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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 

#251

Post by M2Ys4U »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #27
jacquesm wrote: post #3

So, immediately get on the horn with your lawyer and have your lawyer on his letterhead send them a letter and if the response is not to your liking sue the bastards. In the meantime set up another account with another bank and make sure all invoices that are pending but not yet paid are paid into that account and not into the HSBC account. Then shift over all the monthly payments to the new account as funds appear.

Lawyers are expensive, and bank accounts have complicated T&Cs which basically say "We can do what we like, and fuck you." You'll spend a fortune paying someone to argue some or all of the agreement is unenforceable. I would suggest trying to get in contact with other businesses in the same boat. The UK doesn't have a formal class action suit mechanism, but there's nothing to stop you pooling your resources in a join…

>The UK doesn't have a formal class action suit mechanism

Actually, it does.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 created one. See Schedule 8[0] (which amends the The Competition Act 1998[1], but legislation.gov.uk hasn't updated that yet).

However, there has only been one case, so far,

[0] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/schedule/8

[1] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/41/contents

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#252

Post by karambahh »

xtracto wrote: post #236
noir_lord wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 worthl…

I am afraid all major banks have departments involved in shameful business practices such as this very sad example.

Let's pick a supposedly "ethical" very small french bank, the "credit cooperatif"'. As their name implies, they offer ethical financial tools, which forbids child labour or any other shameful practices. So apparently if you select that bank you do not support drug cartels money laundering and your money is invested in environment friendly companies.

So far, so good. Except they are a subsidiary of banque populaire, a larger but still "somewhat ethical bank"'. Banque Populaire has merged with Caisse d'Epargne. The BPCE group is the main shareholder of investment bank Natixis which has a not so ethical track record and a huge building on the kirchberg plateau in Luxemburg. Let's just say they did not choose that building for the view on the european court of justice which is across the street.

And by the way, bpce also own a much smaller "banque des mascaraignes" which is headquartered in Mauritius. I am not exactly convinced they are in the business of supporting Mauritius economic growth.

So which is "better", hsbc which was apparently started to deal with opioids between China and the UK and is regularly accused of shameful business practices or a clean small bank which is in fact a front for a large bank with a track record on par with hsbc? I don't have a definitive answer on that ethical question.

No sources because I'm on mobile atm but everything can be fact checked through a few google queries.

Disclaimer: I have accounts in BPCE and HSBC...

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#253

Post by Retric »

cat199 wrote: post #181
Retric wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> I think part of the problem is banks don't make much money from the average account outside of fees Umm.. how about 'using your money to fund interest earning loans'?

A large number of accounts go close to zero every month limiting banks ability to use them for loans.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#254

Post by SJoelKatz »

This was the entirely predictable result of regulations on financial institutions that have become more and more idiotic. Imagine if we had decided to fight drug dealers and terrorism by prohibiting any restaurant or grocery store from knowingly selling food to drug dealers and terrorists. We would see this same nonsense with food that we see with finance.

If we're going to fight drug dealers and terrorists, it shouldn't be by trying to push them to the fringes of our financial system, it should be putting them in jail.

https://steemit.com/politics/@joelkatz/the-war-on-cash

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#255

Post by enscr »

This happened to a friend a few months ago. He has a SaaS business, working remotely out of France (uses Stripe + US bank accounts as he lived in US for sometime).

One day suddenly, he got locked out of his bank account (a major US bank) and the only way to restore the access was to walk into a branch physically. This meant dropping all work and flying to US at a day's notice, assuming you are granted a Visa. He was fortunate that the customer service listened (though they were not the politest people on the planet). After jumping a few hoops and following some unconventional methods of verification, the access was restored, but the situation was scary for a few days.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#256

Post by TheCoelacanth »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #243
TheCoelacanth wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have 500k in cash in a normal bank account, you are either so financially illiterate that you absolutely need a financial advisor or you are rich enough that you can easily afford a financial advisor.

Or you are saving for a down payment for a house in the Bay Area? There are plenty of other good reasons why someone who wasn't rich would have 500k in the bank without significant other investments.

Someone who can afford a $2.5 million house can easily afford a financial advisor.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#258

Post by jackvalentine »

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'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".

Well you were certainly wrong there.

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