HSBC Closing accounts

This was in the Evening Standard last night - what I found interesting was that the reporter was unable to get the reason(s) for these closures from HSBC. They quoted one person who had his account closed and he could not identify any reason why it was closed.

The only thing I could read between the lines was that certain accounts were being used for the wrong purpose - I assume these are personal accounts being used by the self-employed or small businesses in some way.

I suppose there might be a lot of people generating quite a bit of Ebay-related financial traffic without a proper business account. I wouldn't think that'd add up to 270k for one bank (albeit a big one) though.

Of course it's possible the black economy is so huge now automated financial "mapping" of bank accounts is showing up a lot of anomalies.

Or maybe they're just finally working out which customers aren't economic to have any more? With complaints about bank charges etc. on the rise the (very rare) free banking system we have might be under threat.

Andrew McP

x-no-archive: yes

HSBC seem to be a law unto themselves (i mean, charging to pay IN money at lunchtimes, if you are not their customer?? wtf?!)

Do the 30days letters give customers a chance to redeem themselves, by going bak to 'normal' usage? seems a missed opurtunity for the bank, to convert people to a business account, and charge per item..

if usage was really iffy, surely they would be blocked/closed stright away?!

In message , Bedders writes

I dont see what is wrong with that. Why should they do it for free?

I wouldnt be surprised if this isnt a pre-emptitive strike because they know thier penalty charges are under threat in the same way credit card companies have been forced down. The credit cards companies all increased thier interest rates in a tantrum after they were forced to reduce penalty charges. Instead of waiting for a ruling about penalty charges on bank accounst perhaps they are weeding out dodgy ones as a warning shot. The banks wont give up profits in one department without clawing it back some other way. Or if they do it will be a bit like gordon brown saying he wont invent any more stealth taxes.

I think it's part of a readjustment in attitudes. For a long time in the UK we've been lucky enough to have free banking and, cheap (to run) credit cards. Now the "I know my rights" lobby has grown so large, it seems to be undermining that with their demands to cut what costs are levied, rightfully IMO, on customers. So it seems perfectly reasonable that the businesses who handle our money for us should start looking at their business model again.

I suspect this is just the start, sadly.

Andrew McP

PS We probably shouldn't underestimate the effect bad debt, IVAs & bankruptcy are having as well.

. Now the "I know my rights" lobby has grown so large, it

I wouldnt disagree too strongly with your points. Its the the law that states that penatlies reflect the actual cost putting the situation right and unles the bank reveal the true figures it leaves them open the "i know my rights lobby". In thoery no one wants to see the level of bad debts, iva's and bankruptcies but it employs a huge number of employees in thos particular industry sectors so some people wouldnt like to see the figures drop. What i would like to see is what percentage of the money involved in the debts, iva etc is the "core money" and how much is the high penatly charges. They only give overall figures. It would also be interesting to se what stake, if any, the banks and/or credit card industry has in the companies that make money from the bad debts, iva's etc industry. (if they had a stake in that thier losses would be less than is officially bandied about)

They are closing around 10% (i.e. 27,000) of the accounts they have reviewed.

I note from the Moneysavingextert.com website