Anyone recommend HSBC as a business account

[Faith28]

I noticed recommendations to HSBC's business account get £50...so if you want to recommend me please feel free to send me a referral and get your £50.


http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/business/...ssionid=0000LuKhzB3M6jIdYUjgvm2u2bp:12ntf1n0a

I'll let you know if I go ahead once I've assessed all the other account.s

 

[Derr1ck]

Hi I bank with HSBC have you decided yet?

 

[websnail]

Not so much a recommendation but more an experience to convey.

I started with HSBC, picking a small branch office in a village near where I was living at the time. The relationship I had with the branch business manager was very positive and she went out of her way to get information for a number of uncommon (for a small branch) business queries and services.

Amongst these service requests I wanted a USD$ account and asked about charges, how the account was managed, how I could draw on the account, make deposits, etc..

In almost every instance the manager would ring her main branch advisory team and they would provide information that indicated it was a good product or that charges were X, Y, Z, etc... only for me to discover that in fact the practices were completely different and in fact it was more like Alpha, Beta, Gamma! Each time it was a major surprise to my business manager and only calls to head office business team clarified the issue. Net result was a distinct bitter taste although I was refunded numerous charges each time we found out we'd been given bad info'. Her embarrassment was palpable.

Case in point... I was initially told that a USD account could accept cheques into the account for a charge of around £17 equivalent on the balance received. Fine..

.. well actually no, what actually happens is that HSBC accept the cheque, convert it to GBP and take their cut on conversion, then charge the £17, then convert it back again using their conversion rate for buying USD and that's what you get in the account. In reality I remember a $1000 cheque being deposited in 2003 with the actual amount getting to my account being something like $925. I was not happy!


Since then I've found that things like new products like the "Commercial Card" rarely have the correct documentation for whoever is selling the product. I got offered this product over the older "Business Card" and was told that I could pay off the balance and use it again within 3 business days so there was no need to have a credit limit of £10k for some bigger projects.

... Bzzt.. Wrong!.. You can only pay off your previous months balance and re-use that within 3 business days. Your current months balance is non-repayable until it is counted against your overall commercial card balance for the company which happens once a month. I was told by 3 different people that this wasn't the case when it first came out and a month later was told I couldn't have been told that by someone else.

So, anyway, I'm still with them but I'm mindful of the fact that nothing is ever cut and dried and having a good business manager relationship is worth its weight in gold. Their commercial card team are very helpful and really if you take it all with a pinch of salt you get there in the end.

Good luck...

 

[Bizicycle]

I recently looked into business accounts and found the HSBC were one of the best options available around the high street today. Their online facilities seem to get alot of praise in opinion forums I had looked in and their overall customer service gains alot of plaudits.

I personally went with the Abbey National as they have a business manager at my local branch and that was more convienient to me than the trip into the city for a HSBC.

 

[Mattonella Tile Studio]

I'm not a fan of HSBC due to previously working for them, however, their business internet banking system is brilliant if you wish to administer your account that way. The branch network IMO is too hit and miss as staff are under too much sales pressure, and a lot of experienced staff have left (in our area anyway). Don't get me wrong, there are some good staff but as I say, hit and miss.

The call centre based in India is terrible.

 

[HelenSH]

With Abbey, have bad experiences with HSBC will not touch with the longest barge pole in the world

 

[Officebird]

I'm with HSBC and I love them! I have a business manager5 - Mark and he is great. He phones me up to see how i'm doing and doesn't try and sell me anything

Everyone looks for different things from a bank but for me HSBC have been great. I used them a few years ago in a different town when I had a Ltd Coy and they were great then as well.

 

[jim_gold]

Couple of points. We have used HSBC for 15 years, and I doubt if we would go with them if we were starting over.

Firstly, their local managers have nowhere near the discretion they used to have. Edicts and guidelines are strictly enforced from the top. The staff at the local branch are always friendly and helpful, I have to say.
Secondly their internet banking is crap compared to other banks in one major respect - transaction history can only go back a couple of months!! I find this incredible and irritating in today's age.
One last point is that although we have never ever been in overdraft, because we accept credit cards for services in advance (ie subscriptions) they demand a personal guarantee AND a debenture over the business assets. I know for a fact that several other high st banks ie Natwest do not require this.

If I had the time, I'd move to another bank.

 

[HC-Martin]

I'm with HSBC and been really happy with them.

Eiman - A friend of mine also opened an account with them, gave me the card, I filled it in, and pretended I had referred her. We split the £50.

Let me know if ya wanna do that!!

 

[holidayinyourpocket]

I was with HSBC for 2 years or so for my business account and had 15 business managers during that time.

Also, all the Commercial Card work is outsourced to India and the language barrier is massive, as is the poor quality of service.

The final straw was when I went to my branch to find out who my new business manager was and was told that my turnover (circa £150k pa at the time) didn't warrant a specific manager!

Switched to Barclays. Why? Because I met the manager at a networking event, liked him and he has been in the same branch for 5 years.

IMHO all the banks are the same - it's all down to the person you deal with.

 

[KeithGreen]

Been with HSBC 11+ years now. Reason? They are the only bank branch in my village. Now I use mainly online banking which has no charges providing transactions are low (less than 20 cheques in and out and less than 20 electronic transactions per month).

They have been good to me. If I were starting again I think I'd use the same "convenience" criteria.

 

I'm with Natwest and very happy with them.

Phones are answered within seconds, regardless what day of the week it is or what time I call (24/7 customer service).

 

[Stephen Berry]

I cannot see any meaningful difference between banks (especially if you bank on line). The difference is between bank managers.
My HSBC experience, when I first left the world of big business 10 years ago, was great. The manager lived around the corner from me and was my only point of contact. We had no problems.
Then all relationship management was switched between Swansea and Mumbai. In one conversation the telephone operator and I were spelling words to each other as we could not understand each others accents! We left HSBC shortly after.
The bank we are still with was 100% whe Pauline was our manager - even though she lived several hundred miles away and we only spoke either each 6 months or when we wanted something sorted (e.g. Merchant Account having some dynamite put under their ample butts). Pauline was promoted and now we have just a number to call and 3 names in the last 6 months - so back to no relationship.

So - I cannot see a difference - other than in relationship, and these are inevitably regrettably temporary. Go with them, if you don't get on switch to someone els e- it's very easy to move bank.

 

[telemax]

Hi

My biggest problem with HSBC is the language barrier with outsourced staff. That said I have had some fantastic bank managers at my local branch, who have always given me help and time. However my current one isn't much good.

Maybe it's the same with all banks

 

[Mattonella Tile Studio]

Hi

My biggest problem with HSBC is the language barrier with outsourced staff. That said I have had some fantastic bank managers at my local branch, who have always given me help and time. However my current one isn't much good.

Maybe it's the same with all banks

Couple of stories I believe to be true.

Customer rings up Indian call centre to inform the bank that she had lost her husband. Got transferred to Lost and Stolen card section.

There was also an idea to get more 'slang' into the conversation so somebody taught the Indian call centre the slang expression for raining. So customer rings up for something, operator gets chatty "I believe it is p***ing it down today over there".

 

[Cleveregg]

Friend of mine rang up a call centre in India and got through to 'Pol' (Paul). Friend asked where the call centre was based and he said "Leicestershire".

Not sure why they do this pretending lark.


Sorry...gone off the orginial question.

Bank with Natwest, nightmare to open the account they got everything wrong.
Opened another business account with HSBC a week ago...so don't know what they'll be like yet.

Like someone else on this thread said, I think they're all much the same.

 

[Knife_fork_spoon]

Well We're with Barclays - have been for 8 years, been great!

However, we've recently changed into a limited company. Went to the bank, thought all was well etc - was agreed to run the old partnership account and the ltd account till everything inc PDQ services had been switched. PDQ payments were still going into the old account, and we were going to just transer them over to the new account.

However the old account stopped showing up on my online banking. Thus not being able to transfer money which we had taken from the PDQ - which equated to a LOT of money!

Ring barclays to find out why, and after 3 hours of talking to people in different departmets that I'd been taken off MY OWN ACCOUNT!! I was furious! They also said they couldnt talk to me as I was no longer a signatory on the account!!

After a total of 7 days, a total of 9 hours in total on the phone, 20 phone calls later - Barclays have admitted it was their fault! My business managers fault - who incidently on holiday for 3 weeks! I got told at first that my old business partner had got me taken off the account, then we got told it was an error on their system, then the woman filling in for our BM was in meetings for 2 solid days! The list goes on?!!!!!

Finally sorted thou, strange! Never had a problem with them ever till last week. Least i can sleep knowing that I have my PDQ transactions which will pay the rent!

My 2 penneth worth!

Was with HSBC for my personal banking as a student, and never had a problem with them!

 

[leemason]

I have been with HSBC for about 13 years now. I have a business current account with them. I used to use their telephone banking until they moved it to India when I started to have problems with it and eventually gave up using it (and told them why). They have now moved this back to the UK (so I am told - probably not because of my complaint though) so will probably start using it again.

I also have an account with the Abbey (business account) which was a real pain to setup as they kept getting things wrong and at one point I'd paid in £3K and was unable to get my hands on it. However, now that it is working it's fine.

The worst bank that I have used is Barclays. I have never come across such an unbelievably incompetent company and cannot understand why they make so much money! I used them some years ago and they were terrible. My wife recently opened an ISA with them and none of the branch staff seem to know how she could simply pay any money into it. In the end she was told three different things on the three occassions that she did pay money in.

 

[BTC-Company Services]

We've been with HSBC for about 6 years now, for business & private. We have been very happy with them, no problems at all. We have a great Business Manager for business accounts and Relationship Manager for the private accounts, both have been very helpful! We would definitely recommend HSBC.

_______________________
Business Tax Centre Limited
Company Formations, Company Services, Company Reports & Anti-Money Laundering

 

[serendipitybusiness]

I have a RBS direct banking account. It is great if you don't deal with cheques and is free. I am going to look into Barcleys for my next account though.

Hope this helps

 

[SouthernBusiness]

Well also if you do choose to bank with HSBC let me know we can each earn £50 vouchers PM me

 

[fairestcape]

Best reason (currently) to go with HSBC is because they're the least-bankrupt bank out of all the major banks.

The rest of them still trade, but if they were "proper" businesses they would all be put into administration. The reason why they aren't going "Northern Rock" is because of political intervention.

Best place for anyone's money right now is a shoebox under the mattress.... not in a bank.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

My input for what it's worth - been with HSBC for 5 years and found them satisfactory, except their commercial card, which I stopped because of problems and changed to Capital One. If you use internet banking mostly, and pay most of your bills by internet transfer rather than cheques, ask to be put on internet banking charges which are about one-third the normal charges.
Funny, I have never been put through to an Indian call centre, always someone either in Leicester or Swansea, although their Credit Card terminal helpline is based in India, but they have always been understandable and efficient whenever I called.
In the past I have had bad experiences with NatWest and Lloyds/TSB. Its not a question of them not making mistakes - I imagine all banks do from time to time - but how quickly they sort it out. In the case of the latter two, they seem to take an age.
Barrie

 

[Moneyman]

Over the years I have had trouble with:
barclays
nat west
HSBC
lloyds
Clydesdale
Bank of scotland
CIBC
City
But on other occasions they have been good. You get several years good service then they screw up or start being silly and you move. You get a few good years then you get a new manager who decides to be a pain and you move again. I have never known a bank be loyal to any company i have dealt with and i return the favor.

They are all the same and it just depends on the local manager. Sometimes they get a message from on high and a bank wants to get market share in a certain part of the uk or in small busines or whatever. They are suddenly nice and you find the information leaks out and off you go and join. At the same time, the same bank can be saying " we have too many small businesses in scotland" so they claw back their service. Dont take it personally...change banks. they are simply a service industry.

 

[Future Freak]

I started out with HSBC. I tend to want to put in a fair amount of cash from my shop sales. They chaged 50p per £100 - so that was a fiver everytime I deposited 1000. I asked why this was - as cash is king and doesn't have any need processing so much as cheques. Apparantly banks hate cash - as they have to have little things like security guards etc. and people have to count it. Yuck!

Anyway - I contacted the bank manager and had a little chat about this issue of paying for putting in cash and was there anything they could do about this. His response was - put in less cash and I'd pay less charges. Hmmm - not too good for when I need to pay suppliers/invoices etc. from my bank account. I took his advice though - I closed my account with them and moved to Abbey. Free cash deposits up to about 3 grand a month.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

HSBC charge me 2% I think for cash deposits, so I tend not to pay any cash into the account. I find that card payments and the occasional cheque into the account are enough to keep the account in the black (although I suppose this depends on what proportion of your takings are from cards). I use the cash for my own drawings, and if need be, I have been known to pay bills of local companies in cash as well.
Barrie

 

[MK Financial Solutions]

HSBC were a nightmare to open the account (it took them 27 days to decide what was the difference between a sole trader and a limited company, and then another 2 weeks to find out where my nearest business advisor was) , and then they got worse (problems like payments being refused whilst there were plenty of funds in the account, charging for stuff like cheques and DD etc when it was free banking for a period etc), moved to free business banking with Abbey and they have been good as gold in every respect.