HSBC Holdings
Reviews and Complaints

We have been GM card members for 7 years and have accumulated $5, 893 dollars in points toward a GM car. When we decided to claim these towards a new GM vehicle we were told we could only use $1, 000 in cash towards a new vehicle. In order to claim all these points we were told that we would need to purchase 5 vehicles in order to redeem the remainder of points. Why do they allow you to accumulate all these points when we can't redeem them. We will never purchase or recommend purchasing a GM vehicle and we are no longer a GM card member. All other cards let you redeem your points to the full value. We were basically told by GM that it is not their problem that we accumulated that many points. Beware of GM.

Many complaints about this bank but anyone had any problems with their mis-selling of the Aviva bond. HSBC are tardy in their responses, claim to have mislaid or can not find emails, never answer straight questions, cut you short on the phone, and give incorrect information.

Letters to senior management just get shifted to more junior staff

[protected]@gmail.com

The company moved me from a payment plan that was scheduled to get the house paid off sooner by five years. They moved but can't seem to get their ducks in the row about payment. They withdrew a payment but then called me and said I was late. Now they keep calling saying I was late. This is going on for month. I am getting a lawyer! They can and should not bully someone who has and continues to make payments. they made the switch to my payment plan to another location and plan and it was not smooth on their part! HSBC is most unprofessional.

My wife has a HSBC retail services credit card for yamaha.She finally entered a hard hsip program some where round dec 09 after they repeatedly told her no such service existed (?) Her credit score went from almost 700 to below 600 because ther are repeated 90 late marks on her credit score (those 90s really hurt) i have looked through all the statements and my checking account to see these 90 day late marks to find the longest duration from date due to date paid was 67 days at most.date due was 11-04-09 for amount332.00 entered hardship program sometime in late dec. Paid the 120. that wasrequired to pay on [protected] days after last due bill how in the hell due you get 90 days late out of that? guess you dont have to be good at math to work at hsbc . Also bout the 2nd hardship pay we come home and the bike had been repossesed.WTF?! Wifey called and they said they didint recieve 2 months payment so she said she paid them on these 2 days with check # so and so and after an hour of dicken round they were like oh derr our fault our to depts didnt get with each other but you still have to pick up the bike on your own pay out of your pocket the repo fee and then were gonna chatge you a 395 hsbc repo fee on top of that but its our fault. HSBC SHOULD NOT BE IN BUSINESS! I have not talked to one person in my county or surrounding county thats had a good experience with hsbc.

Dear,

After two years of good relationship between our company and HSBC as one of the horned organizations in the banking services, I am sorry to said that we are considering to reevaluate our business services with HSBC due to the continuous delays of our overseas transfer performed via the internet banking.

The story repeated for more than four times, each time we make the transfer and fill in all required information, and after 3 to 5 business days a HSBC’s representative call us to ask about the transfer information (knowing that it is the same vendor that we transfer to him each time) and what it is for and what is the name of the company and what we are working for and … and … and …

Finally he is inform us that the transfer have been canceled by USA branch, and it is out of his hand, and the only what we get 1) the apologize for HSBC (each time) for this, 2) delay penalty from the vendor due to the delay of transfer.

The issue is that our company name is ” URANIUM, for Information Technology consultation services “and HSBC USA is always thought about us as uranium producer not IT service company, knowing that all leagal documentation and paper work for our company (which of course HSBC have it) is prove that we are only working in information technology service filed only

I don’t know if we can resolve this but unfortunately HSBC agent inform me that this issue will still present each time that we made an overseas transfer, and the only solution is to change our company name and this is was the latest word that I could imagine a big organization like HSBC thought about.

So could you please advice if there is a permanent resolution for this, or should we start doing business with other entity that can be reliable on this service ?

By the we already deal with other three big banking names before HSBC for about four years and this issue did not occurred at all.

Thank you for your support,

Mohamed Hamed
Accounts Manager
URANIUM

I cannot successfully pay HSBC mortgage online. I use to in the distant past. Now I get "error" (Link ER-RC2:025 when I try to submit. Have tried "forgot password" etc., in order to re-set, but without success. So-called "security" has gotten out of hand...seems more like job security by/for techies. Must always call customer service and pay mort. by telephone, or mail-in. Per instructions from cust. ser., I've tried to re-register online; always get warning that I am "already registered." Very frustrating. Couldn't even log into this complaint app..."error!" Hate it!

The HSBC personal banking customer service in the UAE is dreadful. And that's being kind. When things go OK (e.g. internet banking) it's fine. But when something goes wrong it is hopeless. Trouble is, no one senior in HSBC is listening and meantime the customer service team cover up for each other passing the buck from one to the other. On 4th November, I transfered US$ 3, 000 from HSBC UAE to HSBC in Indonesia. Someone in HSBC sent the transfer to Malaysia by mistake. It's now 17th November and my funds have not been refunded even though HSBC admit they have made a mistake. In any other international bank (with credibility) as soon as the bank recognised a mistake had been made, the missing funds would have been refunded immediately, and the bank would then undertake a separate investigation to recover the missing amount for themselves. Not HSBC in UAE however. Everyone is covering for everyone else and all you get are multiple complaint numbers and they're always dealing with it, but without any results. The service team are absolutely useless. If anyone has the contact details of service quality global I would like to receive this as I am quite sure they have no idea of what is going on. This is not my only complaint aboout this bank but is the most serious so far

I called hsbc Kl to find out my insurance company name and details. I've been paying my monthly insurance bill via hsbc card. I'm not based in Malaysia. I work in Singapore. My sister help me to handle my credit card payment. I'll just pay her cash. She has moved to china 2 months ago. As per usual the officer will ask a lot of questions to do the verification. One of the question was how do make the payment. And I told her Reza the customer service officer. I said I'm not making the payment and I'm not based here. But I'm still using hsbc card for many years. I I said should be online. She asked which websites. I told her I wouldn't know. I'm not the one who make the payment. Can you ask another question like my mothers name, my birthday or etc. And se still ask the same question. They are making things difficult for me. I'm paying my bill every month and they are not providing any solution to their customers. So I asked for manager his name is Harvard Gary Amban. Same things happened! Same question and ling winded. He only know to apologize and didn't provide me any solution! Can they be more creative with the verification question. I told them I'm not based here and my sister is the one who help me to pay! I told him to manage his customer expectation and be more creative with the questions if he customer are not able to answer. I just don't understand why hsbc customer service is so so lousy! I've been holding the cards since 2002. And Gary is definitely not making things easy for me. He us ok when I said when I wanna cancel the card. They are ok to lose their customer. Si thus is what u call u appreciate your customer! We care for you? Im very upset with the whole thing! Disappointed with e lousy service. Wasted 20mins with the stupid tele-conversation.

I called HSBC today in regard to my account which is past due. I called today ON MY OWN ACCORD. They did not have to track me down. Here is what happened.
I had a promotional 1 year intrest free option on a purchase I had made a little over a month ago. I read the bill to find intrest, penalties, and late charges to my account. As I have said I CALLED THEM. The first woman (Lee)to answer the phone was greeted by me with me saying, "I am a bees with honey type of guys first of all". Then, I went into my concern. I told her that I had NOT recieved a bill from HSBC or Guitar Center. I told her I would remember because(A) I have never missed a payment in 5 years to G.C. and also, the bills are much larger than I remeber. She said, "ok". I let her know of the promo and requested that it be returned back to original status and I will make a payment substantialy HIGHER than was requested. But to please get rid of the intrest and charges. She said, "Mr.Sias, we have your bill here. It was returned to us as a bad address. It was an honest mistake and letr me remove the charges from you. Your bill will now be Nov.15 2010". I said, "cool no problem". She asked me what my address was. I told her that the one she was reciting to me was incorrect. I gave her the right address. She assured me all was good. I was happy.
10 minutes later I recieved a phone call from an HSBC rep. (Josh) and he requested my payment which was different from even my bill. I said, "let me stop you Josh, I had already taken care of this and no harm no foul. He was persistent and finally I got upset after 2 to 3 minutes on the phone pleading my already plead case. I did end the phone call by telling him I do not need my hand held and good bye.
Finally I was so upset that I took time out of my day to call back and request a manager. OBVIOUSLY, that was not going to happen so ONCE AGAIN, I plead my case to the woman(no name) with a bit of anger in my voice and informed her that I called HSBC on my own to find out what was going on, got it fixed, recieved a phonecall not 10 minutes later requesting payment again even with a different number. I let her know I was really upset and I believe they are being unproffessional now.
5:00 pm rolls around. A man by the name of "Rajij" calls. I can barely understand him except the payment request and, "WHAT I INTENDED TO DO ABOUT IT". I really let him have it. I told him that I have never been late on a payment in 5 years . I am NOT some 20 year old kid who buys $1200.00 worth of stuff and skips out.and to stop the phone calls because, I will not think twice about cancelling my account with Guitar center forever. I let him know that if I recieve even one more phone call even to say hello I will sue the hell out of HSBC for harrassment. I also ONCE AGAIN assured them they'd be paid by the end of this week to the middle of next and to GET OFF MY FN' PHONE.
That is my complaint.

I have been a customer at HSBC Bank since 2009 and never had a problem with them until today. I opened a checking & savings account online through HSBC Direct (now HSBC Advance). Without notice on Tuesday October 5th, 2010, they placed notes on both accounts saying that they would be closed. This in turn froze my assets in both accounts and deactivated my cards so I couldn't make purchases, deposit or withdraw money from either account. I only found out that my cards didn't work when my check card was declined at a store on Tuesday October 5th.

I went to a branch by my house this afternoon at 2pm to see why my cards weren't working (I didn't know at the time that there was a closure notice on my account) I found out that there was a note on my checking account to have it closed - which deactivated the card associated with it. The local branch rep notified me that there was nothing she could do on her end since I opened my account online, and that I needed to call the customer service number to fix the situation. I called customer service and the first rep I spoke with on the phone connected to the card services department and was told that the card serv. dept. had not deactivated the card and instead the note came from the branch at Union Square (NYC).

**Side note - in late September I attempted to open a business account with HSBC and had worked with a repr at HSBC in the Union Square office. For whatever reason, I wasn't able to provide enough verification and after trying multiple options, both the rep and I agreed to close the business account this past Monday, October 4th.**

I was transfered to a rep at the Union Square branch who notified me that they were not responsible for any notes on my personal accounts, as they had only worked with me for my business account. They did close the business account - but didn't touch my personal accounts. Instead, they instructed me to call back to the customer service number because my accounts (checking & saving) were opened online - so there would be nothing that they could do about the notes.

I called customer service again. As it stands right now, a rep in the Security Dept named Aisha placed a note on my accounts to close them - but did not provide any details as to why they're being closed. I received no written notice, phone calls or emails warning of a pending closure. It was at this point when I was speaking to my fourth or fifth HSBC rep that I was notified that "Aisha" had also placed a closure notice on my savings account as well - preventing me from depositing/withdrawing any funds from either account. HSBC is the only bank I use - so I have no money now.

The Card/Security Dept at HSBC doesn't work extended hours, only 9-5pm, so I can't reach someone until Thursday October 7th. I'm very annoyed because there has been no irregular activity on my account, I'm never overdrawn, so I don't understand why my accounts have been singled out for closure without due cause. Only once has my card been shut off for security purposes and it was because I made a Western Union online transaction this past Spring and I was able to verify the purchase with a rep and have my card restored. Even more frustrating is the fact that these customer service reps who are "reviewing" accounts can maintain anonymity - even so much as not having to give out their work extension numbers so that customers cannot contact them directly but must spend a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes in a phone tree to reach them. At this point, I don't know if I'll be able to get my account restored or when I will receive the money from my accounts if HSBC/"Aisha" chooses to close my account. I literally feel like HSBC is holding my money hostage and am insulted that if they thought there was any impropriety happening with my account that they couldn't contact me directly to resolve it rather than just silently choosing to close my account.

Well, everyone complains about banks, it is the norm. However, when dealing with HSBC I could cry, rip out my hair and violently punch someone. They are the most unhelpful, clueless, useless bank I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.

I have been banking with them for 4 years. I have had several loans with them over the years and always paid them on time. I now have one loan left with them.

I have also had credit cards with them and now want to renew them as they have expired. I have spent 3 weeks trying to get these new credit cards.

I was advised to bring in 4 different documents to the Jebel Ali Branch which I did. These documents included a blank signed cheque. I was then told that once I had given the documents in it would take 48 hours to update my file on their system. And then in 3 days to call customer service to order my new cards.

I called, the information wasn't updated. I called again after a week and was told yes the information is updated. All you need to do now is speak to collections. Why I asked? They couldn't tell me.
When I spoke to collections they told me I needed to order through customer service...When I told them I was asked to speak to collections before I could have them ordered they had no idea why. So, by this point I was getting pretty desperate.

I then spoke to someone who advised me to go back to the bank to sort it out face to face.

I did this and was told my information was not updated so I filled in new forms, spent an hour there making sure I didn't need anything else and that my cards had definitely been ordered. I left thinking it had all finally been sorted.

I was wrong. I did not receive any calls from the couriers I was told to look out for. I then called the bank and this is when I cried. I was put through to department after department and when I thought I had finally gotten through to someone who cared about my problem she gave me her direct number. When I called her back later that day it turned out she had given me a direct number to 100 people in India.

So last night, I was really very upset about the whole ordeal, I went to Ibn Batuta Mall. There is an HSBC customer service shop there. I spoke to a very helpful man who actually listened to me, called his manager (never mind it was 9 pm) he found all my documents and raised a complaint. And today I have received a phone call from someone else who is very apologetic and who is actually investigating the situation.

I am disgusted that in order to get a service from this bank you first have to threaten them with complaints and your big brother.

My Story with HSBC Mortgage Services - - - In 2001, I moved into my home here in McNairy County, Tennessee. Original, there were two mortgages on the home. The main loan was with this company called First Franklin. And then there was a second mortgage the real estate woman setup. The problem with the second mortgage is that it was suppose to balloon after a few years, so I knew I had to do something and quick. I received a letter in the mail about refinancing. Well the loan went through and eventually my mortgage account ended up in the hands of HSBC Mortgage Services. I had a flexible rate mortgage. As time went on, the payments kept crawling up, making it harder for me to make the payments. I am the bread winner of the household and it was hard for me make those payments. The payments went from like $399 to $530 and I had to maintain homeowners insurance.

I tried to get the loan restructured or refinanced, but no one would take me. I called HSBC many times to see if they would do a refi so the mortgage payment would be lowered and at a fixed rate. Each time I would try, they would tell me my credit score needed to be a little higher or I just didn’t qualify. Even though I struggled with the payments, they were always on time. I maintained everything for about seven years in the house. Well in 2008, I lost my job. I called HSBC about the situation and explained everything. They finally did a modify, they set the payments up at a low 4.25% rate. This brought the payments down to $247 a month. Now why could they have not done this in the beginning. The draw back with this is the payments would only be set up like that for six months and they were going to go back to the original setup. Well I panicked and moved because I didn’t know how I was going to keep this up. I wasn’t for sure if and when I would find another full time job. I felt I was just throwing money in the wind by staying.

The way they had the original payment plan setup as a flexible rate mortgage, I would have never paid for the home. I was paying interest only payments, hardly done of it were going toward the principle amount. They were ripping me off and getting away with it. Within a short few months after I moved out of my home, they found me at my new address. They wrote a letter stating what is in the contract and my obligations. I wrote them back and told them I realized they were ripping me off and how much money I had already been out with them. I just let them have it. They never wrote me back or called anymore. They let me be. I haven’t heard from them in two years. They haven’t foreclosed on the home nor have they kept up the taxes on it. The tax card was sent to me at my new address.

The house needs lots of repairs, in the state it is in now with no one living in it could almost classify as a condemned home. It is not worth no where near what is owed on the mortgage. This may be why I haven’t heard anything back from HSBC, because they have probably had someone come out to look at the property. Despite all of that, I would still like to have the house back because and spent so much time and money there.

Hsbc bank plcmonday, 30 august, 2010 12:27 pm
From: "hsbc bank plc" add sender to contactsto: [protected]@yahoo.co. inmessage contains attachments1 file (21kb) hsbc bank. pdf

Remittance department
Hsbc plc london
30/08/2010

Attn:

Sir/madame:

This is to inform you that we have received your email for the transfer of your winning fund. please be advised to complete the transfer application form and return with a copy of your national identity or international passport.

As soon as this is received by us, we will commence the processing and transfering of your winning fund.

Your urgent compliance will be appreciated.

Regards,

Dr roland williams
Tel: [protected]
[protected]
Fax: [protected]
—
#
This e-mail, its attachments and any rights attaching hereto are, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the property of hsbc bank london plc and/or its subsidiaries ("the group"). it is confidential, private and intended for the addressee only... the group does not warrant the integrity of this e-mail nor is that it free of errors, viruses, interception or interference. licensed divisions of the hsbc bank group are authorized financial services providers in terms of the financial advisory and intermediary services act, no 37 of 2002 (fais).
#
Hsbc group, member fdic.
© 2010 hsbc bank plc.. all rights reserved.

Hsbc is a total rip job... lets put it simply... they charge you interest on your interest... we purchased an atv with our star car, made 1 late payment and defaulted to 19.99% and then realized after paying all but 368.00 of balance and a conversation with a rep., that the 368 was not our daily balance, our daily balance was the 368 plus the payment for the month with the interest of 68 dollars plus the interest on 68 dollars...? make sense to you?... oh yeah, 3 years of this crap and just realizing it, woot bend over boys and girls, think I will buy another 1 tomorrow! absolutely not! hsbc is awful-

Credit Card no: [protected]
I was holding this HSBC credit card in India with NO ANNUAL fees.
I ripped my Credit Card before I left for US 2 yrs ago and had no outstanding balance on that card.
Today, my family got a letter stating that I owe them Rs. 2200 which includes an annual membership fee of Rs. 700 and late fees accrued at an interest rate of 42 % per annum.

They are threatening to take help of collection agencies if we do not pay up the amount.
This is insane. I never used that credit card in these 2 yrs. Even when I was using the card, they had stated that it was free for life-time.

Kindly, let me know if anything can be done.

Thanks
Keyur

Case History:
I purchased a HSBC card xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-0165 (and an add-on card xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-8492) in july/2006.The expiry date of both the cards were july/2008 and card Limit was 15, 000.The main card (ending with 0165) is against my name and add-on card (ending with 8492) is against my wife's name.

I was working in Bangalore when I purchased this card.I quit the bangalore company in December/2006 and joined a company in Mumbai and presently residing in Mumbai.

I never used both the cards(main card ending with 0165 and add-on card ending with 8492) and not even done any single transaction on both of them.

Complain:

Now, I am getting calls from recovery department, HSBC about paying balance of about Rs 46, 000 against a card no. xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-0948. They are saying that there is some transaction on this card (xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-0948) after July/2008.But this card (ending with 0948) is not the one which had parchased earlier.

When I verified the HSBC department, they said that HSBC delievered a replacement card xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-0948 after the expiry of my card (main card ending with 0165 and add-on card ending with 8492) to the Bangalore (old company) address.But as I had already quit the company and shifted to Mumbai in December/2006, I didnot received this replacement card (xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-0948) after expiry of my cards (main card ending with 0165 and add-on card ending with 8492).

I want to know why HSBC delivered the card without verifying my identity and knowledge. I know that as the Telephone No./mobile No./email Id updated in HSBC record is invalid after December/2006, then they should not have delievered the replacement card.

I can understand that the replaced has been misused by somebody.But why should I pay the pending amount as this is a fault of HSBC.

I will not pay the amount pending against the card (xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-0948) as I am not responsible for all this irregularities. I request you to please look into this matter.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Sub: Cancellation of transaction converted to EMI.

Reference: [protected] & e-mail dated Jun 1, 2010

HSBC Platinum Card No. [protected]
Name: Padma Subramani

This is to inform you that, I had made a transaction for Rs. 78, 000/- and placed a request on May 24, 2010 to convert the said transaction into EMI at 12 equal monthly installments. And on May 27, 2010 I had requested to cancel the transaction which is converted to EMI and remitted the entire due amount. The transaction was cancelled with a charge of Rs. 4, 300/- as processing fees and others charges.

My request now is to reverse these charges. If you check the history, I have a good payment record in the last five years. Considering the past track record, please reverse the charges of processing fees, finance charge, etc levied on my card account. Apart from these charges there are no other dues.

If the due amount was towards any purchases, then I would have definitely paid for it. Just to let you know that, there was a similar instance with HDFC credit card and the transaction was reversed with “0” charges. If required I can provide the proof too.

If it is impossible to reverse the charges, then please consider this letter as a request to cancel my Platinum Visa card.

And also, please note that every day atleast 15-20 times the customer care executives from Chennai HSBC are giving missed calls on my mobile. By the time I pick the call they disconnect. I do not understand what kind of collection follow up is this? Is this how you treat the customers? Im really very disappointed and frustrated with this kind of behavior. I will have to seriously escalate this and take necessary action I believe.

I hope the charges would be reversed immediately.

Thanking you,

Your’s faithfully,
Padma S

[protected]@gmail.com

I like a lot of you have had to same problems working with HSBC Bank. With my mortgage, credit cards and unsecured loans. HSBC preys on individuals and only cares about the almighty buck. I urge everyone that has any kind of complaint with HSBC to write to your State Attorney General and also the United States Attorney General. Maybe if they get enough complaints about this FOREIGN bank they will look into their practices and make them adhere to our countries policies and practices!
Please, Please voice your complaints about this company to the above offices.

In 2009 it took me three months to get the application for the Obama Administration's Home Affordability Modification Program, which I qualified for becasue our mortgage was purchased by Fannie Mae. After finally submitting it in July 2009 and been given the runaround for three months, I called in Sept 2009 and they told me they havent decided yet, but they questioned the fact i had $$$ ion the bank, whjich is not a reason to disqulaify someone for this program. I called in July 2010 and now they told me they never received the application..

HSBC sucks..do not use them...

just want to let everyone know about what kind of people hsbc master card are. owe thim $1, 144.84. maded a $30.00 payment on the 3rd of the month. did'nt look at the bill. because I was going to pay the bill off the next week. will I started to get phone calls from hsbc. the person told me I was late with my bill. by $9.00. I said $9.00. you all are going to charge me $35.00 on $9.00. and I have never been late nor have I missed a payment. they would'nt take that late fee off. paid the bill off any way. got a bill from thim today. said I need to call because my bill is late. all I owe is $9.00 and $35.00 for that late fee they wont take off. will not be useing that card again. they can have my card back. don't get an hsbc master card. run as fast as you can. glad to give thim that $49.00. and wish I could tell thim to go after the people who don't pay there bills. and leave the the people along who pay there bills.