Is HSBC the worst bank for mortgages?

[Mohw99]

Hi Everyone,

I just want to let you all know just how horrible the service I have received from HSBC's Mortgage department is.

I applied for a mortgage back in Sept 10. After going through the whole process, I was asked to send in the necessary paperwork to prove my income along with my brother's as it is a joint application.

Alternatively, we both had the option of taking the documents to any HSBC branch for verification. We took this option as it does not involve posting original documents. This is where the
nightmare began. My documents were misplaced by the branch and only after I called them on two occassions did they realise. My brother's documents were lost twice via two different branches. This took nearly 4 weeks to rectify. Then they needed a signature specimen and that was lost again. This all delayed the application by six weeks!

Finally, I was told yesterday that they will call back by the end of a day with a decision. I still haven't heard anything. I have called twice today and left a message, no response.

For the last six weeks (excluding Christmas holidays), I have spoken to someone almost everyday before rectifying this. In some cases I lost my temper, spoke to various different departments, was kept waiting for 15-20 mins at times and I have logged two seperate complaints. I was told that HSBC will respond within 5 days for each complaint. 4 weeks later, I am still waiting.

Quite frankly, that is not acceptable and the service I have received is the worst I have ever experienced.

PS the seller is now threatening to pull out and rightly so!

[Enness Private Clients]

there is a lot of this from hsbc, they have some of the best rates and ltvs and have a tendency to cherry pick the best applicants.

[Dan_Manchester]

no Santander are the worst lol!

[azurealm11]

HSBC's banking services are HORRIBLE. They're all legal loan sharks but HSBC's reputation is going down the drain.
Deutsche bank is a better option =)

[Dakota]

This is my first post and I really need to add my two pence here..

I`m 32 years old and since I was about 17 I`ve had a HSBC bank account. I`ve never had a problem with them until last year when I took out some life assurance and redundancy cover. I had a two week cooling off period to think about it and decided after one week that I did`nt want it..

I actually went into my local branch and told them that I wanted to cancel it, done they said. The next month I had the money taken out of my account! I could`nt believe it. After a quick phone call it turned out that they had only cancelled the life assurance and not the redundancy cover, they argued that it was my fault as I had`nt been specific enough. I had said that I wanted to cancel everything, surely that is clear enough, I was even face to face with the employee..
They said that they could only refund HALF of the money as a goodwill gesture, not really the service you expect after 15 years of custom. I decided to close my account and removed all my direct debits to Nationwide whom I already had ISA`s and postal savings with..
I made a formal complaint to the manager and got all my money back, try doing the same mate

[Marcelbrowner]

You can't say that X bank is the worst, every bank has its unsatisfied customers.
Everyone should read their bank contracts very carefuuly. If you thnk you're in over your head, ask for the services of someone who is in the business.

[jannypan]

there is a lot of this from hsbc, they have some of the best rates and ltvs and have a tendency to cherry pick the best applicants.

[The Mortgage Hut]

I get this all the time, they are the worlds slowest bank for mortgage offers, but as stated, do offer some of the best deals.

With regards to Santander, they used to be aweful, now I think as a broker they are one of the best. Fast with the process, great deals and fair with there customers.

Regards

Chris

[Moby Jones]

We took out our residential mortgage with HSBC. We had an appointment two days after enquireing. We were there for ninety minutes with everything agreed in principle. Our mortgage was confirmed the very next day.

The member of staff who undertook our application was polite, proffesional and courteous as well as very knowledgable. In fact six months aftere this I enquired about a buy to let mortgage with her. And although they didn't have a suitable product for us, she still took a good twenty minutes to advise us about BTL's etc.

I do know that HSBC and their subsidiary first direct do not use middle men and thus their highly competitive products are not available to brokers and so you're not paying your hard earned to a broker when using them.

I also have a current account, business account, savings and shares accounts with HSBC and can only commend them on their service.

I'd definatley advise people to check out their mortgages as brokers don't often you about them for the reasons given above!