HSBC Bank Australia Limited Reviews 

Tried to make a B-payment. What a ridiculously complicated process of going between mobile phone app and computer with codes and passwords...... Was unable to make payment and luckily was able to transfer money to another bank which I know works properly. HSBC website used to work well once upon a time but is now a dog's breakfast.

The HSBC is a problem starting with their overseas call centres, closing local branches, increasing and charging incorrect annual fees and allowing customers to wait for an eternity to get answers to HSBC
mistakes. APALLING customer service, will definitely be terminating our association in the near future. We do not want to waste anymore time dealing with this Bank.

HSBC Australia blocked my account for failure to provide a UK tax number that I did not have access to (I am an Australian resident living in the UK temporarily). As far as I am aware, the reason for blocking the account was simply to force me to provide the information. I contacted them and explained (numerous times) (i) that I would need to request a UK tax number (given that I was not earning income, I had not yet requested one), (ii) that I temporarily needed access to the account to pay rent and other urgent expenses, and (iii) that I would provide the requested information as soon as I could. I was completely ignored. I was able to find a work around, but only be signing up for another bank. Months later I have only just been provided with the relevant number by HMRC, so there was literally no way that I could have complied with the request any sooner. The silliest part of the whole saga is that my bank account with HSBC does not even earn interest – so not only was the information not actually required, but none of my other Australian banks have required similar information.

[To be clear, the problem is not with blocking the account – it is with the refusal to engage with me when I urgently required access.]

Appalling customer service spent hours on the phone totally clueless

Hi, I currently live oversees and have funds in HSBC in account in Brisbane. I have tried to call the bank multiple times over and over. Each time, I wait 10-15 minutes and then the customer service line hangs up on me. The worst customer experince I have had in many years and be aware that if you travel abroad, this is not the bank for you. Horrible!!!

HSBC blocked my account first thing morning of Tuesday 7 May and also blocked my pension. As of today 8.30am 8 May my account is still blocked and my pension is nowhere to be found. I have checked with Centrelink & payment has been made. The action by HSBC is not because of fraud as you would think. No. It's because I didn't answer a tax residency question. A simple question that is answered by phone or email. Instead they block both my account and my pension. Over the top and 100% unacceptable. What if we stop the CEO salary? The actions of HSBC is a "do not care" attitude

I have 2 home loans with HSBC bank Australia. The customer service over the past 7 years has been awful. Tried to discharge my mortgage as I sold the property, settlement has been delayed multiple times I made an official complaint about the handling and they could see no problem with the way they handled the situation. Use an Australian bank that looks after their customers.

THIEVES!!!!
Had Fruad Transactions back in Sep and after agreeing to reimbursed all transactions, have yet to refund all of them including the extra fees. Have called their Claim Disputes team to Complaints Teams so many times I've lost count. Everytime you get yes will be doing this today and then nothing. This was 6 months ago! I have even gone to AFCA and they still dont care. If I can give no star I would! THIEVES!

My card was fraudulently used overnight in the UK with $5000 of charges applied. I was in Australia at the time with charge made . HSBC wrote to me twice saying that because I was physically present and made the transactions with my own card they were legitimate. Despite lodging two complaints and disputing the transactions I am still waiting for a resolution. The customer service team promised to call me back on multiple occasions and never did. I spoke to multiple different people who all told me different things about the process and what was happening. Then one day HSBC just declined my request for transactions to be disputed with no communications (I found this out while on the phone to the complaints department for the umpteenth time). I am still trying to get hold of anyone who can help and raised a dispute with the Financial Services Ombudsman.

In November 2023, I encountered four unauthorised transactions through a well-known food delivery service provider. However, about five months prior, I had moved to a different country, meaning I was not in Australia when the transactions occurred!

More than three months have passed and HSBC has yet to issue a refund, which is a unprecedented delay compared to any other banks I've dealt with. The customer service at HSBC is poor, consistently providing the same explanation each time I contact them.

HSBC’s online App is consistently not working showing Error 1007 whilst we were having no problems accessing other Apps in the same area and timeline.
The app is not updated with latest transactions in a timely manner and very clunky to carry out simple processes.
We are a group of six, travelling in Europe together. Three of us are utilising HSBC travel cards with constant and considerable trouble. The other three have different travel cards without any concerns. HSBC has been constantly blocking transactions without contacting the card holder to question the transaction. This has caused considerable stress amongst the group whilst we are trying to relax and travel.
Contacting HSBC customer service is like conversing with a BOT, with only automated responses.
When requesting blocks to be removed, we were advised that this would take 24 hours to occur. On one occasion, the account held significant funds and HSBC was withholding access without any offer of assistance to pay bills whilst we are travelling in foreign countries.
Totally unacceptable.

Updated 19/02/3024
One week has past and HSBC still have our funds blocked due their bureaucracy. Unbelievable

@trustpilot, this review should be rated with zero stars but the review process would not allow us to rate at zero.

Lost $1000+ of my money.

Absolutely abysmal bank. HSBC global should be totally ashamed of themselves. Customer service is appalling. Wait times are a joke.

Had a merchant refund $1000+ to my credit card IN NOVEMBER with documented proof and HSBC 'can't find it'. They made me start a dispute, and I have heard nothing without approaching them myself.

Other issues have arisen and i've been on the phone for literally hours trying to sort them out. One particular incident I was told fee refund would happen by two different agents and then got patronised completely by the service agent who refused to do it until I literally had to repeat myself constantly.

And the rewards are absolutely woeful too. Signed up believing I could switch my rewards for Singapore points and that can no longer happen. The options are so bad.

AVOID. Their international name and reputation means absolutely nothing in Australia.

If I could give 0 stars I would. Biggest mistake banking with HSBC. They’ve blocked access to my account for 2 weeks for no valid reason. Very slow to process anything and whilst their customer service team is polite, none of them are actually helpful or effective at actioning anything.

Their customer service (call centre) is terrible. They conduct verification check at the start (which is fine) but if they pass you to another person, they ask the same questions! They occasionally pass you to other call centre operators multiple times and every time they do that, they repeatedly ask you the same questions over and over! A call can take at least 30min and they still can't even figure out how to help you resolve issues. Very inefficient!

Premium account holder? seems like if you are you still get no service what's so ever. I've been waiting for over an hour for someone to tell my why they froze ALL of my money. I still haven't spoken to an actual person. I rang a few days ago and they said they would ring me back, they never did. So far this has cost me over 100 euro to be kept on hold. Once account is unfrozen will move my money elsewhere.

UPDATE: After lodging a complaint weeks ago, I finally got a response today. It seems the failure of the bank has resulted in $1000's of dollars of missed interest payments, the bank has declined any wrong doing and have given me a "goodwill" $100 for the loss. Serious? what a pathetic bank, still as of today I have not had anyone from the bank ring me and explain how they messed up and the only way forward is to lodge a claim with the Australian banking ombudsman now?

Everytime I try to do anything with HSBC it goes wrong.
I apply for a savings account, 3 days later it's not open.
I call and apparently my application doesn't exist.
I speak to a different department and they can see my application but because I used their app to apply a bunch of information I entered didn't transfer.
Oh and their SMS confirmation system doesn't work either.
I have them another chance and applied for a BT credit card.
This time I used the website to apply but guess what? Again a bunch of information didn't transfer so I had to the bank but not once 3 times!
What kind of SS is this place?

HSBC safeguard flagged some of my overseas transactions as suspicious (while I was using their own travel card!). They asked me to prove my identity and explain these apparently "suspicious transactions". They honestly could not have made the process of doing so any harder than it was, as a result I've transferred out all the money I had in my HSBC travel account to another banking institution and will never be using them again for banking services. Incredibly disappointed

Risky to do business with HSBC

A criminal has user HSBC account to scam us recently. HSBC provides no support and no effort to stop the transaction and recover the fund after we have reported the fraud 3 minutes after it happened. This bank done nothing to prevent criminals from using their systems nor take any action to prevent fraud.

Do not open accounts with HSBC Australia - there is no accountability, no customer support via its dreadful offshore email/ call centres, and they have no ability to transfer money with clarity. I transferred 20,000 euros, paying HSBC's high transfer fees, to my bank account in a bank in Hong Kong. A week later the money hasn't arrived. I'm assuming they've lost my $20,000 euros because I can't get anyone to account for where it is. Dreadful and dangerous circumstances for this awful bank full of lying call centre staff. The worst lie is that told me that there were cash services - there aren't. Neither will you get any answers or anything sent they promised. Neither do you get any response from paper forms you send them. Your money is trapped or lost.

Further to this I received an email that HSBC offers only further fees and no accountability. The useless email centre says they can offer a payment retrieval request with a further fee of AUD 25.00 with possible other bank fees, that the
process takes 21 days and not guaranteed successful. Why would I lose $20,000 euros, my original transfer fees, and now a retrieval fee with no likelihood of success.
I'm reporting them through ASIC and their Australian Financial Complaints Authority. See Reporting Misconduct to ASIC : Disputes with Financial Firms.
asic. gov. au
/about-asic/
contact-us/
reporting-misconduct-to-asic/
disputes-with-financial-firms/

AND just so HSBC Australia is extra unaccountable and completely non-transparent, their email system does not allow you to keep copies of the emails you send them. There is no "sent emails" channel. Your messages just disappear. So you need to make a copy of everything you send to them. Likewise, there is no recording of the information you give their call centre staff on a database under your name/account so there is no correlation or follow up possible of your case at all. No one knows anything and noone helps unless they charge you more fees again with no outcomes.

Horrible customer service. They don't follow up on things