“I haven't got to be a customer. I applied for an account and was told my credit score isn't high enough. I asked what score I needed. They didn't know and said there's nobody who could tell me. I had to wait 45 minutes on the phone to find that out. I also visited a branch. Just can't get a straight answer out of them.”
“Secure key stopped working. Took 2 weeks to send a new one but no code came for it. They claim to have posted one a month after they sent the secure key! It still has not arrived. They could not text a code because I had updated my address. (I haven’t). I am now locked out of my account and I am sick to death of this bank’s incompetence and lack of customer care.”
“The £75 to lure customers . Is a lie . They do that false advertising . I've had so many problems with this bank even though it's my first month with these pieces of shits. The staff have no clue what so ever . About how to help customers . They don't offer to call back not do the email you back . They're a scam company . Avoid at all costs .this bank should be closed for good . Liars and bad service . No rewards . Nothing at all . Just a boring bank . Waiting to make money out if your hard earned cash . Beware .”
“We got our US credit ruined from excellent to fair because they take 14, yes FOURTEEN days to process payment. The hotel in the UK tried to charge the week. The card got declined. I paid with another credit card. BUT HSBC CHARGED THE MONEY IN THE CARD, left us with -500 dollars and sent the report to the credit union. It is the worst bank we have ever had. And we have many, happy with all of them. We HAD NEVER had a mark in our credit. A DISASTER!!! NOW we have to try and get the money back. Because the hotel never got it. An absolute shame!!!!!!!!”
“Arbitrary freeze on my account, to be us charges, tons of problems logging into the online app, and customer service unable to handle any of it. I’ve had about 15 banks in my life and this is by far the worst bank.”
“Opening an account with them is unnecessarily difficult, complicated and if it weren't for the incentive, a complete waste of time. We tried to open once already, but the process took so long (weeks) that when they said we had been approved we decided not to proceed. For some reason they could not make a decision on whether we qualified for an account and could not tell us exactly why it was taking so long either. We tried again because they had an incentive, and when it got to the stage where we had to install mobile banking on our phones, the security questions and passwords, security pass numbers we were required to remember was like a mental obstacle course! If I'm not mistaken there was a security key, 3 security questions, a username, a password, a digital passCODE that we had to remember just to install the app. It is ABSURD that the initial password they ask from you was not even the one required to open the app, but a separate digital pass key, and then a 6 digit number on top of that. Then there is a code generator that you need to use so that you can log on to Internet banking if you ever need that.
I'm a pretty mentally agile, technologically literate woman in her 30s and even I found this annoying and complex.
Then the lady at the branch rang us a day after our appointment to say our proof of address was not valid, so could we go back in branch and supply another one?
Do these people not understand that it is not easy to just haul ourselves (joint account and 2 different schedules, plus children under 3 on tow) to go to the branch some 30 mins away and give them documents that they should have been competent enough to screen while we were there?
Which reminds me. The morning of our appointment, the branch was closed due to a power outage so we headed home, only for someone to call us 10 minutes after the appointment time, to say could we go to that other branch instead? On we went to the far branch.
When you're on the phone with them too, the number of QUESTIONS you have to repeatedly answer is just so annoying. What a waste of time going through the digital security steps, only to be asked again by the agent for the exact same details, then for some reason, they ask you AGAIN "to confirm". I don't know if they are just being extra secure or simply incompetent.
If it weren't for that damn incentive I would not put myself through this. It makes me realise I have more self worth and my time is worth more than whatever their cash incentive is. For sure I will be leaving once it lands in my account. STAY AWAY.”
“Been with hsbc over 35 years im now thinking of changing banks due to harrasment txts over overdrafts and absolutely no customer support except in uk or a call centre in india”
“This outfit (from Worthing branch) is persistently chasing us for a payment to a company we purchased goods from. Our payment was made by BACS before Christmas and within the permitted time scale. We keep getting letters demanding monies with the usual threats but have written with full details explaining payment has already been made. They have not replied but have now resorted to telephoning with the same demands. They promised to investigate and ring back today but haven't done so. In 50 years of trading we have never experienced such ineptness. Don't go near them for ANYTHING!”
“Tried calling their help line. Seems it is in Asia. Complete waste of time. Difficult to understand what they are saying and seem pretty clueless anyway. Will need to visit local bank to try and get some sense it seems.”
“Their customer service is abominable. Everything is done for their benefit customers are a nuisance. They just want customers to pay up shut up then go away. Their insurance quotes, car or house, are pathetic. They barge in with their "Live Chat" then write "There is no one available, try later.”
“If only there was NO STAR!!!! Shocking Bank.
My wife & I went in to borrow on our property that would leave a 75% equity & mortgage paid up in 3 years......but NO! Too risky...
Turned out the girl had put in completely the wrong information & after telling us she needed to adjust our information & do yet another credit search we lost it & walked out.
No mobile number, no direct email, always off & utterly unprofessional.
Not not go Near East Grinstead or Oxted branches.”
“I have about a dozen credit cards, all in good standing, I never had a bad banking experience until I got HSBC last year. Since then it has been nothing but bad experiences. I simply used my card, which was enough for them to repeatedly freeze it. They tell me to call in about the "suspicious" purchases. When I call in they asked me to answer some questions to verify my identity, I answer all the quetions correctly; Then they tell me to provide them my "access code" so I dug through some year-old paperwork and gave it to them; Then they tell me to email them a copy of my drivers license and a current electric bill, I do that too. Now they insist that I go to one of their branches to show my ID to a bank teller...their nearest branch is 60 miles away (120 miles round trip). There is no end to the amount of your time they are willing to waste. There are lots of credit card companies, you don't want to apply for their card, it's not worth it. They are inept, disrepectful, and their horrible customer service is well documented on sites like this...they have a TERRIBLE reputation across all customer-review platforms. Avoid HSBC as if your credit rating depends on it.”
I applied for a loan for a car and based on the misinformation given by HSBC, I ended up losing the car I had, the car I wanted, I was forced into spending almost all of my money on public tansport expenses and had to cancel several meetings with friends and family for Christmas.
My car, my money and my Christmas has been stolen from these thieves and the world should know what this company is all about. And this is what you get when you've been with the bank for nearly 15 years and have never had a blimp for them to complain about.
DO NOT open an account with HSBC if you are thinking about it and move somewhere else if you are already with them. Don't wait for them to put you through what I have been through.
Don't wait for HSBC to fix your problem, go straight to the Financial Ombudsman as you'll be wasting your time waiting for them to even call you let alone look into your problem.
Share this with friends and families and on all your social media platforms and tell them to stay away from HSBC!!!”
- I had to get three replacement cards in a row because none of them would work, and the process of doing so was absurdly complicated, confusing and time-consuming
- They require a ridiculous amount of information for 'security reasons' to merely log into my account (the digital secure key is so tedious)
- I just got locked out of my account after generating a key to add my email address to my account.
“Extremely shocking customer service. The telephone representative was very rude and didn't want to help me at all. He was very sarcastic when I asked questions and simply told me to go to my bank instead as he couldn't be asked to deal with the call! All I needed to know was the date for our first mortgage payment! SIMPLE REALLY!... STAY AWAY! Absolute shocking experience.”
