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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 

#231

Post by seanmcdirmid »

arcticbull wrote: post #213
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Nah, that's not really true. If you have 500K (especially excluding retirement accounts) then you should really have it under management (robo, yourself, a fiduciary, whatever). The S&P is up 10% on the year so far, so that's $50,000 you could have made 1/1 through present. Obviously not a guarantee of future performance, and caveats apply, but that kind of money definitely has the potential to make more money, but n…

There are people of there who don't think the market is in a good state, or who are saving for a house, or for whatever reason want to stay liquid. The banks will treat you a bit better with that much in an account (they will assign you a relationship manager at Hsbc if you are at premiere level), but not very much.

I personally accumulated savings in RMB and had no decent investment options until recently. I know I can't afford anyone more than the guy at the bank who wants to take you for a ride. Everyone's situation is different.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#232

Post by gcb0 »

joering2 wrote: post #111
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…

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 da…

Wait, they made you wait 2mo, using their account as your paycheck direct deposit, for a credit card with only $500 of approved credit, which you then have to use for another 2mo, just to have any decent credit with them? ..and you are praising them?!

on most banks the offer letter will already give you a $500 credit.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#233

Post by AgentME »

kelvin0 wrote: post #142
czechdeveloper wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your keys, your bitcoin. Not your keys, not your bitcoin. It's simple. https://youtu.be/dnC5mFaIW3Q

OK, so the link to that video is a 1 hour loop of a guy saying: "Your keys, your bitcoin. Not your keys, not your bitcoin". So my guess is you are making fun of the 'security' of that mantra being repeated in the video? Just making sure I got the 'joke' (please correct me if I err).

I don't think it's meant to be ironic. Understanding that line would have protected many people from MtGox.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#234

Post by pmontra »

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.

They've got the money in the account. They can do whatever they want with it, included lending it many times. They don't need fees.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#235

Post by JohnTHaller »

I had to fight with Citibank for about 3 months to get them not to suspend my business account after I'd been a customer for 10 years due to the new "know your customer" bs. The "know your customer" regulations are about as anti-small business as they can be. Doesn't matter that you have an LLC in the State of NY that's been active for 17 years, we won't let you keep your account without a signed and notarized letter from your accountant or lawyer stating exactly what your business and income is from. Doesn't matter if you don't have a lawyer or accountant because you handle it yourself via thinks like Quickbooks, go pay one a couple grand to look through your books for the last 10 years and then sign the notarized letter.

If you're having trouble with an HSBC or Citibank, try a smaller bank or a credit union. They'll generally have policies catering more to the local market. The local credit union had no such issues like above. A smaller bank like TD Bank just wanted to make sure you were registered with the state and do a premises visit (and visiting your apt/home was also acceptable for home-based businesses).

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#236

Post by xtracto »

noir_lord wrote: post #149
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 have to pay for my linodes on the gf's credit card because HSBC randomly lock my card for suspicious payments. That payment has gone on the same day of the month to the same place since 2009 and they still randomly do it. Last time was three days before Christmas. HSBC are terrible.

> HSBC are terrible.

In so many ways. As a matter of principle I refuse to make business with that bank (living in Mexico). I cannot think of giving even one peso for a corporation that is actively helping something that hurts my country so much:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/02/11/hsbc-knowingly-helpe...

At the end, they 'settled' and thus continued with life as usual. Even if my single "grain of sand" is worthless for HSBC, at least I keep my conscience clear.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#237

Post by otterley »

BeetleB wrote: post #202
jacquesm wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a top notch office it might be as high as $1500 but that's still cheap compared to giving up and inevitably going out of business.

You don't need a top notch office. You need any lawyer.

Attorney here. Don't cheap out on legal advice or process (or any other professional for that matter). You know what they call the guy who graduated at the bottom of his class?

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#238

Post by Sephr »

ben_jones wrote: post #223
Sephr wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linode credit card info has been hacked so many times that I'm not surprised that HSBC is doing this. For any other service, I'd be upset if my bank did this, but Linode is quite literally the least secure paid service I've ever used. I've had multiple credit cards compromised as a direct result of multiple Linode hacks.

Can you substantiate this claim at all (its an unfair question but still)? In todays day and age I wouldn't put it past a close competitor to make posts like yours on tech forums.

Just Google "Linode hacked" and scroll to your heart's content.

The worst incident in my opinion was in 2013. Credit card numbers and password hashes were compromised, and Linode actively denied it until the hackers literally showed proof (which was linked to on HN at the time iirc). I remember reading chat logs that painted Linode as extremely negligent towards security.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#239

Post by WalterBright »

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…

> spread the risk across many banks

That saved me in the 2007 crash, as one account of mine got frozen for a year. Just like it's a bad idea to put all of your investments into one stock.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#240

Post by WalterBright »

Retric wrote: post #91
millstone wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the limit was upped to $250K in the wake of the financial crisis.

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.

Even if it's insured, you may not have access to the funds until the government sorts it out. Meanwhile, you've still got bills to pay.
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