Review Time
The worst banking experience I have ever had. They operate at 1970s level, there must be serious lack of investment in their back end as its takes them a minimum of 7 days and about 6 phone calls where I was out in hold for 15 minutes at a time only to be told I had to call back in 48 hours and this was to fix a minor problem. I feel sorry for their customer service staff as they have to deal with frustrated customers like me. I am now going to find an alternative bank.
Do not proceed without understanding your risks, you are relinquishing significant control of your account to the Banks sole discretion, 2. Do not expect the Jersey Team to be imbued with expertise in different jurisdictions despite selling themselves as an "Expat" Bank 3. Their tactics are to overload you with documentary evidences to protect themselves with the Regulator and Ombudsman justifying their restrictions and kicking the process into the "long grass" 4. Do not expect ease of access to their Safeguarding staff once you have been provided with their voluminous list of documents and do expect multiple telcon security questions almost designed to trip you up, they really dont want to talk to you and will fail you even for pre-booked calls three weeks prior 5. Do expect misrepresentations and duplitous behaviors, commitments were made in writing to pay emergency school fees from my restricted funds which they failed to remit and failed to answer any emails or calls to discuss status and disclose their intentions, I was forced to take a loan and transfer property ownership to my wife as loan security until they released the funds 6 months after the due date. This Bank will treat you with impunity for discretionary perceived risk and anyone opening or maintaining an account with this Bank should proceed with extreme caution as they are focused entirely on avoiding regulator penalties, the so called "safeguarding" team do not talk to the onboaring team so do not expect your KYC compliance and congratulatory "Welcome to your Expat Account" means you are cleared, only AFTER you remit funds and the account holder terms and conditions apply do they ask detailed questions. My funds over GBP250K were frozen for a year to the day with the Ombudsman effectively stating the Banks is entitled to ask questions straight after my sole remittance and effectively deploy this entrapment approach coercing you to activate the account then to restrict funds within 10 days despite your KYC disclosure. This ancient relic of a bank has seen better days, far better options exist for Expats and clearly now singularly motivated solely to protect their self interest and paranoia with regard to more punitive fines and penalties globally. I sincerely hope this saves anyone from the lost year of my life being placed in severe financial jeopardy for being too trusting in the Banks processes. Finally, If you are assigned a certain Mr Mark Rabet Senior Safeguarding Officer, a salaried jobsworth I stongly encourage you immediately request a replacement Case Officer, given his track record on here and other platforms. Committing to pay school fees then not following through is tantamount to clear unethical behaviour and you have very little recourse in Jersey - avoid at all costs and protect your assets and family.
I think HSBC Expat is possibly the worst bank I have ever used. I was lied to by my Client Rep constantly over the 3 months I had my account. The support staff do what they can be seem to be unable to do anything useful except "set up a callback".I would avoid HSBC Expat, probably better off keeping your money under your bed
To echo other comments, we are a small family who had our bond terminated and account frozen with no notice. It is the savings account for our very young child future education. The bank bounced us between help desks and nobody took ownership of our problem. The HSBC expat bank has real contempt for small families and has made this experience as painful as possible for us. Please please please if you have small children and need reasonable access to the money avoid this bank. They will make things as difficult as possible for you, especially if you have children, their is a culture of contempt that I cannot and donot wish to be part of or understand. As an extra point, note that HSBC Expat does not monitor or feedback to comments here. Generally the companies with better customer support do, are very quick to admit a mistake has been made and help fix the problem. I am and have sung the praises of companies that are proactive to fix problems and credit staff members where possible... e.g. trip.com and scan.co.uk, very proactive customer support. HSBC Expat getting things right is not that difficult, just care and listen to people. Many people understand processes need to be followed and are willing to work with you to find a way foward. Just dont show contempt for us, treat us like people. I have much better things to do with my time like caring for my family, but I hope this comment saves other families from the stress we have had to endure.
My experience with HSBC Expat echoes what others have already said about poor service and mismanagement.I was contacted by someone who said he was my Relationship Manager and promised to help with an incoming transfer and keep me informed. Despite this, the transfer was rejected due to “KYC” issues, and I was never told until I chased both HSBC and the sending bank. I was later informed that this person was not even assigned to my account, leaving me with no proper point of contact.Following this, my account was placed under full restriction, blocking all incoming and outgoing payments. Emails went unanswered, I was given no timeline and now HSBC has decided to close my account, without resolving the issues or addressing the financial losses I have incurred, including fees, lost interest and wasted time.This demonstrates a complete lack of communication, accountability and customer care. Stay away from these guys if you want to protect your sanity. They seriously ruin the HSBC name and I am considering closing all my other HSBC accounts as well.
After 5 years with HSBC Expat, I genuinely believed I was dealing with a professional and reliable institution—until the day they abruptly asked me to close my account due to “new country restrictions,” without ever providing a clear or written explanation.What followed was unacceptable. My accounts, activities, and investments were fully blocked, leaving me unable to access my own funds. Transferring my money to another bank took over 4 weeks, during which I was forced to spend hundreds of dollars on international phone calls just to get basic updates.To make matters worse, my assigned relationship manager completely stopped responding to my calls and emails. After the account closure, HSBC Expat refused to communicate with me via email altogether, insisting that all discussions happen only by phone.Even more concerning, I was asked to provide my destination bank details verbally over the phone, including a long IBAN, instead of through a secure written or documented channel. This approach effectively left no written trace of critical instructions, which is deeply troubling for a financial institution handling client funds.What is even more alarming is that I personally know dozens of other HSBC Expat clients who faced the exact same situation at the same time—accounts frozen, forced closures, no explanations, and weeks of uncertainty. This clearly points to a systemic issue, not an isolated case.Throughout this entire process, I recorded all phone calls and retained all account statements and correspondence, purely to protect myself and maintain an accurate record of events. Sadly, this was necessary due to the lack of transparency and accountability shown.This experience made me feel powerless—as if my money was locked away with no accountability. The service was impolite, unprofessional, and handled without any empathy.I can confidently say this has been my worst banking experience ever, and I will never engage with any HSBC-branded institution again. Thankfully, I’m out now.If you currently hold an account with HSBC Expat, I strongly urge you to consider closing it and moving your funds to a more transparent and trustworthy institution—before you are forced into the same situation.
The bank has been blocking the money since April 2025 – that's eight months now. Within the first week of receiving the information from the bank, they received a document regarding the origin of the money I deposited – still no information on how they will resolve the matter. They also started asking about transfers to my other private accounts – their questions included: "What was the purpose of the transfer to Daniel Platkowski?" – "Don't they see that this is a transfer to another bank, to my private account, and my name is there?"Do they really work there?HSBC – who do you employ to assess risk? How do you interpret the regulations? Wake up!WHY ARE YOU HOLDING CUSTOMERS' MONEY HOSTAGES?ISN'T IT SUFFICIENT TO SUBMIT A QUESTION TO THE CUSTOMERS WITHOUT BLOCKING THE MONEY?This bank – you should be afraid – lack of trust – blocking an account without any serious basis! Look at other reviews – I had 9,000 euros blocked – I had no money to live on – I had to borrow money at interest.And I see here that people had smaller amounts blocked – is this bank playing a joke on its customers?Is this bank perhaps bankrupt and having to save itself by taking over customers' money?
I wish I had read the negative comments here before I opened an account with HSBC Expat!I wish I could give it a minus 5. I was told to update my CRS before I could place a fixed time deposit. I was given a pdf file to update my CRS. IT wise, I was unable to do so with the pdf given so I sought help from its apps. The staff member was nice and I did update at last. Oh yes, I was told the update would take 5-7 working days or I could make long distance calls the same day to place a fixed deposit. Not every client can make long distance calls within the time specified. That's me. So I waited. 7 working days. Sorry, I am still unable to place a fixed time deposit. I turned to the support on the apps. Seems no one could help. I was told to wait another 24 hours for an email. I am still waiting. I thought I had been using a bank 300 years ago. How long do you think I should wait?
I unfortunately faced issues trying to get an MT103 with HSBC, even as a premier customer it was a nightmare dealing with the offshore help center, once it escalated to the local team in the UK it was great, very supportive and collaborative.This bank could easily be the BEST choice for expats if they could finally get their act together at the offshore call center
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