I recently opened an HSBC online savings account, which seemed like an awesome idea since it pays 5.05% and has no minimum balance and no fees to transfer money.
Well, I initially deposited $10.00 to open the account, then over the next couple of weeks deposited a couple hundred dollars. On the same day that I opened the account and the ten dollars was transferred, I was also charged $2.00 by HSBC. At first, I wasn't going to waste my time due to the fact that it's only two dollars, but I'm well aware that in many scams, people are charged a small amount of money first to see if they notice, OR, everyone is charged 2.00 which adds up to millions.
So I wrote an email to customer service. They informed me that they didn't charge me the 2 dollars and I should contact my bank. My bank informed me that they did not charge me 2 dollars, HSBC did. Which I tend to believe, since the charge looks exactly the same as the 10 dollar initial deposit. "Charge from HSBC internet banking." I write another email to HSBC. Same terse reply. I call their 1800 number. After being on hold for 15 minutes while the woman checks on the charge, she informs me that I will have to have my bank fax them a copy of my statement.
As if I'm trying to rip them off for 2 dollars or something. My bank charges 5 dollars for this service, negating any benefit to me. They tell me I should print it and fax it myself as it will look the same. I just called my roommate and had him fax it from work.
I'm freaking livid over this. I'd be even more pissed if it was a larger amount of money, but I'm also pissed I've wasted so much time, when I'm really only benefitting HSBC to find out what scammer is taking advantage of their poor security or internal practices.
Part of me hopes this is a common error, thousands of people have been ripped off, they won't pay us, and we get to file a class action.
So, if anyone else has an HSBC online savings account, please check to see if there have been any unauthorized charges to the account you transfer from, and if you don't have one, think twice, because it's probably not worth the headache.



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