HSBC Bank Australia Limited Reviews 

Literally the worst bank operating in Australia. Browser portal is busted to hell, mobile app regularly bugs out and becomes unusable.

These mf’s really need to get their stuff together fr.

I recently got coned by a doggie tradie on a rangehood roof exhaust installation job. He didn’t install the kit I provided as he agreed and what he did install was substandard and done incorrectly creating a strong risk of water damage to my kitchen in the first storm, and longer term, an extreme fire risk from the grease trap created by the incorrect and wrongly installed ducting. As the tradie concerned would not take me calls for days, and there were bad storms coming, I had no choice but to buy another kit and replace it myself. I then requested charge backs through combank (the card I paid the deposit) and HSBC (the card I paid the balance) on the grounds that he had not provided the goods or services I paid for. HSBC refunded the money within days of my initial request, but give the merchant 30 days to respond. Combank, however, didn’t do the chargeback until after a full investigation, even calling me to clarify details. So the month had almost expired by the time combank done the chargeback. This seems to have prompted him to dispute the HSBC chargeback, which he did with a pack of lies. Fortunately, I had photos of everything he had done and was able to offer proof to counter his claims, even able to prove some of his blatant lies like his claim that we tested the range together before he left and I was very happy with his work, this was supposed to have happened while the whole upper north shore was in the middle of a two hour plus blackout (I proved HSBC with links to the news story with the time and dates). I even gave them the contact details of another independent tradie who was there the whole time on a different project and with me when the power came back on and we were able to test it, but despite this matter going back and fourth a few times, and a complaint with their customer service department, they have never attempted to contact him or me. In every response they ignore my evidence in their obviously one sided approach to this matter and side with the scammer. First I get victimised by the conman, then again by HSBC having to spend many hours gathering and submitting evidence that they just ignore. I will be lodging a complaint with AFCA, and unless I receive an apology and adequate compensation, I will be closing my account after nearly 20 years of be a good customer.

HSBC, UK are the worst staff and bank on this planet. I live in Australia and have rent from a UK property deposited into HSBC UK. I moved house in Australia and upon receiving a RTS letter back to the UK from my previous address... they suspended my account. Unbelievable. Now... believe this or not, they want me to get certified copies of my new address, like rates, water or power bill and wait for it... mail these copies to them in the UK, even after I satisfied my ID on the phone. WTF. When I head back to the UK in 2027, I'm shutting this flog of a bank account down. I'm am literally over their stupidity... HSBC.... rubbish.

Amazed HSBC Australia is still in business. While HSBC in general is useless, the Australian arm takes them to even lower lows. Had so many issues with them over the years, but for the last week it’s the app, which now asks you to provide ID to login. Obviously that’s not an issue, except the app won’t accept ids because the service is ‘temporarily unavailable’ - and has been for a week now. So I waste an hour on the phone with these idiots everyday and get the same response: it will be resolved in 24-48 hours. Of course it never is because they are all idiots! I for one will be moving on.

I’ve banked around the world and I can confidently say HSBC Australia has been the worst banking experience of my life.

I needed to send a simple international transfer (USD) to a regulated US futures broker. What followed was almost three weeks of chaos:
• My first transfer was bounced back after days with no clear explanation. Only later did I find out they used their confusing “Global Money Transfer” system instead of a standard SWIFT/MT103 wire.
• Support agents kept giving contradictory information. One says it’s SWIFT, another says it’s not. No one could clearly explain how to send a proper SWIFT transfer, or why my money was being rejected.
• Second attempt: same story. Funds gone for days, then returned again. HSBC still couldn’t give me a precise reason beyond “beneficiary details / bank code issue” while everything exactly matched the broker’s instructions.
• Their app is clunky and misleading – it shows “international transfer” but routes payments through some internal system instead of standard SWIFT. No clear option, no transparency.
• Every time something goes wrong, they tell you to “wait 5–10 business days” for investigations, while your money just sits in limbo.
• Customer service feels undertrained and scripted. Basic questions about SWIFT, BIC, and routing are met with confusion or generic answers.

I’m an active trader and investor. I need a bank that can:
• Send a clean SWIFT wire without mystery detours
• Provide clear, consistent information
• Handle international transfers without my funds disappearing into a black box for weeks

HSBC Australia completely failed at all of that.

If you’re a trader, investor, or anyone who needs reliable international banking, I strongly recommend staying away from HSBC Australia. I’m now pulling my funds and moving to a bank that actually understands global payments and doesn’t waste weeks of my time.

Zero is their number. I paid out my mortgage and signed the discharge papers months ago, only to learn during the sale process that the bank still holds the title authority to MY FULLY PAID PROPERTY. What a bunch of cons. Then they lead you in circles when you try to make them transfer the title authority to your conveyancer when you have to spend hours on the phone or come in in person to claim the right to what was yours ages ago.
They never tell you that they needed official instructions from me for authorisation of the title release and would’ve been happy to own the title forever if I hadn’t sold it.

The phone operators are also a bunch of morons, hopeless and helpless chickens without brains who can’t even transfer a call to the right mortgage officer who handles my case.

WORST BANK EVER!!!!!!!!

Hopeless when it comes to their systems and service too. Not sure why some companies are with HSBC

I recently had a very disappointing experience with HSBC regarding my term deposit maturity instructions.

On 11 August 2025, I visited the Swanston Street branch and spoke with a Relationship Manager (RM) about my upcoming maturity. I clearly instructed that if HSBC could not offer a rate similar to ANZ or Macquarie, my term deposit should not be renewed. The RM emailed me later offering a 0.2 bps bonus (subject to approval on maturity day), and I accepted the rate — but he never put my instruction into the system.

Two weeks later, another RM called asking for my instructions — which made me realise that nothing from my previous instruction had been actioned. I repeated my instruction not to renew since they could no longer offer the bonus rate. Instead of helping me directly, he told me he could not perform the action over the phone and that I had to log in and release the funds myself through online banking. As a customer, being called by HSBC only to be told there was nothing they could do and that I had to do it myself was extremely disappointing.

I followed his advice, went online, and decided to reinvest approximately half of the funds and release the rest. I waited another two weeks, yet my funds remained untouched.

On 16 September, I called HSBC again to clarify the situation and expressed my frustration that I had followed all instructions they provided but nothing had happened.

Now I have received a confirmation letter showing that all funds have been locked into a three-month term deposit — completely ignoring my instructions.

This entire process has been frustrating, time-consuming, and stressful. I had to follow up multiple times, perform actions myself that should have been handled by the bank, and still ended up with an outcome I never agreed to. I expect far better service, accuracy, and accountability from a bank of HSBC’s size.

I try to pay my tax bill online, but the daily limit is peanuts. I used HSBC in the US, which was better, but in Australia, it’s not a grown up bank, the daily limit is crippling for consumer banking.
Steer clear.

Where other banks have improved in their services especially online services, this particular bank has gone down with their apps. Recently very often I find it VERY DIFFICULT to log in to their mobile application. What's happening?

I have a Euro account, and have been trying now for around two weeks to pay a deposit from it of 300 Euros. I am told there a insufficient funds...On the phone, they agree that I have nearly 15000 Euros in the account, but they seem unable to fix this.

The worst banking experience ever, waiting 45 minutes every time you call, the responses are normally from overseas they barely speak English, the operator has zero knowledge and always misguides you, nothing will happen unless you complain. Useless security and frustrating multifactor checks, their online service is horrible, and their mobile app normally fails and has lots of unfunctional menus that will take you to an error page. Their email service is horrible as well, they stop replying if you ask too many questions. If you have nerves made of steel and lots of spare time, go to HSBC

HSBC bank is not fit to operate in Australia and should be suspended until a financial ombudsman review. They should be exiting the Australian market as their skill set is not suitable to Australian people and culture.

Hi,
The receipt is attached as requested.

Let me clarify what happened. I was in Vietnam and bought a flight ticket online with your card on 19/11/2024. When I arrived at the airport's desk, they said that I didn't have any ticket booked(20/11/2024) and that I had to purchase a new one. I showed them my bank statement and the payment was processing. They confirmed they hadn't received the money.
It suddenly forced me to buy a new one. I reported this problem on your app immediately and physically on your store when I was back in town.

Terrible customer service… EVERYTHING you do via there website you’re guaranteed won’t work and you’ll spend ages on the phone sorting it out, a pack of absolute amateurs, I bank with them because I work for a Chinese company and thought it would make things easier… how wrong I was

I set up a direct debit for my cc and filled out everything correctly, i get an email telling me they will not accept the DD even though i authorized the DD

When ever something goes wrong it is always the customers faul they say. Every tim esomething goes worng it takes weeks to sort out with lots and lots of bullshit by inept staff that are polite but completely useless. Going around in circles is a favourite tacktick as the can appear to be doing their jobs. its is nothing short of amazing that a bank can be so incompetent.

I had a HSBC Savings Account with a debit card for approx. 10 years. I put money into my HSBC account on a regular basis. I closed my account in April 2024 as I was retiring and needed to consolidate my money into one account. I duly completed my closing account form and sent it off. In the meantime I transferred my HSBC current balance into my working account with another financial institute and destroyed the HSBC debit card. There was a zero balance in my account, and no notification if they received my form to close the account. In November 2024 I was sent a new debit card, which I duly returned to a HSBC Branch, explaining that the account was closed, and I could not access my account online. I was notified by Centrelink in May 2025 that my bank accounts were being reviewed and I needed to supply statements. Centrelink had the HSBC Bank Account still listed as current. I contacted HSBC's help line and was advised to go into a Branch with 100 point identification to receive a statement that the account had been closed. I went into a HSBC Branch with appropriate ID and the customer service no. that I had been using since I signed up for the account, to be told they have no record of me holding an account with them and my customer service no. was not correct. I contacted my current financial institution regarding the amounts that were transferred from (I assume) HSBC in April 2024, they were unable to verify that these amounts were from HSBC as there was very little information on the transfers or what financial institution they came from. I have had no help from HSBC, despite having receipts from money deposited into that account over the last 10 years. Absolutely no customer service. Would not recommend HSBC to anyone!

From a website that just barely almost functions and them cancelling active cards with no notice, no rhyme and no reason - summed up they are entirely useless.
Tip: just keep your money under your bed, more secure and they cant just randomly cut off your access to it.

DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS BANK! Go somewhere else.

The WORST bank to deal with ever. I transferred money out of my account to my husband's loan account within HSBC, a stop was put on it, I spoke to 2 people who asked me invasive questions for their 'document' procedure. I had to explain what I was transferring my own money for - have never had to explain any of my transactions or intentions to a bank. This was after answering multiple questions to verify my identity. Was transferred to the customer service centre from the person who took the block off my account, only to find out the block was still in place and therefore, could not increase my daily limit to transfer my money out of this bank. The customer service officer could not transact my request - after 1.5 hours on hold - and had to call me back, only to have to go through all the invasive verification questions again. Seems very much like the bank does not want money removed and will go to great lengths to deter people from accessing their own money. WORST BANK EVER. If in Australia, do not sign up even though they offer the lowest interest rate.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS.