HSBC Arvostelua 

The worst banking experience I have ever had. They operate at 1970s level, there must be serious lack of investment in their back end as its takes them a minimum of 7 days and about 6 phone calls where I was out in hold for 15 minutes at a time only to be told I had to call back in 48 hours and this was to fix a minor problem. I feel sorry for their customer service staff as they have to deal with frustrated customers like me. I am now going to find an alternative bank.

I think HSBC Expat is possibly the worst bank I have ever used. I was lied to by my Client Rep constantly over the 3 months I had my account. The support staff do what they can be seem to be unable to do anything useful except "set up a callback".

I would avoid HSBC Expat, probably better off keeping your money under your bed

To echo other comments, we are a small family who had our bond terminated and account frozen with no notice. It is the savings account for our very young child future education. The bank bounced us between help desks and nobody took ownership of our problem. The HSBC expat bank has real contempt for small families and has made this experience as painful as possible for us. Please please please if you have small children and need reasonable access to the money avoid this bank. They will make things as difficult as possible for you, especially if you have children, their is a culture of contempt that I cannot and donot wish to be part of or understand.

As an extra point, note that HSBC Expat does not monitor or feedback to comments here. Generally the companies with better customer support do, are very quick to admit a mistake has been made and help fix the problem. I am and have sung the praises of companies that are proactive to fix problems and credit staff members where possible... e.g. trip.com and scan.co.uk, very proactive customer support. HSBC Expat getting things right is not that difficult, just care and listen to people. Many people understand processes need to be followed and are willing to work with you to find a way foward. Just dont show contempt for us, treat us like people. I have much better things to do with my time like caring for my family, but I hope this comment saves other families from the stress we have had to endure.

My experience with HSBC Expat echoes what others have already said about poor service and mismanagement.
I was contacted by someone who said he was my Relationship Manager and promised to help with an incoming transfer and keep me informed. Despite this, the transfer was rejected due to “KYC” issues, and I was never told until I chased both HSBC and the sending bank. I was later informed that this person was not even assigned to my account, leaving me with no proper point of contact.
Following this, my account was placed under full restriction, blocking all incoming and outgoing payments. Emails went unanswered, I was given no timeline and now HSBC has decided to close my account, without resolving the issues or addressing the financial losses I have incurred, including fees, lost interest and wasted time.
This demonstrates a complete lack of communication, accountability and customer care. Stay away from these guys if you want to protect your sanity. They seriously ruin the HSBC name and I am considering closing all my other HSBC accounts as well.

I wish I had read the negative comments here before I opened an account with HSBC Expat!
I wish I could give it a minus 5. I was told to update my CRS before I could place a fixed time deposit. I was given a pdf file to update my CRS. IT wise, I was unable to do so with the pdf given so I sought help from its apps. The staff member was nice and I did update at last. Oh yes, I was told the update would take 5-7 working days or I could make long distance calls the same day to place a fixed deposit. Not every client can make long distance calls within the time specified. That's me. So I waited. 7 working days. Sorry, I am still unable to place a fixed time deposit. I turned to the support on the apps. Seems no one could help. I was told to wait another 24 hours for an email.
I am still waiting. I thought I had been using a bank 300 years ago. How long do you think I should wait?

The bank has been blocking the money since April 2025 – that's eight months now. Within the first week of receiving the information from the bank, they received a document regarding the origin of the money I deposited – still no information on how they will resolve the matter. They also started asking about transfers to my other private accounts – their questions included: "What was the purpose of the transfer to Daniel Platkowski?" – "Don't they see that this is a transfer to another bank, to my private account, and my name is there?"

Do they really work there?

HSBC – who do you employ to assess risk? How do you interpret the regulations? Wake up!

WHY ARE YOU HOLDING CUSTOMERS' MONEY HOSTAGES?

ISN'T IT SUFFICIENT TO SUBMIT A QUESTION TO THE CUSTOMERS WITHOUT BLOCKING THE MONEY?

This bank – you should be afraid – lack of trust – blocking an account without any serious basis!
Look at other reviews – I had 9,000 euros blocked – I had no money to live on – I had to borrow money at interest.

And I see here that people had smaller amounts blocked – is this bank playing a joke on its customers?

Is this bank perhaps bankrupt and having to save itself by taking over customers' money?

I unfortunately faced issues trying to get an MT103 with HSBC, even as a premier customer it was a nightmare dealing with the offshore help center, once it escalated to the local team in the UK it was great, very supportive and collaborative.
This bank could easily be the BEST choice for expats if they could finally get their act together at the offshore call center

Worst banking industry I have ever dealt with, if i could rate them lower than a 1 I would!, I cannot get my bank statements for year 2025 as i need them soon for USA tax returns! NO one ever answers the phone on the HSBC expat (premium) account! and if you do get someone they are highly unqualified to answer questions! do yourself a favor and never join this bank!

Closed my account for no reason, and they won't let me withdraw my money. It's been weeks and they haven't replied my emails. do NOT open an account with them.

This bank is beyond incompetent. My first bad experience was unbelievable yiu couldnt make it up. I lost my phone panicked and called. I was taken throgh no security whatsoever and they confirmed my money was safe. At that realisation I asked why they hadn’t confirmed my identity and asked to report the issue to management. The guy pretended to put me through then listened and pretended he would discipline the person! Himself. When I caught him out and reported the issue to the CEO it was investigated and I was told they wouldn’t sack him but retrain him! They were horrified and tgst call being uppermost in my mind I got a call at the weekend querying a mere 2,300 transfer which they’ve now reversed because I ended the call because I didn’t like the operators manner. Something about the call was off. It seems their call centre staff are inadequate and now I have all this aggro because all I did was transfer money to my own verified accounts and having passed security and confirmed I wasn’t made to do it by a third party I now clearly have to waste my time calling to get this fixed. Once I’ve spent all my inheritance I’ll be free of this wretched bank. Whst a dreadful thing to say because dealing with them is painful

A bank even failed to generate a tiny single monthly statement, it's a joke. I failed to get an individual bank account monthly statement for an inter-bank transaction. The statement supposed to be generated by request. I therefore requested it via customer service and they have promised it take 1-2 working days to process. After that, I have got nothing, just nothing more than 2 working days during the week. I contact them again and they saw my request and know it was not processed. I now have zero trust on them. Absolutely zero. They didn't explain why it is not processed or causing a delay. Due to the delay of the transaction, it is costing me financial losses.

HSBC - Douglas Branch - Isle of Man - REVEIW = 1 Star - I wish it was - 5 Star - I am an ex CEO - Nearly 66 years of age now - HSBC are the worst bank I have ever dealt. With - They really are a joke - They treat me like a child - I sent £10k to my Lloyds Bank Account this morning 13/11/25 which is the maximum on the HSBC App - Then to transfer the remains maximum amount I am aloud to transfer today I sent £15k via on line banking to the same bank account with Lloyds - My Bank Account - My money - The fraud team at HSBC stopped the transaction & refused to sent it because apart from the £10k sent this morning they said I have not sent any monies to this account at Lloyds that opened 18 months ago - They also asked me ro explain why I wanted to keep my money with Lloyds & what was the benefit to keep in Lloyds - F off & mind your own business - My Money - My Account - After 40mins on the telephone I gave up & told the foreign agent to put the money back in my current account again (all HSBC agents are foreign) because HSBC like to pay peanuts to there staff - I will be screen shot ting this review & sending it to my relationship manager who I e mailed earlier today who has still not replied or had an out office e mail message set up !!!

I had an extremely disappointing experience with HSBC Expat. My account was suddenly locked without prior notice, leaving me unable to access my own funds.

Despite submitting all requested documentation and the unclaimed funds form promptly, I waited over a month with almost no communication or status updates. Emails went unanswered for weeks, and I received no clear explanation of what was happening.

After repeated follow-ups, I finally raised a formal complaint and notified the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman (CIFO) — only then did HSBC act and return my money almost immediately.

While I’m relieved the issue was finally resolved, it should not have taken an ombudsman escalation to trigger action. For a global bank catering to expats, the lack of transparency, responsiveness, and accountability was unacceptable.

Based on this experience, I would not recommend HSBC Expat to anyone needing dependable banking or timely support. I have since moved to Wise, which has been far more transparent, efficient, and customer-friendly.

I am 60 years old and have dealt with many organisations. HSBC expat is the worst organisation I have dealt with in my life.

The systems are mainly paper based, or where they are automated looks like they have been developed by a 12 year old.

The staff are incompetent and cannot explain how things work.

Then you need to phone them, to try and correct their errors, at international dailing rates. My last call lasted 35 minutes and cost me £70 and they still did not resolve the issue.

HSBC expat is the worst bank experience ever. The charge me GBP35 underfund fee every month, although I am a Premiere customer in 2 countries, meaning I should not be forced to put GBP75k on this account, that's their stated policies, right.... but that was ignored for 7 months and the deducted every month GBP35 from my account.
Requesting a call back on the secure email to solve this, was not heard for several months either and I only have received some type of semi automated email responses, requesting time slots of my availability which were ignored, but I had always the option to call back the great customer service myself.
Finally they also temporarily closed my account after having updated my security details on their website, updates which they apparently never received....
So I called them today from Indonesia..... I was on the line with an operator for 30 min doing excessive security checks (5 questions...well done, you should do at least 10 to keep people even longer on the line), which I passed because I never received my online banking PIN via a text message 2024. No outcome, because they have not saved my new telephone number, which I updated also 2 months ago on the secure verification path. They have my new address but not my new phone, 30 min wasted and left behind another angry customer.
They suggested I go to a bank in person, because they cannot help me. Updating the telephone number would be handled by a different department and they can only call them when I have done further extended security checks. This is unbelievable, but true.
I have decided that I will now rather close the account than go through this stupidity and incredible useless customer service again.
Please do not use them, they are even not worth 1 star ratings.

Title: Misleading and Extremely Poor Treatment by HSBC Expat

HSBC Expat enticed me to move significant funds from other banks — where they were safe and earning interest , with a promise of higher interest rates — only to impose restrictions on my accounts shortly after. My money has been sitting in zero-interest accounts for weeks while I’m asked repeatedly for endless KYC documents, with no clear timeline or explanation.

The experience feels punitive and deeply unprofessional — clients are treated more like suspects than valued customers. Very disappointing and a serious warning to anyone considering moving their funds to HSBC Expat.

Really a half star is deserved for poor customer services with HSBC Expat Premier relationship manager who always cancel on customer conference calls. Always want customers to update CRS (2 or 3 times for me in 2025 already) otherwise they would suspend certain services.
HSBC Expat mortgage department is a joke and staff only considers “salary” as income, nothing else. A very poorly run unit of HSBC Group.

Shocking customer service, first closed my money account without warning or explanation, then did not supply statements to confirm money was returned to me.
THEN closed all accounts and access to them again withouth warning or explanation. Effectively stealing my money and trying to refer me to a form

I would give zero stars if I could. Worst experience with a “bank” that I’ve ever had. Start to finish, the application process was filled with what I hope is gross incompetence. As others have mentioned, calls at 3am to resolve questions already answered. They seem unable to consistently send emails to or receive emails from either of my email addresses. When they do, responses are delayed by a week at absolute best. Claim to have called me, but zero missed calls for the last 3 weeks from them. After being approved, I have never been sent the details to my account. Despite multiple requests, and assurances they would re-send. Over two weeks later, and still nothing. I called again to try to resolve, authenticated through 6 security questions only to be told that they cannot provide account details without me providing THEM the account pin that I have never received, and was calling about in the first place! I am done. I have asked them to just delete my accounts. Let’s see if they can even manage that. I would more readily trust my money to a “Nigerian Prince” with a “financial opportunity” than HSBC Expat.

A Clown Show would be better and have some comedy enjoyment. There is absolutely nothing going right with these monkeys hiding in the Channel Islands. You deal with an offshore centre In Manila that’s had a corporate lobotomy in comparison to the HSBC Hong Kong and HSBC Australia call centres (also in Manila).