Tempted to go to this, as there seem to be a few freebies involved, First Direct have been very good to deal with, and frankly, NatWest as an RBS entity have really peed me off, even more so with current news reports.

Just wondering if anyone had signed up as yet, and if so whether they’d recommend it?

I have an HSBC account.

someone stole my card details and spent £1000 on my card last Friday and then got a 16gb 3g Iphone off o2 on tuesday this week by setting up a direct debit.

My experience with hsbc so far has been one of staff not understandign their own processes, advice that changing my name and address would help stop it happenign again and a very nice man at the branch yesterday who shut my old accoutn and opened a new one for me.

He said the Plus thing was only worth it if you travelled abroad a fair bit and didn’t have AA cover elsewhere…

I have a HSBC credit card, I use it for work and pay the balance off each month.

Getting the DD process in place took weeks and their customer service in my experience has been absolutely awful. Its in place now so it manages itself however I wouldn’t use them in future.
I have an MBNA and HSBC, had Capital 1 also until recently and all were fine.
All IMO of course.

I’m with First Direct.

They’ve generally been great.

They spot people stealing my money and fix it before I even notice.

I have been with HSBC for years and never had a problem. They upgraded me to plus recently but I haven’t read the stuff I am entitled to. Anyone want to precis it for me?

travel insurance, roadside assistance, ID theft protection and something else that i can’t remember (death cover?)

I figure I pay for two of those already separately, so if I can combine them all in one monthly DD, then why not.

Last time I was in Spain i had my card used fraudulenty. They rang me up, checked it was fraud and dealt with it fine. The only problems was they cancelled my card which meant I was without my main credit card for a couple of days in Spain (had a spare though)

i looked into it

the monthly charge worked out more expensive than actually paying for the benefits i would use

been with HSBC for years and not that impressed with them. despite the fact that i travel a fair bit they consistently stop my card when i’m abroad. once stopped, the card cannot be reactivated. this has left me stranded with large taxi fares to pay several times. they call me, leave a computer message to call back, i call back, they ask for me to confirm some transactions and then say the card has to be canceled anyway! i spoke to my bank manager about it and he just said he knows, it’s happened to some of his staff!

they do like to lend me money though 🙂

I have a HSBC Plus account so I got a better mortgage rate. So far haven’t had to use any of the features.

Won’t apply to most I know, but their breakdown cover doesn’t apply to you travelling in cars older than 15years of age.

I have been with HSBC for 20 years and have never had any problem with them at all and have always been impressed with their service recovery.

My only whinge is that for the last few years they have pushed this HSBC Plus Account very hard and to be honest I am getting a bit tired of the hard sell.

I did once nearly sign up – but then they revealed it would mean a new account with a new sort code and bank account rather than a simple status change on the existing account.

That ruled it out for me.

I’m an HSBC Branch Manager, and I would have to agree with the following statement from wwaswas (He said the Plus thing was only worth it if you travelled abroad a fair bit and didn’t have AA cover elsewhere…)

But remember it is always up to you and you can always say No.

Rochey need to work for first direct proper bank still in bedford or moved on now.

LloydsTSB do something similar (Silver or Platinum, i think they call it).
Worth a comparison, anyhow.

despite the fact that i travel a fair bit they consistently stop my card when i’m abroad

They seem to be notorious for stopping your card when used abroad which peeves me. I’ve had it happen, as have many others I know (I used to work for them so know one or two people who HAVE to have an HSBC account…).

I had the Plus account on staff rates which was good, but for full price the above statement applies about travelling and AA cover. When I left and went to cancel it, the guy on the phone said why not ask about preferential mortgage rates as a Plus customer, get it set up, then cancel the plus account and the preferential rates stick. Top man. Which brings me to another point… Plus customers go through to British call centres. Not wanting to start anything about their Indian call centres, but its often like banging one’s head against the wall. As was working with them = part of the reason I left.