HSBC France

One star is too much to rate this worthless bank. I live in China and travel around the world quite often, so I have accounts on Mainland China, Hong Kong, the US and France. HSBC France is by far THE WORST BANK I’ve ever come across, even compared to Bank of America, Bank of China, Deutsche Bank and Stadtsparkasse München, where I’ve had accounts too. The only reason I still use them it’s because there is no other branch on Continental Europe. The genius that opened my account «forgot» to tell me that you can’t do ANYTHING without a secure key, so when I moved to China and tried to change my address of course I couldn’t. I called the branch and they told me the only way to do this is to send a FAX (who on earth has a fax nowadays?!) with my passport and an utility bill with my name on it, but it just so happens that utility bills in China HAVE NO NAMES. I tried to explain this to the great people of my branch (which manages EVERYTHING, so I can’t call outside of their business hours) and they told me I need to GO TO THE CONSULATE to get a certificate of residence, THE FREAKING CONSULATE JUST TO CHANGE MY ADDRESS!!! Also, for their online banking you can’t even choose your own name, you HAVE to use a ridiculous ID that they give you printed on a card, so if you’re traveling, and didn’t bring the worthless card (not an ATM card, they cost a lot of money), then you can’t log in to your account. I’m a Premier customer, and I hate HSBC France, but you can’t even call them to scold them, because they will get all worked up and scold you back for being outraged by their horrible service and RIDICULOUS POLICIES, they even tried to tell me it’s an EU requirement, which is total BS. DON’T OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH HSBC FRANCE, DO IT IN HSBC MALTA OR HSBC GREECE.

HSBC Premier banking in France is a joke. They charge you 120 euros just to have plastic card (regardless of the fact that you keep a lot of money in the account just to maintain Premier status). When I was opening French account form the US they «forgot to mention this». You cannot even set your own pin code to the card, and if you forget one they charge you nine euros to issues new one! That’s premier care they provide! There is no charge back features, so if you relationship with some merchant turns sour you have no way to return your money. To change the address on file you have to go to the branch (!) hand write letter on blank paper asking to do that (!!) and if it’s not «your assigned» branch they forward you paper to yours and it takes couple of days. (!!!). Unbelievable, just unbelievable!

HSBC touts itself as «The World’s Bank» but don’t believe any of it! I started a Premier account in the US with the attraction of being able to establish a HSBC account in Paris where I live several months a year. The debit card issued to me only allows a € 500 withdrawal at the ATM per day, so I walked into a branch closed to where I live and they are unable to give me cash for a mere € 1,500 because the branch doesn’t carry any money! They directed me to another branch which they say will be able to help me. Since not all HSBC branches in Paris are Premier, I decided to go to a Premier branch closed to me. Same story, they don’t have any money in the bank and told me to see my relationship manager way downtown! You would think they would bend over backwards to assist and facilitate a Premier client, whatever it takes to meet their banking needs! After walking from one branch to another all morning, I have decided that given the inconvenience and lack of personal attentive service, the benefits and advantages of a HSBC Premier account is not what they claim to be! Definitely, a world bank, they are not! I would not even give them 1 star, but there is no way of doing that with Unilocal