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HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

about.us.hsbc.com

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Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#41

Post by Ronson »

markl42 wrote: post #27

Good. When I moved to the US from the UK, I already had British HSBC accounts, so thought it made sense to open up an HSBC account and credit card. Got a $200 credit limit (thanks?), awful app, terrible customer service...eventually got fed up and closed all my accounts. Good riddance. Also side note while I’m on the topic - to log into chase and do stuff, I enter my password. That’s it. To log into HSBC or any other…

That security key thing threw me and was so frustrating. I have an older iphone so unintuitively, I have to open the app and cancel the touch to login and then touch the "generate key" button because if I log in there is no "generate key" button and I have missed the boat by that point.

Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#42

Post by xen0 »

imgabe wrote: post #25
silisili wrote: post #6

HSBC is by far the worst banking experience I ever had. I only signed up for the generous sign up bonus. The app was very, very dated and only worked half the time. The website seemed to redirect you about 50 times on login, again, failing half the time. I could go on and on about how awful things were designed, but will not in the interest of time. I couldn't wait to get that money out and close it up. It's like the…

It is hands down the worst, stupidest login process I've ever experienced. Where I am, the app makes you choose a long password (great!) but instead of entering the whole thing, asks for random characters from it, making it impossible to use a password manager. Whoever made this truly hates their customers.

Asking for three letters from a password and/or PIN is quite common for UK banks.

Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#43

Post by ncmncm »

Is HSBC still the bank favored for CIA etc. spook project accounts?

Last I heard, it was considered "career-limiting" for an FBI agent to initiate any investigation touching on HSBC, because of the risk of bumping into a spook project, or some spook's personal embezzled/extorted slush/retirement fund. (Cf. "The In-Laws", 1979, Peter Falk, Alan Arkin.)

As a result, HSBC became the place to bankroll crooked projects. But that was a long time ago. Maybe someplace else is favored by spooks now?

Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#44

Post by mlloydw »

markl42 wrote: post #27

Good. When I moved to the US from the UK, I already had British HSBC accounts, so thought it made sense to open up an HSBC account and credit card. Got a $200 credit limit (thanks?), awful app, terrible customer service...eventually got fed up and closed all my accounts. Good riddance. Also side note while I’m on the topic - to log into chase and do stuff, I enter my password. That’s it. To log into HSBC or any other…

I used to HATE those password screens. I moved to Starling and never looked back!

Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#45

Post by greatgib »

markl42 wrote: post #27

Good. When I moved to the US from the UK, I already had British HSBC accounts, so thought it made sense to open up an HSBC account and credit card. Got a $200 credit limit (thanks?), awful app, terrible customer service...eventually got fed up and closed all my accounts. Good riddance. Also side note while I’m on the topic - to log into chase and do stuff, I enter my password. That’s it. To log into HSBC or any other…

Yes, it is completely crazy.

I have no idea who is the retarded in charge of their security but it clearly makes no sense:

In the end, instead of a password, it asks me what is the name of my favorite animal to connect...

En even for the password, it's useless to have a long one because they will never ask you anything else than the 4 first or last chars. I'm also quite sure that because of that, they have to store in clear text your password or have to store multiple hash for each set of 4 letters in your pass. That would also be stupid...

Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#46

Post by MagnumOpus »

markl42 wrote: post #27

Good. When I moved to the US from the UK, I already had British HSBC accounts, so thought it made sense to open up an HSBC account and credit card. Got a $200 credit limit (thanks?), awful app, terrible customer service...eventually got fed up and closed all my accounts. Good riddance. Also side note while I’m on the topic - to log into chase and do stuff, I enter my password. That’s it. To log into HSBC or any other…

> Can I please please just have normal 2FA

The HSBC mobile banking app is much more normal that way - Touch ID is sufficient - and it can do 95% of what you want to do most days. (Pretty much everything for me bar opening/closing accounts and making/renewing mortgage contracts.)

Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#47

Post by fmajid »

markl42 wrote: post #27

Good. When I moved to the US from the UK, I already had British HSBC accounts, so thought it made sense to open up an HSBC account and credit card. Got a $200 credit limit (thanks?), awful app, terrible customer service...eventually got fed up and closed all my accounts. Good riddance. Also side note while I’m on the topic - to log into chase and do stuff, I enter my password. That’s it. To log into HSBC or any other…

I moved in the opposite direction and Monzo was not available yet in the US. Fortunately I get to keep my HSBC Premier US account and its free instant transfers between US and UK.

HSBC makes most of its profits from China and the new Cold War means it will eventually have to spin off its core but less profitable UK business to survive scruteront the Chinese Communist Party.

Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#49

Post by bsd44 »

markl42 wrote: post #27

Good. When I moved to the US from the UK, I already had British HSBC accounts, so thought it made sense to open up an HSBC account and credit card. Got a $200 credit limit (thanks?), awful app, terrible customer service...eventually got fed up and closed all my accounts. Good riddance. Also side note while I’m on the topic - to log into chase and do stuff, I enter my password. That’s it. To log into HSBC or any other…

I've been with HSBC for over 10 years and never experienced any problems even though I'm fairly allergic to dumb UX. I use the iOS app which has 2FA (touch id) to do everything. Last time I logged in via a web browser was years ago, I can't even remember the interface. I can't quite agree with you as I think more security layers are better when it comes to your personal bank account.

With that said HSBC is not the best retail bank as individuals were never their primary target base. I've had a few problems with them but only when dealing with branch personnel. For anyone in the UK wanting to move away from HSBC but don't know where, look at First Direct. It's a retail bank owned by HSBC group but it's been consistently voted among top three banks every year by customers.

Re: HSBC exits US mass market retail banking

#50

Post by nikau »

listenallyall wrote: post #28
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #14

I signed up for HSBC a few years back thinking they were a good “international” banking choice for people with ties abroad. Sure there are (were) HSBC locations in other countries but they wouldn’t treat you any different than a stranger on the street unless you had $100,000 in accounts there. Their international transfers and account opening services were very meh. Around the same time, I adopted Transferwise (now j…

Citibank may not be your favorite bank, but if you travel a lot, they have branches in many of the world's largest cities. I've been able to get local currency out of many Citi ATMs abroad with zero fees or problems.

Not to mention getting a receipt with you account balance in Vietnamese dong is amusing.
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