HSBC Reviews 160

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).

Opened a joint Premier account 2 years ago before an international move. The account does link to other HSBC accounts and uses the same online front end, so is easy to use. Multi-currency debit card works OK, but simply not competitive with Wise or Revolut and hence no point in it at all.
It took over 6 months to get a credit card from them (they said they were updating their systems) and then they refused to issue a card to my wife (they said it was a company policy, but had no idea why). I see they have stopped issuing the World Elite credit cards again - can't be another system update surely!
Huge disappointment, but their service simply is not in the same league as HSBC UK (even though they are legally part of the same company).
Closing my account now and not sorry to see the back of them.

This has been the WORST customer experience I’ve ever had with any company. HSBC Expat are completely incompetent, rude, and arrogant. Weeks of time wasted, no accountability, and no resolution despite repeated follow-ups. Truly appalling service. This is for HSBC Premier! I would hate to see the basic service. Their Brand values:

- We get it done - Errrr, from reading the reviews you clearly don't

- We value difference - They actually value profits

- We take responsibility - Hahahahaha, yeah right, we can't even get someone to email us back

- We succeed together - They take your money and you'll be happy with that!

Absolutely just look for another bank! They are not worth the trouble.

This bank blocked our accounts in March 2025. They did not give any reason nor request any information or documents. We called more than 20 times and many emails, but no information was given or timelines. They were rude at times when we challenged them and showed no care. They did not log our complaints properly or respond at all. Our accounts finally got unblocked in August 2025 after complaints to CIFO. At the end of it all, they didn’t even request a single document or information, so it proved that they just have no clue what they’re doing.
If this happens to you, step 1; immediately lodge a formal complaint by email and request a complaint number. Step 2: after 3 months has passed start CIFO complaint process (you can’t do it sooner) Step 3; chase CIFO after a few weeks, and then they will put pressure on HSBC to resolve the issue.

The mistake we did was wait too long before making formal complaint, as that is the only way to get the timeline started.

HSBC expat are run by a bunch of crooks, and they have no interest in you as a customer. Avoid at all costs.

Banking with HSBC Expat is a total disaster. After opening the Premier account 6 months ago, they keep sending me threatening emails and letters that my account will be frozen and requesting the same information from me, which was submitted many times before. Also, they shared my personal details with their subcontractors as I am receiving emails and SMS from companies connected to HSBC.

Disorganised chaos from start to finish. Old fashioned processes, calls at 3am, literally 2-3 weeks ‘to respond’. I am surprised that in 2025, an example of customer service so poor still exists without the parent company addressing it. It is clearly obvious from reading reviews more generally that the inefficiencies are deep rooted.

Avoid this company at all costs if you wish to maintain your sanity. This branch is a complete and utter disgrace. Senior management and Warwick Long in particular refuse to communicate to customers or even allow their staff to reveal their contact details. I have advised them that I will be referring them to their regulators and instructing my solicitors for their appalling behaviour which is tantamount to fraud and definitely not what I would expect of HSBC. Avoid avoid avoid

Just dont use this account, we set up an account and after finding nearly all our banks cant transfer to them for some reason, revolut, barclays, Bunq, etc we found we could send a test payment by HSBC UK of €100 and hay preston in the account in 48 hours. so we then sent €50,000 on the 26th of August and after 72 hours no money kept chasing and said no money recieved but confirmed as compete in HSBC UK, then got through to Internatioanl transfers in HSBC UK, they confirmed for soem unkown reason it was rejected by HSBC Jersey(expat) and was going to come back within 5 working days, but now after 2 weeks from HSBC Expat having recieved the money they havent sent it back to HSBC UK even after repeated requests to send the money back. HSBC is just a black hole where they like to lose your money and no one admits it and you cant get it back, they are jsut a scam and not to be trusted especailly an Expat account where you put alot of money have to have £100k deposited to keep the account open, but how much is lost on its way there is the risk you take!

Absolutely shocking experience, completely unresponsive to their own target response times and they just ignore requests for contact. The phone lines are constantly busy, this is not a positive sign and indicative of poor service quality

I’d my mobile stolen and with it all the banking apps

The HSBC Expat recovery/support team did a great job, fixing everything quickly.

Congratulations and thank you!!

Unilaterally closed my account, no warning. Confiscated the money and now getting it back involves sending slow mail to Jersey. Customer service is nonexistent and unable to help.

If half a star was an option I would have selected it. I was led to expect a Relationship Manager but got "Consultants" who are actually a call centre/postbox without call centre technology support. Response times are very slow and lack continuity. Most requests need chasing multiple times. Credit cards take 2 weeks to reach you. A USD wire from USA has still not reached me after 2 weeks. It is stuck in HSBC US despite Jersey advising me the wire request was correct.

Terrible customer service. They freeze your account for no reason and do not respond to calls or emails. The worse of the worst. this is for premier customers. I wonder how bad it could be for the regular ones.

Frozen Funds by Thieves @ HSBC Expat (Jersey)

The only way to deal with these bufoons is to write a demand letter and formal complaint via email. If they do not respond within 3 months you do not need a final response letter and you can go straight to the Ombudsman. Might also be worth calling them to follow up with your email and record the call and send that to them via email too.

It is also quite easy to take them to the Petty Courts in Jersey who allow remote hearings. They have assistants that are able to answer your queries at the Jersey Courts by email called Greffe's.

Contact. Judicial Greffe; Phone number: 01534 441300; Email address: please search for email as I cannot write on here.

The reason for account suspensions is due to some 'useful idiot', Geraldine Buckingham and 'her' band of plastic 'protect team' deputies, who are able to mark any account of their liking as 'suspicious', based on a very loose set of rules, that they themselves in part manufacture.

This then allows them to create whole departments (bands) of so called 'security' and 'protect' team agents (buffoons), that essentially can't cook a pot noodle between them.

These uneduated types revel in their 'useful idiot' role and prey on people from afar, partly due to their own personal inadequacies, so don't take them or their requests seriously.

They do this all but knowing how difficult it is for us to obtain legal recourse with them being in the middle of nowhere. If you have HK passport their complaints process is two months, however from anywhere else its 3 months, this alone should be a cause for concern.

Again, do not take much notice of their verbal diarrhea and bullish rhetoric, lodge a formal complaint via email and after 3 months if they don't reply, take it to the CIFO Ombudsman. You can speed it up going to the Petty Courts.

They obviously don't do this to high level accounts or people with power as they would have a court case and solicitors down they throats instantly. They, the 'weak' people that they are, only prey on general people that thought HSBC Expat was a legitimate bank.

Extremely poor customer support, incompetent operators seem improvising and will basically simply repeat what you can read on the site.
Premier Relationship Managers, often vanish, they are replaced without any cominication, generally difficult to reach, they miss scheduled appointments with banal excuses and when you do finally reach them, they proved incapable to resolve any basic banking issue.
Transfers randomly refused without any justification nor advice.
Spent incredible amount of my time and money over international fare phone calls being bounced from one operator to the other without anyone being capable to provide me any basic service.

I have never ever experienced such terrible service and lies from HSBC Expat in my entire life. I was given a discretionary override of fees due to underfunding pending a house sale in Malta that was taking a little longer than anticipated. Despite having this in writing from HSBC they have back tracked and started charging me. I am in process of opening a complaint with the financial ombudsman service however, HSBC are now delaying their final response letter!

HSBC Jersey unlawfully froze my account without my consent or prior notification, effectively restricting access to my funds without justification. Despite my prompt compliance—submitting all required forms and certified identity documents—the bank engaged in a pattern of obstructive conduct, repeatedly demanding additional documentation to prolong the process indefinitely.

To date, HSBC has failed to provide a valid legal basis for the freeze or a timeline for resolution, leaving my funds inaccessible in violation of their contractual and regulatory obligations. Multiple formal complaints have yielded no corrective action, demonstrating a blatant disregard for client rights and due process.

This conduct raises serious concerns about HSBC Expat’s compliance with financial regulations, including fair treatment of customers and transparency in account restrictions.

The bank is basically non-existent, there is no support at all, unless you have a lot of money on your account you are not entitled to have a personal relationship guy. I requested credit card and I haven’t received it for a month. Impossible to thrust this bank unfortunately, they demonstrated in many occasions to be unable to help customers and they are not improving a single bit.

I have experienced a sustained pattern of poor service from HSBC Expat over several months, involving blocked or failed transactions, unexplained shortfalls, and a complete lack of accountability. Despite numerous formal complaints — many of which were improperly closed or never acknowledged — basic banking services remain unreliable.

On multiple occasions:

Funds were sent but either blocked or returned with no clear explanation or reconciliation.

A USD Global Money Card was issued but remains unreliable. I have even been told by the reltionship manager not ti use if for large transction as it will essentially become blocked.

My relationship manager and service teams failed to respond to repeated requests, including a formal account closure (I was even told "I was on holiday" as if that was an acceptable reason).

This has left me without access to my funds, facing angry beneficiaries, and with no clear way forward.

After exhausting all channels with HSBC, I have now filed a full complaint with the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman (CIFO) and will continue to escalate until proper redress is given.

For anyone considering HSBC Expat — be cautious. Systems fail, and when they do, you’re met with silence.