HSBC UK, Charges Massive Increase.

[EL159]

Yesterday on 1st August I made my monthly remittance transfer as required for my Retirement Visa in excess of 65,000 baht. The charge for this transaction is £4, plus you pay a small fee at the Bangkok Bank end ( 200 baht) for receiving the funds.

 

To my great surprise, this morning, the amount received in baht was down by over 1000 baht. ( It arrives in pounds and converts here). On checking with Bangkok Bank, in fact, the amount transferred to Thailand was not the £1900 I authorised, but in fact was £1865, meaning that I have in fact been charged a total of £39,  the £4 fee plus a "mystery" extra fee of £35.

 

Obviously I have raised an email query already from my account, but am wondering, has anyone else come across this problem reccently with HSBC that can shed any light? 

[Saltire]

This happened to me over  year ago when retrospective charges for transfers each over £25 appeared on my account. In september i got a charge for a transfer in Feb etc then every transfer since then, charges kept coming. After many phone calls and discussions I told them to stuff it and closed my account on the phone. They had no reasonable explanation to explain this to me and kept saying it was from the Thai bank to talk to them. Of course the Thai bank said the opposite.

 

I switched to Transferwise then as I don't use the income method. No problems since then.

 

 

[Mikisteel]

In a nutshell the banks have realised they cannot or just will not compete with TW so every munter still using the bank is being charged through the nose. Makes perfect sense doesn't it. Except that's a UK entity shagging you not Thailand. 

[JamJar]

If there is an extra unexplained charge, ask about whether a correspondent bank has become involved in the chain.

[Pumpuynarak]

Well i've been trying to do an HSBC Swift transfer to SCB for the last 24 hours with NO success, they keep saying their system is down and to try again later, perhaps what the OP is experiencing is related to my problem and they have withdrawn the facility whilst they sort it out. I have messaged them and am awaiting a reply, its just not good enough.....

[SooKee]

Guessing you'll find it's an intermediary bank charge. You'll also likely find HSBC can't or won't give you any information about what bank it was. I stopped using them around 2 years ago when they changed or lost their partnership arrangements here. As you say, their £4 transfer fees suddenly weren't anymore. That was when I was sending to Kasikorn.

On the 31st I tried a test transfer to Bangkok Bank of £50. Was quite pleased when the whole £50 turned up. Thought they'd maybe changed and had an arrangement now with Bangkok Bank such that they were no longer using an intermediary bank. Less pleased to read this. Makes me wonder if the whole £50 turning up was a fluke and that normally there'll be an Intermediary charge. It may be that your charge was a one off, especially as you've been using them up to now with no charges transferring to Bangkok Bank. I might try one more transaction later in the month, see if it gets hit. Don't plan to put HSBC back on the the list of options if they're regularly using an Intermediary bank still.

[hugh2121]

Check out ofx.com I've used them for years with no problems. No commission, no charges BUT they transfer THB so the exchange rate is not quite as good as you can get here but not far off.

[hugh2121]

On 8/3/2019 at 8:53 AM, SooKee said:

Guessing you'll find it's an intermediary bank charge. You'll also likely find HSBC can't or won't give you any information about what bank it was. I stopped using them around 2 years ago when they changed or lost their partnership arrangements here. As you say, their £4 transfer fees suddenly weren't anymore. That was when I was sending to Kasikorn.

On the 31st I tried a test transfer to Bangkok Bank of £50. Was quite pleased when the whole £50 turned up. Thought they'd maybe changed and had an arrangement now with Bangkok Bank such that they were no longer using an intermediary bank. Less pleased to read this. Makes me wonder if the whole £50 turning up was a fluke and that normally there'll be an Intermediary charge. It may be that your charge was a one off, especially as you've been using them up to now with no charges transferring to Bangkok Bank. I might try one more transaction later in the month, see if it gets hit. Don't plan to put HSBC back on the the list of options if they're regularly using an Intermediary bank still.
 

I think you might find that they use Barclays as intermediary. OFX use them but NOT as intermediary, their main account is with them so there are no charges.

 

[Tongjaw]

On 8/2/2019 at 1:15 PM, Saltire said:

This happened to me over  year ago when retrospective charges for transfers each over £25 appeared on my account. In september i got a charge for a transfer in Feb etc then every transfer since then, charges kept coming. After many phone calls and discussions I told them to stuff it and closed my account on the phone. They had no reasonable explanation to explain this to me and kept saying it was from the Thai bank to talk to them. Of course the Thai bank said the opposite.

 

I switched to Transferwise then as I don't use the income method. No problems since then.

 

 

Heard a lot of people taking about Transferwise. I live here in Thailand but bank is HSBC in Singapore which is a US dollar account. Can TW be set up for this or do you require a U.K. account? 

[nobodysfriend]

i was a client of HSBC for many years ...

H = Horrible

S = Selfish

B = Bangster

C = Corporation

 

never again .

 

 

[geoffbezoz]

1 minute ago, nobodysfriend said:

i was a client of HSBC for many years ...

H = Horrible

S = Selfish

B = Bangster

C = Corporation

 

never again .

 

 

Same with me. The end of the line came when they outsourced their customer service to India, which become almost useless after then.  Then a short while after it was found that this Indian business partner, or one of its employees, was into fraud big time https://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/jun/28/business.accounts

 

So from a major company it has diminished into a bank that has partners whose employees act fraudulently not forgetting of course the bank itself was a convicted money launderer https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-probe/hsbc-to-pay-1-9-billion-u-s-fine-in-money-laundering-case-idUSBRE8BA05M20121211

[Cats4ever]

The old nickname was the Honkers & Shonkers

[NightSky]

For transfers it’s s no brainier to use an alternative like TransferWise, WorldRemit or something else.

 

 

[humdrumdays]

I am looking at using Transferwise for the first time.  As an example I put in 1,000 GBP to Thai baht and it was charging me a fee of about 8 GBP. If I transfer it to my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand will Bangkok Bank make a further charge? thanks

[Baerboxer]

You really need to wait and see the explanation. Don't take other peoples assumptions for granted; nor assume their particular past problem(s) or issue(s) will be the same reason.

 

You could also try their telephone banking. The moving of operations to India around 2002 wasn't a success and things were moved back to Malaysia/UK.  For a long time it was people in Scotland or Wales (low cost subsidized employment areas). More recently it seems to have changed again - guessing from the accents Eastern Europe. But certainly more knowledgable and helpful staff.

 

Let us know how you go on. FYI HSBC Expat used to charge GBP 15 to transfer using on-line banking. Reduced to 10 GBP a while ago,

[Pdavies99]

Whilst I sympathise with you, I think you will find that HSBC make no charge at all for overseas transfers in general, I say "in General" as they do charge £4 if this transfer was effected by telephone request. If effected by online services there are no charges.   This is effected by SWIFT services which most banks use and the transfer takes between 1-6 days (for me I transfer £1800 in sterling each month, no charges for me with HSBC and it takes usually 4 hours - 2 days)

 

Read there charges information etc.

 

However if you instruct any bank for an "immediate same day urgent transfer" then other fees might apply, I suggest you make a complaint and they will refund any wrong charges.

 

HSBC have only three call centres located at Hamilton, Leeds and Salford, and none overseas since 2014 managing UK accounts (except for a Fraud centre in the USA dealing with all overseas calls related to fraud. 

 

As usual everyone jumps on the bandwagon saying they are rubbish etc, and maybe for some true, but they are no worse than the rest, including transferwise!!

 

 

 

Best  Paul

Edited August 4, 2019 by Pdavies99

[kidneyw]

Got charged an extra 15GBP over and above the 4GBP transfer charge last week with HSBC, sending money from UK to Thailand. The same happened three months ago. Nowhere does it say what this charge is when you are utilising their transfer system online. These transfer requests were made online and were Pound Sterling requests.

Edited August 4, 2019 by kidneyw

[KamnanT]

2 hours ago, humdrumdays said:

I am looking at using Transferwise for the first time.  As an example I put in 1,000 GBP to Thai baht and it was charging me a fee of about 8 GBP. If I transfer it to my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand will Bangkok Bank make a further charge? thanks

No. You get the full amount credited to your Thai account, at least I do and I’m with Bangkok Bank.

[Slickrick]

9 hours ago, hugh2121 said:

Check out ofx.com I've used them for years with no problems. No commission, no charges BUT they transfer THB so the exchange rate is not quite as good as you can get here but not far off.

That's right but they take 2% of what you transfer based on mid- market rate.  For me that was double what TransferWise charged on 1 Aug 19.  I've looked at many transfer companies but TW is still better than all even though their rate just increased.  Talk to Brody at TW so your account can be tagged to insure FTT delivery to BKK Bank.

[Pumpuynarak]

On 8/3/2019 at 8:11 AM, Pumpuynarak said:

Well i've been trying to do an HSBC Swift transfer to SCB for the last 24 hours with NO success, they keep saying their system is down and to try again later, perhaps what the OP is experiencing is related to my problem and they have withdrawn the facility whilst they sort it out. I have messaged them and am awaiting a reply, its just not good enough.....

Here's the reply guys, can you believe it ? No prior warning was given......

 

[SooKee]

The payment not being made normally in this case presumably being via an intermediary bank costing you £35.

[Henryford]

17 hours ago, humdrumdays said:

I am looking at using Transferwise for the first time.  As an example I put in 1,000 GBP to Thai baht and it was charging me a fee of about 8 GBP. If I transfer it to my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand will Bangkok Bank make a further charge? thanks

No. The great thing about TW is that when you make the transfer you know EXACTLY what will hit your bank in thai baht. No dodgy fees or intermediate banks taking a cut. The ONLY fee is the one they show at the beginning. Plus you know exactly what rate will be used. I would never use anyone else.

[sandyf]

On 8/3/2019 at 8:53 AM, SooKee said:

Guessing you'll find it's an intermediary bank charge. You'll also likely find HSBC can't or won't give you any information about what bank it was. I stopped using them around 2 years ago when they changed or lost their partnership arrangements here. As you say, their £4 transfer fees suddenly weren't anymore. That was when I was sending to Kasikorn.
 

I have been transferring from HSBC nearly every month for years and it has only ever been £4 since they reduced it from £17.

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

Here's the reply guys, can you believe it ? No prior warning was given......

 

I can understand your frustration but with IT changes it is quite often the case that they are not aware of a potential problem until it comes about. I used it investigate failed BACS payments and it only takes one character out of place in the original set up to cause a problem.

With banks having to comply with continually changing regulations I am surprised there is not a lot more problems.

[Pumpuynarak]

20 minutes ago, sandyf said:

I have been transferring from HSBC nearly every month for years and it has only ever been £4 since they reduced it from £17.

100% correct

[kevinmartyn]

Any bank globally will not admit to anyone or anything that it did anything wrong!

[Pumpuynarak]

1 minute ago, kevinmartyn said:

Any bank globally will not admit to anyone or anything that it did anything wrong!

and i hate the banksters with avengence but they're a necessary evil imo.

[sandyf]

19 minutes ago, kevinmartyn said:

Any bank globally will not admit to anyone or anything that it did anything wrong!

That is not true, there have been several apologies over the years, the most recent I think was TSB.

[SooKee]

I have been transferring from HSBC nearly every month for years and it has only ever been £4 since they reduced it from £17.

It depends what bank. I have been transferring from HSBC to Kasikorn Bank for years and it only cost £4 until a couple of years ago when it didn't. Then, HSBC changed their banking arrangements in Thailand resulting in some people being hit with hefty Intermediary fees. So for you may be it's only ever been £4, for some others it most certainly has not. Hence the discussions elsewhere about it and also here

 

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1009774-hsbc-and-bangkok-bank-a-warning-to-all/

 

[SooKee]

100% correct

Certainly not 100% correct. I and numerous others got hit by intermediary charges from HSBC from around 2 years ago. The precise reason we stopped using them. Or maybe we just imagined it. The issue about transfers to Thailand from HSBC was discussed on another forum at the time. So it depends who you were transferring to.

 

One of the discussions in this very forum:

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1009774-hsbc-and-bangkok-bank-a-warning-to-all/