HSBC - be aware - international payment fees!

[Goggy]

I have 1 year free banking with HSBC, but suddenly found a fee of £6 on my bank account ...
Called HSBC - apparently they've changed the terms and quietly (well....hiding that behind "new terms and conditions we've notified you about" started charging... ) started charging. I don't have international transactions and was quite pissed off that by default they just withdraw quietly company's the money.
They've promised to reimburse. Didn't see this being reflected on the account yet.

[northernladuk]

So is this a warning to read the changes to terms and conditions when they send them?

[SueEllen]

So is this a warning to read the changes to terms and conditions when they send them?

Don't worry s/he doesn't read contracts either.

[jamesbrown]

Is your bank account ordinarily noisy when fees are levied?

Are you sure this international-payment-fee-from-your-account-with-no-international-transactions isn't, in fact, a monthly account maintenance fee? IIRC, you get 6 months free followed by a small fee of £5.5 PM.

[Maslins]

Are you sure this international-payment-fee-from-your-account-with-no-international-transactions isn't, in fact, a monthly account maintenance fee? IIRC, you get 6 months free followed by a small fee of £5.5 PM.

No, it's one of a few reasons we moved away from HSBC.

When we signed up, account was free forever within certain transaction limits (no cash, hardly any cheques, mostly online transactions). A couple of years in, they introduced this bizarre £6/month charge for international payments. I queried it as we didn't make any international payments, and they refunded it and stopped it going forwards. Ok...so they fixed it, but what a ridiculous idea, charge someone for a service they don't use, and only refund if they point it out.

Then they introduced the monthly fee payable regardless. They were completely clear about this, but I was fed up with them. A little bit of "cut off nose to spite face" as the service had been fine, but we moved to Cater Allen. Move itself was a pain, but happy now that aggro is over.

I very much got the impression HSBC changed their mind over whether they wanted small business accounts or not. 5 years ago they seemed desperately keen for them. A couple of years ago they seemingly changed their mind.

...and with my MVLO hat on, HSBC are probably tied with Lloyds for worst bank we deal with.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Is your bank account ordinarily noisy when fees are levied?

Are you sure this international-payment-fee-from-your-account-with-no-international-transactions isn't, in fact, a monthly account maintenance fee? IIRC, you get 6 months free followed by a small fee of £5.5 PM.

I'm also being charged nominal fees for international payments made on my HSBC business debit card. Seems to be around 20p on a $20 transaction. I have a few web based services that I pay for including hosting that incur this. This is on top of the £5.50 monthly fee.

Seems a bit cheeky to not offer a few free transactions to me.

I was tempted to move to Barclays because of their officially supported FreeAgent integration but I'm not sure they are much better for fees.

[jamesbrown]

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

FWIW, Cater Allen are also completely crap with international payments, although for a different reason (i.e. when you actually make or receive international payments). Interesting comment from Maslins too; although possibly unrelated, it seems as though some of the banks are trying to "simplify" their SME base to straightforward UK operations (accounts closed w/ foreign shareholders etc.).

[crack_ho]

FWIW, Cater Allen are also completely crap with international payments, although for a different reason (i.e. when you actually make or receive international payments).

I am just finding this out now with my 2nd account with them! I am looking for an alternative bank as I am not confident about the IBAN payments being routed to my account properly.

[jamesbrown]

I am just finding this out now with my 2nd account with them! I am looking for an alternative bank as I am not confident about the IBAN payments being routed to my account properly.

Yeah, it's a painful process because they essentially have two intermediary banks in the chain, not being a UK clearing bank. For incoming payments, you (rather, the client) have to be super-careful that the "For Further Credit to..." appears on the wire instruction, starts with your account number (i.e. important info isn't curtailed by space) and is in exactly the right place on the wire instruction. Many online payment systems cannot handle one intermediary bank, let alone two, so this generally requires a manual wire.

[northernladuk]

Could be worse. They could close your account altogether...

BBC News - HSBC closes some Muslim groups' accounts