UK bank account(s) closure

[ajm]

Just had confirmation that we now have a HSBC account. Yippee!!

[MAD87]

Well done!

[Blaze]

@MAD87 Have you tried First Direct online banking, which is part of HSBC ?

[MAD87]

@MAD87 Have you tried First Direct online banking, which is part of HSBC ?

Not directly, just HSBC itself. Does it provide a UK sort code? That's what all these b*ggers require for pension and PB payments.

[Blaze]

@MAD87 Have you tried First Direct online banking, which is part of HSBC ?

Not directly, just HSBC itself. Does it provide a UK sort code? That's what all these b*ggers require for pension and PB payments.

Yes it does have a UK sort code. Our pensions are paid into it and we transfer from there - we've been with them for years.

[DominicBest]

Tomorrow my Barclays Bank accounts will be closed after my being with them for almost 50 years. I eventually got everything I wanted from HSBC but it was a real fight at times and a comedy of errors at others. For a lot of the time I really thought that it wasn’t going to happen but with the help of two really competent people I managed to talk to on the phone it’s turned out well. Hopefully the closing of the Barclays accounts and the transferring of my remaining funds will go smoothly but I won’t be celebrating until it’s all over.

[Hotrodder]

It will be a great feeling when its all done and dusted.

[exile]

I'm still wating for a decision although the latest missive did state that as a valued customer they needed more information. I live in hope.

[DominicBest]

It’s all done but I was a fool thinking it would be hassle free. This morning I was pleased to see that money had been transferred from Barclays to HSBC and a regular payment to my Barclays account had arrived in the HSBC one and a regular payment had gone out of it. I was surprised that only the contents of my current account had been moved but presumed that the savings account would follow soon. I waited… and waited… Eventually I phoned Barclays. They didn’t know why only one account had been moved and as far as they were concerned the switch had been completed. The guy I spoke to suggested I moved the contents of the account to my HSBC one and he would then close my account. I couldn’t, my online banking app no longer allowed me to move my money. He said that he would do it, tried and failed. He then tried a smaller amount because he feared that the total was just over a threshold and if that was successful he would then transfer the balance plus 35p interest as a separate transfer. When he returned it was to say that the transfer had been blocked by the fraud department and that I was being put through to them. They were quite aggressive asking questions about why I was moving the money. I answered simply, I pointed out that I was moving the money because Barclays were closing my account and that surely that was marked on my file, plus I’d expected it to have already been done by HSBC but they, for some reason, had chosen not to. I was then asked a whole list of ‘security questions’ including a couple that I pointed out that I couldn’t possibly answer because I didn’t have a clue. Eventually she allowed the transfer of the money in my account to be made and said the 35p interest would follow soon. Before she went I asked her for the answers to the strange security questions and the answers she'd wanted were even stranger than the questions she asked. This took over two hours on the phone. The only bright spot of that was that the robot who answered first time said that I’d been identified as phoning from overseas and would I therefore like to be moved to the head of the queue. I liked.
Anyway, I’m now free of Barclays after I believe just under 49 years as a customer, could that actually be a Brexit bonus? HSBC have made the transfer so difficult at times I suppose I can only look forward to their service getting better over time.

[niemeyjt]

Barclays. The only bank to give me hassle closing my father's accounts. It took a letter to the CEO to get things moving - but they did pay £200 "compensation".

So may I suggest you file an official complaint over the atrocious behaviour of the bank . . . who knows, you may be in line for something? It's worth a stamp.