| Product: |
HSBC |
| Date: |
16/09/02 (802 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: friendly, helpful, not your typical money-grabbing bank
Disadvantages: they have a different name anywhere outside the UK
Boring. That's the word that springs to mind when I think of banks. Money grabbing. Another two words that pop into my head. Long queues. A prospect I assume I would have to face when entering a bank. The list could go on. But I'll stop right there. Because I have found a bank that eliminates all of the above thoughts.
I have held accounts with HSBC for about a year and a half now. I have two accounts with them; a savings account and a student account, and they have made banking interesting (well, as interesting as banking can possibly be...) they have not taken a penny off me (despite me going overdrawn without authorisation many a time) and they always have enough people at the counters to ensure that the queues do not venture out of the doors and half way down the street. The list could go on. And it will. I am going to tell you of all the positive experiences I have had with HSBC because they are the only bank which I can say I have had ANY positive experiences with full stop. And THAT deserves some recognition!
Firstly, I would like to say how helpful the staff were when I decided to open the accounts. They told me everything I could possibly want to know about interest rates (which I will come to later) about help lines, about the benefits of having an account with them and so on and so forth. They were not your typical uninterested, I’m-only-in-this-job-because-I-need-to-earn- a-living, false smiling and plastered in six layers of makeup type of people, but they were friendly and seemed genuinely interested in the wonderful prospect of banking. They also knew their stuff; the banking assistants didn’t have to run off and “ask the manager” every time you ask an intelligent question. They knew it all themselves. Hooray!
Opening my accounts took up very little of my precious time. I’d say it took about 10 minutes to open the savings account and a little longer for the student account as it would
involve borrowing up to £750. Once my accounts were open, I was able to use them more or less straight away; the savings account I could use from then onwards, and the student account could be used after I had received my confirmation in the post. So, I got £40 credit in my new student account, a whole £750 overdraft to go and blow and a promising pay back plan (when I finish uni, I don’t have to pay it back until I earn a certain amount per year.) And I got a good home for my precious savings, which would earn a generous 4% interest.
So, what makes HSBC a cut above the rest? Let’s do a little comparison... Barclays offer a measly £250 overdraft facility on student accounts which increases to a whopping £500 (!!!) but only once you’ve paid in another £500 to your account. They are also really mean about going over the limit. I had this account with them and (rather cleverly) went £600 overdrawn instead of £500. As a result, they not only asked me to pay back the £100 excess, but the other £500 which I didn’t think I’d have to part with until I’d left uni! So, I was a bit distraught after that, now with a BIG hole in my wallet.
Lloyd’s. Now they are THE worst. If anyone has seen my review on them, you’ll know my sentiments. They lure innocent young students with their attractive overdraft amount. A pretty impressive £1500. But in my opinion, this is too much! It may seem like a dream to a poor hungry student to have acces to one and a half big ones, but at the end of the day, it is not yours. It’s theirs. And when they want it back, they will take no pity. They sit back and wait for you to go over the limit so they can hurl their extortionate charges at you.
But back to HSBC. HSBC offer a basic £750, which can be increased after the first year, if you so want. This is a middle sort of amount, which is both reasonable but not such a scary prospect to pay back after uni is over. The
y wil
l give it to you straight away. There will be no sending off of forms and getting permission and making sure you match the criteria (like with Lloyds) and no having to pay in huge amounts before you can get a reasonable overdraft (Barclays). Easy peasy. And you get a nice and useful £40 just for joining.
Another good thing about this bank is that they will be very reluctant to charge you for anything. They will do all they can to avoid dishing out charges. A perfect example of this was when I went over my limit in the student account by about £50. It was £50 over the limit for ages. I didn’t get charged or anything. I didn’t even get hassled. Then one day I received a call from the bank saying that my account was over the limit and could they have my permission to move £50 from my savings account into my student account. So they did that for me and I never even had to go into the bank.
Yet another top thing about HSBC is their online banking system. It is so easy and hassle-free to set up online banking for existing accounts or new accounts; you can literally do it all in one day without leaving the comfort of your own computer. With other banks, I have been told I have to wait a week for something in the post, or ring up some number and then wait for something else in the post. With HSBC, I did not have to do any of this and for impatient people like myself, this was great because it meant that I did not have to wait to get it set up, by which time the iron would’ve gone cold. I had my accounts online in a matter of minutes and was setting up my own direct debits and standing orders for myself! None of that hassle going down the bank and getting someone to do it all for you. But then that’s internet banking for you, and is a different subject entirely. But it was worth a mention.
To add to the list of HSBC’s plus points, they are open the latest out of all the existing banks (well, in my town anyway
). IsnR
17;t it most irritating when you arrive at your bank at 4 o’clock only to find that it’s shut? The shops are all open til 5/5:30 so why should the bank clock off early? It’s not fair! Well, in my town, HSBC are open until 5:15, which is better than anywhere else. And it’s open til 1:30 on Saturdays, which is also better than anywhere else.
Interest rates, like I briefly mentioned earlier, are good as far as ordinary banks go. If you compare them to other banks, you will find they pay in the top half. I couldn’t possibly recite these to you as I simply do not have the brain capacity to store this kind of detailed information in my head! There are so many different types of accounts one can open, all rates are different, but when doing my research, I found that HSBC’s rates are generally higher than those of its competitors. I wouldn’t have put my money in there otherwise.
Of course, I am saying all of this from a student’s point of view. I don’t know too much about shares or mortgages or loans or anything of that nature. All I can tell you is all I know; this is a genuinely helpful and efficient bank. This bank have been a dam sight better to me than any other bank I have banked with-and I have banked with many a bank (and I am trying to break the world record for the amount of times I can out the word ‘bank’ in one sentence) This is how a bank should be, and I would recommend them to anyone. Well that was a fun subject to write a review on. But it had to be done. Hope it wasn't TOO boring. Well those of you who are reading this paragraph have done well- you've reached the end!
Websites: www.hsbc.com www.hsbc.co.uk
Helpline: 0800 3535000
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