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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 

#71

Post by Twirrim »

bradleyankrom wrote: post #7

> Don’t bank with HSBC. After having similarly-frustrating things happen with my HSBC personal accounts over the years, I fully support this suggestion. They are awful. They take extreme steps (suspending accounts, rejecting payments, etc.) without contacting the customer; when you reach out to them, it's hours of being passed around before you reach the right person. If you reach a person at all.

Had HSBC screw over a co-worker. Someone, somehow, transferred money through his account. A fair sized amount, in and out within an hour.

He reported it and they suspended his account immediately while they investigated, which is fine. What wasn't fine was it took them well over a month to investigate, in the mean time all of his money was locked up tight and he was unable to access it, pay rent, buy lunch etc (we ended up shouting him for meals for a bit to help out until work organised an advance on his salary). In the end he really regretted 1) having all his money in a single account, and 2) ever having bothered telling HSBC about the transfer.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#72

Post by gambiting »

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…

Closing a bank account affects your credit score negatively for about 3 months. Hardly worth worrying over.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#73

Post by maxehmookau »

djmobley wrote: post #64
maxehmookau wrote: post #46

UK banks are ridiculous and they're hastening their own demise to challenger banks with attitudes likes this. My bank (Barclays) suspended my account and blocked my cards after attempting to make a large payment. It was £2000 to the Student Loans Company. My account was a graduate account. All of the clever machine learning anti-fraud algorithms in the world couldn't figure that one out. Go figure.

Why would you make a voluntary payment to SLC (assuming it was voluntary as most repayments are through PAYE)? That is quite an unusual thing to do.

I'm self-employed and owed them the money that I would've otherwise paid through PAYE.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#76

Post by scandox »

> Then Apple failed. This was a strange one — it appears you actually need a valid payment card associated with your Apple account or you cannot download free apps or update existing ones.

I've always found this to be an issue that makes using a MAC a non-starter for me. I observed when I first got one (cast off) and it really puts me off.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#77

Post by hpcjoe »

fredley wrote: post #28
woodylondon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if you're in the US? where that maybe possible. In the UK this is not that simple. Not even sure how you would sue them, their T&C would cover this under AML / Knowing your customer legislation. The problem is the knee jerk reaction from the government on stopping the bank's bad practices without thinking what happens, in reality, day to day.

In no way should extra due diligence on the part of the bank cause this situation to arise. They've audited this guy twice, either they formally accuse him of laundering money and close his account, or they unfreeze his account. This is just terrible inefficiency, and hints at complete chaos behind the scenes. This is the fault of HSBC, not the regulation they've (fairly!) been subjected to.

While I agree that HSBC is at fault, to be blunt about it ... determining fault and pointing fingers doesn't pay the bills.

Banks can and will screw you over, hard. I may one day write my own experience up as an object lesson and cautionary tale for those who might succumb to the sirens song of bank "services" and "products".

The best advice is to consult an attorney right now. Yeah, it will cost you money. The 1 hour spent talking with them, and paying them for that time is well worth the fee, in general. This will give insight into how to approach the problem.

Another avenue that the OP should explore is sort of an amplified version of what they did at medium. Like it or not Medium is not quite "wide" distribution. They should choose another outlet to tell their story, one that gets much wider public attention, and enables them to call out HSBC in a very public forum.

I don't know if the UK has the same rule as the US in "absolute truth is a defense". If so, go to a widely read/reported media outlet. Tell your story truthfully, in depth. Let them be your megaphone.

HSBC will react when confronted with bad press. If your story is rock solid and unimpeachable, they will need to move quickly.

Otherwise, they have no incentive to do so.

Incentivize them.

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#78

Post by jacquesm »

woodylondon wrote: post #68
jacquesm wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in NL, and my bank disabling access to my account would cause them to be in the 'kantongerecht' tomorrow morning because of the immediate effects such an account closing would have. I'm thinking taxes and salaries having to be paid, indirect damages due to reputation and other immaterial affairs and direct damages because of my inability to pay employees which would surely cause them to leave the company due to b…

We should all move to Amsterdam :) Sounds much better!

No need, almost every big EU bank has a representation in London (at least, for the time being).

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#79

Post by lucaspiller »

maxehmookau wrote: post #46

UK banks are ridiculous and they're hastening their own demise to challenger banks with attitudes likes this. My bank (Barclays) suspended my account and blocked my cards after attempting to make a large payment. It was £2000 to the Student Loans Company. My account was a graduate account. All of the clever machine learning anti-fraud algorithms in the world couldn't figure that one out. Go figure.

I have a Nationwide credit card and typically have to phone them at least once a month as Verified by Visa blocks my account.

It usually happens for companies I've made countless payments before to, last time it was Three when I tried to top up £10 on my phone.

On the other hand it allows me to go to random countries I have never visited before, and make contactless transactions without issue...

Re: HSBC is killing my business, piece by piece 

#80

Post by gaius »

djmobley wrote: post #64
maxehmookau wrote: post #46

UK banks are ridiculous and they're hastening their own demise to challenger banks with attitudes likes this. My bank (Barclays) suspended my account and blocked my cards after attempting to make a large payment. It was £2000 to the Student Loans Company. My account was a graduate account. All of the clever machine learning anti-fraud algorithms in the world couldn't figure that one out. Go figure.

Why would you make a voluntary payment to SLC (assuming it was voluntary as most repayments are through PAYE)? That is quite an unusual thing to do.

I paid off SLC in a lump sum after getting a bonus one year. I think it's quite normal.
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