health and fitness: HSBC took £4,000 out of my life savings

samedi 22 août 2015

HSBC took £4,000 out of my life savings

When a transfer of £95,000 to New Zealand went wrong, I was told it was my fault

In April I sent two electronic payments – my life savings – totalling £95,000 from my HSBC current account in the UK, direct into my ANZ bank personal account in New Zealand. I used the HSBC online banking service and understood each payment would incur a £4 bank charge. I was intending to send the payments in pounds sterling direct to my pounds sterling ANZ account. The money did not arrive and, after several days of worry, it emerged that HSBC had made two payments back into my UK account, but rather than £95,000 there was only £91,000.

I subsequently discovered the outgoing payment had failed to reach my ANZ account as it had been sent in NZ dollars and the account was not compatible. The HSBC payments website, I have since learned, automatically defaults to the local currency when you try to make a payment. Despite this, at no stage did HSBC contact me to advise me of what had happened. During discussions with the HSBC customer advocate I was told: “This happens to lots of our customers – you are not the first.” The bank told me the mistake is mine and there was nothing they could do.