To hate HSBC with a passion?

[lainey8]

So, trying to move house, to a house not a flat, because 29 weeks pregnant and not relishing 2 flights of stairs with baby & buggy.

Got a buyer end November, found a house early December, applied for mortgage and instructed solicitor straight away.

HSBC approved the mortgage mid Jan, following valuation survey. Ready to exchange we planned to move mid Feb.

THEN HSBC have this new policy to insist countrywide do all their conveyancing. So despite our solicitor having done everything for the purchase we have to pay countrywide to do it again. Then we wait. And wait. 3 weeks later Countrywide send this long list (44 items) of mostly unnecessary stuff. Things like insisting on a chancery survey at £17 plus an expensive premium if it comes back positive, instead of a £10 indemnity.

One final point that our solicitor says is pointless and any normal conveyancer would move without has now been waiting on Countrywide for a decision for 4 days. We aren't allowed to contact Countrywide only HSBC. But HSBC won't tell us anything, promise to call back but don't.

We are now about to lose our buyer and have the whole thing fall through and HSBC just tell us it's in the system. Then promise to call back.. But don't.

If it wasn't for this random HSBC policy we would have moved as planned 2 weeks ago and be happily in our new house.

I so desperately wish we had gone with anyone but HSBC......

AVOID HSBC, DO NOT BE A LOYAL CUSTOMER!
After banking with HSBC for 22 years, 14 years of a mortgage in which a single payment was not missed we decided to continue with them for the purchase of a new house. Had a meeting and received a mortgage in principle of £235,000, thought we wanted to borrow more and they said if we cashed in our savings and paid off a loan they would lend us more, we did this and received a mortgage in principle of £272,000. We actually only needed to borrow £215,000 so we instructed solicitors and were well into the chain when the underwriters have decided that they will not lend us more than £205, which represents payments of £1,200 a month. We have banked with them for years they have all our bill payments online and after paying a mortgage of £1,200 (based on the £205k they will lend us) a month and all essential bills (utilities etc) we still have over £2,000 a month left in income. They will not increase the mortgage by £10,000 as they feel it is unaffordable and a risk. The mortgage adviser is surprised, as are her colleagues but it seems the underwriters will not budge. As all our bills are paid by direct debit there cannot be a credit rating issue. The only reason they will give is that they look at all the income and outgoing as they feel that 1,200 a month payment is the maximum we can afford even though this is clearly not the case. We have reduced from a decision in principle of £273,000 (based on all our accurate income and outgoings) to £205,000 so the decision in principle is clearly not fit for purpose and is rendered useless! We now have to find another mortgage and hope our buyers/sellers will wait. We used HSBC as we wanted to be loyal customers but as we have not received this in return we will take our business elsewhere as their calculations have no bearing on our financial situation. My advice (and also that of Martin Lewis - the money saving expert) is to use a mortgage broker as there are better deals out there.

We are having terrible problems with an HSBC mortgage application and I wish I had known just how bad they are. Please DO NOT use them at any cost. They use countywide solicitors. The latter seem to have no sense at all. The whole system does not function. You cannot speak to anyone at Countywide (never explained to use when we applied in December 2012 issues still on going as of mid April 2013). You cannot speak to anyone in the mortgage centre who has a clue what is going on. Please see the article in the FT on March 30th and read before you part with any money to arrange a mortgage with this bank. The worst service I have experienced in my life!!!!! If anyone knows who we can complain to externally about the service please let me know. The internal complaint has not worked. The issues are with countrywide rather than the financial side.

Zombie thread, but I like HSBC.

What HSBC may do to an individual if you try and help people against HSBC Group's illegal behaviour.

HSBC did agree with the DOJ wherever it has the highest standards they will do this in the rest of the world.

Has HSBC Bank Plc not only excluded me from receiving the highest standards, but also excluded me from receiving even the basic standard of service concerning my personal details?

To Mr Flint the Chairman of HSBC Holdings Plc

Dear Mr Flint
Internal E-mail dated 19 Mar 2013 16:24:10 GMT

Will Mr Flint the Chairman of the HSBC Group explain why he allowed Mr David Lewis the Head of Customer Relation at HSBC Bank Plc to write to the FCA, saying "I may complain about the decision we have made". According to internal e-mail it was your decision Mr Flint to force me to close my accounts with HSBC.

Instead of Mr Lewis Head of Customer Relation at HSBC Bank Plc running to the FCA and making allegation against me, which is a great shame.

Did Mr Lewis tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to the FCA when stating I have conducted a 9 year campaign against the HSBC Group?

Is this what shareholders will be labelled as conducting a campaign, just for questing Board of Directors about their behaviour?

I did notice that Mr David Lewis the Head of Customer Relation at HSBC Bank Plc has omitted to tell the FCA about the illegal behaviour of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India and the help that I have given to many people in India and Indian's around the world.

Is Mr David Lewis the Head of Customer Relation of HSBC Bank Plc crying wolf and wasting the time of the FCA or is HSBC Bank Plc through Mr David Lewis Head of Customer Relation trying to discredit me?

In an internal e-mail it states: Under the title Mason-Mahon (So glad they got the hyphen correct, shame they forgot the Mr) "For many years, Mason-Mahon has conducted a vitriolic campaign against the Executive and Board". This is not what Mr David Lewis the Head of Customer Relation of HSBC Bank Plc stated to the FCA.

Mr David Lewis the Head of Customer Relation of HSBC Bank Plc should spend his time stopping staff communicating false information about our accounts in internal e-mails.

What was Mr David Lewis the Head of Customer Relation of HSBC Bank Plc involvement with these e-mails?

Mr Flint you are fully aware that HSBC Bank Plc is breaching the Data Protection Act by communicating false information about our accounts in internal e-mails.

Is this HSBC's Values, is this HSBC showing their courageous integrity, by staff communicating false information about my accounts in internal e-mails.

HSBC states: HSBC takes compliance with the law, wherever it operates, very seriously. Is HSBC telling the truth?
Not according to Senators in the USA, this is their description of HSBC.

When a US Senator describes the Bank as "perversely polluted for sometime".

The Senate investigation concluded that HSBC provided a, "gateway for terrorists to gain access to U.S. dollars and the U.S. financial system." This was going on while Mr. Flint was the Finance Director for seventeen years.

Mr Flint as HSBC Group's Chairman, how would Mr David Lewis the Head of Customer Relation at HSBC Bank Plc describe the illegal and criminal behaviour of the HSBC Group for over ten years? Would Mr Lewis describe this as a campaign by the HSBC Group?

Sorry about the length of my posting.

Yours sincerely

Michael Mason-Mahon
Mobile: 0044 7834763544
Mobile: 0044 7448770801
E-mail: [email protected]

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win."

Before reading anything about HSBC, people should go to youtube: 1) How HSBC Chairman Mr Flint lied to shareholders. 2) Protest against HSBC in Mumbai. 3) Help Stop Bankers Cheating

Is Lies the new truth at HSBC? Is Cowardice the new Courageous Integrity at HSBC?

Please google the following: How much longer can the FM, RBI ignore HSBC in India? - Moneylife

Why have the Major shareholders not forced any changes to the Board of Directors of HSBC Holdings Plc?

If the world is to believe the statements of Mr Flint, Chairman, Mr Gulliver, CEO, that they are truly sorry for the illegal and criminal behaviour of HSBC Group, let Mr Flint, Mr Gulliver and the Board of Directors show the world how really sorry the HSBC Group is.

Is the HSBC Group willing to make an act of Attrition for their illegal and criminal behaviour around the world?
Is the HSBC Group truly sorry and wanting to atone for their illegal and criminal behaviour around the world? Are they willing to pay the Price?

Is Mr Flint, Chairman, Mr Gulliver, CEO and the Board of Directors of HSBC Holdings Plc very serious about restoring the reputation of HSBC around the world?

A good start would be to show society that the HSBC Group is not only willing to atone for the past and that the HSBC Group is willing to be a great Corporate Citizen of the world.

The cost is to help the world, the hungry, the poor, the uneducated, the homeless and the sick children of the world.

The HSBC Group is willing to announce in the next 30 days that the HSBC Group will donate £3 billion to help the world and for the next ten years donate £5 hundred million every year. The £3 billion donation will be made within six months of the announcement.

Some ideas for HSBC Group.

India £ 762 Million, then for the next tens years £51 Million.

Africa £ 823 Million, then for the next tens years £56 Million.

South America £ 514 Million then for the next tens years £43 Million.

Middle East, Syria and the Lebanon 370 Million then for the next tens years £46 Million

China £ 236 Million, then for the next tens years £79 Million

The rest of the world £ 210 Million, then for the next tens years £205 Million.

Estimated costs for running the program £ 20 Million per year.

Have the HSBC Group paid over $2 billion in fines and settlements in the USA in the last seven months?

This may be too high a price for the HSBC Group to pay to restore their reputation?

By helping the world maybe, just maybe, the citizens of the world, may be able to start to forgive the illegal, criminal and shameful behaviour of the HSBC Group.

What was the Board of Directors of HSBC Holdings Plc doing while this illegal and criminal behaviour was going on and who are still Board members?

How did they not know what was going on within the HSBC Group?

For tens years that this illegal and criminal behaviour was going on, Mr Flint was the Finance Director and he staes he did not know what was going on in the Group?

Now Mr Flint is the Chairman, will he be saying he did not know about the illegal behaviour by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India?

Concerned shareholder

Regards
Michael Mason-Mahon
Mobile: 0044 7834763544
Mobile: 0044 7448770801
E-mail: [email protected]

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win."

We sold/found a house to buy in April and went to HSBC for a mortgage. Based on our income etc they gave us a decision in principle for £475K (we have an annual joint income of £105K). We applied for £250K mortgage on £545K house (45% LTV) and received a formal offer a few weeks later. We paid HSBC application fee of £1,999 to secure 2.28% lifetime tracker rate.

This purchase has fallen through in July.

We have now found another buyer and another house to purchase.
The new purchase price is £612,500, required loan £280K (45% LTV). We need £30K extra loan in comparison to the original application.

I tried to see the branch mortgage manager today but he is away on holiday for a fortnight so called the Mortgage Center directly to update the details.

They entered the numbers again (no change in our financial situation since the original application, no credit history issues) to get the agreement in principle and it was declined. #

Obviously I got surprised that a few months ago they were prepared to lend us £475K but today won't even lend us £280K. The person said that it was all to do with the purchase price which was probably too high. He said that their lending criteria change all the time and now they would not even lend us £10K. When I challenged him on the absurdity of his comment and the fact that it's LTV and affordability not the house value that matters, I was told that it is not how their systems work.

Has anyone experienced anything like this before?

Awful bank with terrible customer service. We are currently shopping around for a good bank to move to as we 're fed up of them. There are too many reasons to go into here but their ridiculous 'fraud detection' system is a major one. They constantly block purchases on our cards and message us about 'unusual activity' on our card etc. it is so annoying. Note to HSBC people: not everyone buys the same things on their cards every day of their lives! People do travel abroad, buy things online, have large purchases from time to time and so on. It gets to the point where I just don't want to use the card anymore, even though it's a debit card.

HSBC are also bad with their credit cards

I have had a very bad experience with HSBC credit cards, I went through a cash flow problem for 3 months at the beginning of the year and my HSBC card was blocked/revoked. HSBC agreed if I paid them a large initial payment followed by monthly contractual payments, they will immediately re-instate or issue me a new card.... So that's what I did... and waited.... after a month or so I didn't get my card so I complained and HSBC apologies for the error and wrote an apology letter to me along with a WRITTEN confirmation a new credit card would be issued,,,,, I waited again for 4 weeks and no card.... So I called them up.... only to be told to complain again... Which I did.

After 8 weeks of HSBC investigating the claim, I finally get a response.... another apologies letter stating that the decision to re-instate my credit card was made in error and therefore no credit card can be issued to me and whilst HSBC accept it was their error, would I accept £100 as full and final compensation to bring closure to this complaint.

I called their service centre up in Leeds and spoke to a Parrot and after pulling my hair out... I have had no option but to go to the Financial Ombudsman.... HSBC do not care what they commit in writing and come out with frail explanations..... I guess another unhappy customer with HSBC...

Having banked with HSBC For 5 years for my business and in that time having tried to borrow money occasionally, always being refused, due to, the weather, the sale of pastic bags, bendi buses in London. In fact any excuse possible, now after having an incredible growth in my business over the passed 5 months (a uplift of over 40%) I once again very foolishly approached HSBC for a loan to assist with the extra business, only to be told by a wet behind te ears bank manager(joke) incidentally the 12 one in 5 years! That our accounts don't stack up and the accountant is doing them wrongly! Just incredible! They are a complete shambles of a bank. Banks like this are whats wrong with the Country! Terrible terrible people they ruin people, they ruin businesses an try ruin the economy! I have now changed from HSBC. JUST IDIOTS,

I am not surprised by how loyal some of you are to your own bank/s etc.

Why are you so loyal to them????

Shop around for deals or use an independent mortgage broker.

HSBC are the one of the worst banks that promise the world and deliver nothing!! Nice tv ads and low rates etc.....but you always get disappointed.

Get real people and stop living in the dark ages FFS!

Countrywide dont have to do all conveyancing. You have the option to use your own.

I believe that is the case now, yes. It wasn't when this thread started. HSBC changed their policy after the avalanche of complaints they got - including ours - about Countrywide being so utterly, ridiculously useless.

YADNBU. Enjoy the Dairy Milk!

Thank you Moneylife for allowing me a venue to highlight the illegal and criminal behaviour of HSBC.

After signing the Deferred Prosecution Agreement, why is HSBC still committing illegal and criminal behaviour?

US Senator Carl Levin describes the HSBC Bank as "perversely polluted for sometime".

The Senate investigation concluded that HSBC provided a, "gateway for terrorists to gain access to U.S. dollars and the U.S. financial system."

HSBC states "HSBC takes compliance with the law, wherever it operates, very seriously.

If the Chairman will not tell the truth, how can you expect the staff to tell the truth?

An outside audit by Deloitte LLP showed that 25,000 transactions totaling more than $19.4 billion involved Iran, according to the report.

How could the Chairman and the Chief Executive not know what was going on in the bank?

Did the HSBC Middle East Deputy Chairman, warned the Bank, as many as 90 percent passed through the bank’s U.S. accounts with no disclosure of ties to Iran?

HSBC states "HSBC takes compliance with the law, wherever it operates, very seriously.

What was Mr Flint doing??????????????????????????????????
Is this the same Douglas Flint as Chairman would not tell the truth to shareholders at two AGM’s?

Is this the same Douglas Flint as Chairman denied that staff in India was asking customers to sign blank Letters Of Instructions?

Is this the same Douglas Flint you can find on YouTube? HSBC Chairman Mr Flint lied to shareholders. 2) Protest against HSBC in Mumbai.

HSBC settled their case with the DOJ for $1.9 billion. The settlement is the third time in a decade that HSBC has been penalized for lax controls and ordered by U.S. authorities to improve its monitoring of suspicious transactions. Previous directives by regulators to improve oversight came in 2003 and in 2010.money.

Should Mr Flint and other Board Directors (passed and present) of HSBC Holdings Plc be barred from being a Director of any company?

Should Mr Flint and other Board Directors (passed and present) of HSBC Holdings Plc be in prison?

You may like Google: How much longer can the FM, RBI ignore HSBC in India? - Moneylife

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"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win".

www.moneylife.in/article/hsbcs-behaviour-in-india-is-questionable-says-activist-investor-michael-mason-mahon/37240.html

Seriously? Why are you bumping every thread related to HSBC?

They are awful! We nearly lost our current house because Countrywide sent round an idiot who didn't look properly and said the house was unmortgageable. We quickly went with an independent financial adviser who was able to find a bank that didn't use CW (Newbury Building Society). Also the person dealing with us was very young and clearly enjoying his position of power: "now lots of people come in here wanting a decision straight away but it takes a bit longer than that" - so we went away without even a vague subject to full report estimate. Bloody waste of time. And we were looking at something like a 30% mortgage - utterly ridiculous. So no, YANBU and I'll steer well clear of HSBC in this life...

you need to write a very snotty letter asap with a deadline of, say 3 days, telling them that unless this is sorted out by your deadline then you will have no choice but instruct other solicitors to injunct them into sorting themselves out, and, if the sale falls through as a result of their twattishness, to bring proceedings against them for negligence. It will give them a pretty nasty scare and may work since they are being professionally negligent by the sounds of things. good luck.

the letter needs to be written to your sols btw, and cc'd to your bank manager.

After !9 years banking with HSBC they closed my account without contacting me while i was away working

They claim the sent letters to my uk address even though i informed them i would be away for 6 months and i gave them the necessary contact details for where i would be.

I had spoken to them on numerous occasions when my card got blocked by fraud detection team so they were aware i was away.

They have left me without funds for the last 8 days as i cannot withdraw any money and now i'm being told (well what they are allowed to tell me) they are investigating something and a decision will be made about my remaining funds in the next 7 business days??? so this whole time i have no money and i'm missing work as i am stuck in the uk

Santander are no better. NatWest pissed me off this week - was asked at the counter when paying a cheque in if I was interested in the mobile phone app for online banking. Said no thank you - had to tell her twice as she was trying to get me interested. One hour later I get a text from NatWest telling me how to download the app for mobile banking. They don't listen at all. I miss the days of having a bank manager who actually knew you, who you could call up and say funds a bit low but there'll be money in a week Tuesday etc. Of course you have to pay for that now. As if they don't make enough money from your money.

Me too lovebunny. I would sooner burn my money than give Santander a penny of it! They are the most useless bank I've dealt with in 20 years.

I know it is an old topic but I was silly enough to apply for HSBC mortgage. Just don't do it. Now I am facing the possibility of being homeless because their failure. They have used some monkey business for valuatuon survey. My bank account was charged 2 months ago but the survey was never carried out. Now 3 days before exchange date HSBC sent me a letter blaming me for lack of valuation an witheld the funds. When I asked if they can accept the survey I requested they said no. I had to chase countrywide and some imbecile told me they don't take orders from me as they work with HSBC.

Remember when they were the Midland Bank?

There was a parody of their advertising jingle which went:

People have problems - over the years
Midland Bank - will make them worse
It's a curse.