naive to think "but you can just have banking redundancy", I mean you're right if you are running a very simple business (ie. lemonade stand). However once your requirements become: Need presence in County A, B, C in Currencies A and B with integrations to Partner X, Y, and Z your choices get really really tiny.

Banks are monopolistic for a reason.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#123

Post by ryanmarsh »

bradleyankrom wrote: post #51
Pharylon wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

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 d…

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.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#125

Post by sowbug »

dmoy wrote: post #11
matheweis wrote: post #2

When people tell me they don't "get" Bitcoin, this is exactly the sort of thing I have been looking for to try to explain it. Yes, it has problems and is still maturing, but no one can inexplicably just off your bank account like this.

I've got coworkers and a friend who have been contacting coinbase for ~months because their funds have just disappeared into the ether. Deposited money, nothing showed up in their account. Apparently it's common, and they're just supposed to wait longer. I would guess that this is because just like you said, it has problems and is still maturing. But - doesn't that mean that coinbase could just off their accounts?

Coinbase is a bridge between dollars and bitcoin. That's why it has all the AML/KYC hassles of an ordinary bank. Once you cross the bridge, though, your bitcoin is all under your control.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#126

Post by VHRanger »

woodylondon wrote: post #12

I think this is a huge problem and one that is going to continue and get worse. How is it the banks were the ones at fault, but the customers are paying for it. They just hide behind AML / Knowing your customer and say talk to your MP. I was locked out of internet banking for my business account with Lloyds for over 3 months due to a technical fault in the way it was setup. Was paid compensation in the end, but alrea…

> How is it the banks were the ones at fault, but the customers are paying for it.

Market power. There are economies of scale in banks, so there are few banks which are huge and can generally afford to act shittily to their customers (unlike in competitive industries).

For the record, I don't think breaking up the banks or capping bank size will fundamentally solve the problem either.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#128

Post by seanmcdirmid »

abritinthebay wrote: post #109
Retric wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Joint accounts are also insured at 250k per person per bank and count separately from individual accounts. So a couple can have 3 accounts 2x 250k + 500k in a joint account at the same bank.

and that couple would be rich enough to afford a financial advisor anyhow.

500k is nowhere near rich enough to afford a financial advisor; many people save that much easily for retirement. Maybe 2 million.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#129

Post by reeddavid »

bradleyankrom wrote: post #51
Pharylon wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

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 d…

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 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.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#130

Post by seanmcdirmid »

bradleyankrom wrote: post #110
gcb0 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 wi…

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 l…

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.
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