There is really to much to go into here. However I have had an account with them in the UK since 1996 without any problems.

I switched to a HSBC Premier account when I was moving to the US to make life much easier there and then better when the move to Canada came around.

It has not made life easier it has made it much more difficult. In the US it was much easier starting a bank account from scratch than dealing with HSBC US. So them we move to Canada and HSBC will not offer a competitive mortgage rate, I had to jump through hoops to get a credit card in Canada to avoid using the US one), even though I have a HSBC UK and US one. I am still waiting for it 4 weeks later. And there has been many extra charges using the US one. They did not give me a pin and I have to actually go to find a branch as this cannot be done online.

On Friday I paid to do a same day wire transfer from a US bank to HSBC US (After they had lost the direct payment the US bank had initially sent on 7th Dec). It has now been debited from the US account and after 30 minutes on the phone to HSBC they say it can take two days..


The cherry on the cake is that I have found out that they are pulling out of Canada. Hence the slow inefficient service, the not great rates and the nightmare of trying to deal with them.

Sorry for the rant, however I wish I had know in the UK / US that they were pulling out of Canada I could have saved myself a hell of a lot of hassle. So if they are trying to tempt you with an account in the UK and you are coming to Canada save yourself a lot of stress...

However, if you want to indulge in a little money laundering HSBC are apparently the world's best at it ! Barclays are second.

First Ive heard of HSBC leaving Canada....

A lot of what you describe sounds like typical "welcome to the canadian banking system" stuff to be honest.

Not one to winge, and I left HSBC Canada several years ago, but...

I'd had a bank account with HSBC from the age of 18 in the UK.

When I came to Canada, they wouldn't give me a credit card.
They couldn't match the mortgage rate I was offered by TD.

After a year here, I was being paid in cash by my new employer.

They wanted to hold that (salary, cash) for 10 business days in order to count it.
They wanted to put a hold on my Tax Rebate cheque for 15 days, in case it didn't clear

It regularly took me upwards of half an hour to complete very basic transactions in the branch.

HSBC Canada were the first bank that I had to close my account for and take my business elsewhere. I'm not surprised they're leaving Canada. They were uniformly awful.

Not that much of the financial system in Canada is much better, but at least TD gave me a free Starbucks coffee when I had to wait for 10 minutes for someone in the branch...

I have spoken to two financial advisers that have confirmed they are pulling out. They have already sold off some branches.

Certainly not standard practice to have such a hassle when doing anything with a Premier account when they either have a lot of money from you or a high fee.

Bank of America in the US were a million times better than HSBC with no fee.

I agree 100 %

We are going with ING for our mortgage, better rates, better terms, not locked in to a collateral mortgage as with HSBC (this is not something we wanted).

Are you banking with TD? If so how have you found them?

I had similar experiences with T-D. Its one bank I wont use and once I had PR I moved all my business from TD to PC.

Presidents Choice cover my needs with no fees. Never had a bad experience with them FWIW.

Thanks for the information PC was also discussed yesterday the only negative I heard was regarding the cash points..

I'm very happy with them.

They have great online banking tools, and are very helpful and reliable.

Up to last month, they had my mortgage, checking and savings account. I moved my mortgage because I have a better rate elsewhere, but if TD could have matched it, I would certainly have stayed there. I'd recommend them, but then I haven't banked with any of the other of the big four.

Not only have I few complaints about their service - my only niggle would be that if I call my branch direct, the receptionist often forgets to pass messages on - but I have a direct line to my account manager I can use instead.

They offer some tools that help with saving - i.e. every time I make a debit transaction, $1 is automatically deposited into my savings account, which helps with saving.

All in all, I have very few dealings with them on a day to day basis, which is exactly how it should be, and when I do, they've been exceptionally helpful.

PC is a subsid of CIBC and you have free use of CIBC ATMs... Besides, with unlimited transactions you can use cashback on debit transactions without worrying about racking up transaction fees.

The downside to PC was (is?) that I had to be a PR, a TWP was not enough.

Can anyone else corroborate this? I have some dealings with HSBC and it's the first I've heard of it.

Me neither. Contrary to the problems of the other posters I've never had any issues with HSBC. I don't, personally, count not offering a decent mortgage rate a problem.

Still, I shall take the advice on hand. Even though they've always been pretty decent to deal with in my experience I shall now avoid them AT ALL COSTS!!!

I have money in an HSBC account if it's true they are closing what would happen to my money if it's not out of the bank in time?

Upon investigation it would appear to not be leaving the high street banking business, they are trying to get out of some of their lending business according to this...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...77L2J820110822

They may be closing some branches though to cut costs, I dont know....

That makes a lot more sense. Why is it that so-called "financial advisers" speak so much bollocks. If they don't know basic stuff like this, then don't trust them with your money.