Opening an HSBC Online Savings Account
Dec 20, 2005 - 8:24 AM by Ken Tumin
Looks like the combination of 4.25% APY rate, no minimum balance requirements, and a $25 bonus is triggering a lot of people to sign up for the HSBC Direct Online Savings Account. The MyMoneyBlog has a detailed description of the sign-up process. It's almost identical to my experience. The nice thing about the process is that you don't have to mail in anything (for most cases). The bad thing about the process is that you must wait for at least 2 letters from HSBC before you can log in (one with your login id and one with your temporary password). The last of the two letters took 12 days to arrive.
After you log in, you have to enroll for the bank to bank transfers to set up links to external accounts. The account that was used for the initial funding isn't included which is a little frustrating. To enroll, you have enter your ATM PIN number. If you haven't received this in the mail, you're instructed to call. The customer service representative can then complete the process. Finally you have to wait for another pair of trial deposits to your account. The deposits were made one business day after I enrolled.
The bank to bank transfers requires an additional password which HSBC calls a Security Key. You have to key in the password with your mouse on a virtual keyboard that's similar to ING Direct's PIN Guard. This reduces the chance that keyloggers will be able to steal your password. One nice thing about this setup is that you only have to use this Security Key to initiate a transfer, not to log in to view your account. This principle makes sense. Only require extra security steps for areas of the site where money could be lost.
Here's a list of useful references on the HSBC Direct Online Savings Account:
After you log in, you have to enroll for the bank to bank transfers to set up links to external accounts. The account that was used for the initial funding isn't included which is a little frustrating. To enroll, you have enter your ATM PIN number. If you haven't received this in the mail, you're instructed to call. The customer service representative can then complete the process. Finally you have to wait for another pair of trial deposits to your account. The deposits were made one business day after I enrolled.
The bank to bank transfers requires an additional password which HSBC calls a Security Key. You have to key in the password with your mouse on a virtual keyboard that's similar to ING Direct's PIN Guard. This reduces the chance that keyloggers will be able to steal your password. One nice thing about this setup is that you only have to use this Security Key to initiate a transfer, not to log in to view your account. This principle makes sense. Only require extra security steps for areas of the site where money could be lost.
Here's a list of useful references on the HSBC Direct Online Savings Account:
Featured Accounts
Useful Resources
Nationwide Savings Accounts
mark (anonymous) - #1, Monday, February 20, 2006 - 9:32 AM
The HSBC system really needs improvement, and in the ways you suggest. Having to re-enter the info for the external account used to transfer money to HSBC is plain nuts; so is having to wait for a second round of trial/verification deposits. And don't get me started on the silliness of their Security Key process, which asks for an ATM card PIN when I don't have one.
You'd think they'd make it easier to put funds in their accounts. God knows I didn't have this much difficulty opening & using my ING account.
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