Hsbc is one of the most incompetent banks around . They make nationalized banks look efficient in comparision .Hsbc’s Premier banking is a joke .
I discovered how bad they are after shifting part of my banking to other Indian banks .- Monthly account statements don’t reach / don’t reach on time- No data security . Someone else’s accounts reach you by courier as well as by hand delivery .
Your bank account details with address and contact info can fall into hands of others courtesy HSBC bank as was our experience several times when we received other people’s statements . One can only guess that the months our statements were not received they were delivered to someone else .(on one occasion I received 1 year’s bank statement of another customer .
It happened to be my ex-boss . I called him and asked if he had asked Hsbc Juhu for such data . He was naturally surprised to be asked this . He was shocked to know that his papers had reached my residence )- On one loan I pre-paid the loan and gave a letter advising that this covers the loan payment . Next month the EMI was deducted again from my account ! -
Even when EMI payments are made as auto debit from savings account their home loan dept will call to enquire re EMI- There is no co-ordination between the individuals , departments and systems (including IT systems ) . When we changed our address we had to give innumerable letters for address change to various individuals and departments . The most unbelievable case was 5 years after the address change HSBC Juhu had sent some important communication to the old address .-
Their interest rates are very high compared with most banks . Especially when viewed in the context of the abysmal service they consistently provide - it makes no sense at all to take loans from HSBC.- Their investment advice is very poor . What they try to project as investment advice is often their marketing tie ups for specific funds or schemes .The "relationship manager’ would suddenly get concerned on ’your investments’ every June , Sep , Dec and March .
The overlap with quarter ending and sales targets must be purely incidental ?Hsbc’s inefficient service seems to be a phenomenon that extends beyond India . A business client in USA who uses HSBC USA was overcharged for remittances . It was discovered that the bank had charged them as well as the beneficiary of the funds for the charges . Something that came to light because the beneficiary complained about the shortage .As a foreign bank they are restricted in the number of branches they can operate . Which is good for Hsbc . Because they don’t have the people skills or the systems to scale up .