HSBC is offering a $75 cash bonus for opening its Interest Checking Account. Here's the promotional page. The minimum to open this account is only $1. However, there is an $8/month fee unless you either have direct deposit or if you have a combined balance of $3,000. The $3,000 combined balance should include the balance in your Online Savings Account. To keep the bonus, the account must remain open for 180 days. The offer expires on 4/10/2007. Cash bonus is considered interest income and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT.
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saving...
$25 penalty "if your account is closed within six months of opening" (according to T&C)
* HSBC reserves the right to charge your checking account an amount equal to the bonus if your checking account does not remain open for at least 180 days. Limited to one (1) cash bonus per household. Offers expire April 10, 2007 and cannot be combined with any other offers.
* If you qualify for one of the above offers, the money will be deposited in your new checking account within 6 to 8 weeks after the account opening. Limited to one (1) offer per household. Offer Expires September 30, 2007, and cannot be combined with other offers. To qualify for $75 offer, you must open an Interest Checking account with an initial deposit of $3,000 of new money. New money means funds not previously held by any member of the HSBC Group. The Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for the Interest Checking account of 0.05% is accurate as of July 18, 2007, on balances of $5.00 or more. APY is variable and is subject to change after opening. Charges and fees may reduce earnings. Cash bonus is considered interest income and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT. HSBC reserves the right to charge your checking account an amount equal to the bonus if your checking account does not remain active and open for 180 days. To qualify for $25 offer, you must open a Free Checking account and an HSBC Debit MasterCard with PayPass™.
ALIVE AS OF August/18/2007
Message edited by: NeoAmes on 2007-08-18 14:05:54 CDT
HSBC was on my maybe list for the $25 bonus but this is much sweeter. That said I can't believe they have the gall to claim .05% is "a competitive rate of return".
The only good thing about this account is the bonus which is why they are offering a bonus. The only interest checking account which I could find that either paid lower rate was US Bank Interest Checking which requires min balance of $2K to waive monthly service fee and pay wooping 0.04% vs HSBC 0.05%
Wells Fargo Interest checking pays 0.10% - Requires $2k between all linked accounts to avoid monthly fee Wamu Gold Checking pays 0.50% - Requires $10k between all linked accounts to avoid monthly fee UBOC interest checking pays 0.10% - Requires $2.5k between all linked accounts to avoid monthly fee Citibank Citbank Account pays 0.25% - Requires $6k between all linked accounts to avoid monthly fee BOA Prima/Advantage pays 0.05% - Requires $10k between all linked accounts to avoid monthly fee
then following banks have better rates for account holders with balances above $25K
Wells Fargo PMA checking pays 2.75% Wamu Platium Checking pays 2.50%
These are only the rates from Big banks in CA. I know at many smaller banks you can find a much better interest checking account like Netbank, INGDirect EO etc.
I guess if you plan to keep money in HSBC online savings account long term then I guess this account is not so bad except compared to another interest checking accounts this account has less benfits and one of the lowest interest rates around. While I understand most of the other banks rates are pretty bad too until you get into $25k+ range they are still better than HSBC by 50% to 1000%. Even tho they are paying that much in my option most people would be better serve with no balance requirement accounts which dont pay any interest anyways because getting 0.05% or 0.25% is basically nothing anythings so why be forced into maintain a cash balance to avoid the fees.
I think this is a great deal! I just called and applied for a new interest checking because I have other online savings and free checking accounts with them (over $3,000). They told me they will verify all new accounts (I guess through ChexSystems). I am currently (and actively) disputing a single ChexSystems report (Suspected Fraud Activity). I wonder if they would decline me if I sent them the application? I am also concerned if they see this report and close my other accounts with them?
Can you make in branch deposits with this checking account or is it online only? If I make an in-branch deposit, can I transfer it more quickly to my savings account and thus save the 2-3 day hold HSBC puts on it? Thanks in advance.
Well I just opened up a checking and a savings account elsewhere... I probably wouldn't get accepted here, although I currently have a savings acct with them.
skcoder said:HSBC counts paypal transfers as direct deposit according to this thread so just send yourself $1.00 per month to avoid the $8 fee.
Are you sure though that they don't require a certain amount for a PayPal transaction to count as DD? A BoA rep I spoke with said that they (BoA) would count PayPal deposits as DD, but it had to be at least a $25 transaction. If HSBC doesn't have that kind of restriction, then I'm all on this, but otherwise...may just go with the free checking and the $25.
It's in the term and condition[PDF format] for intrest checking account application page. kalium said:Somebody called to confirm online saving is included
kalium said:Is online savings included in that combined balance 3000?
samko said:Can you make in branch deposits with this checking account or is it online only? If I make an in-branch deposit, can I transfer it more quickly to my savings account and thus save the 2-3 day hold HSBC puts on it? Thanks in advance. Yes you can make in branch deposits to the checking account. How quickly you can transfer to the online savings account depends on what you're depositing. You can transfer cash deposits immediately. You'd have to wait for check deposits to clear before you can transfer.
SleepyBum said:Well... this is good if you want Premier at HSBC. For some wierd reason, in order to get HSBC premier, you need to have a checking account.
Oh well, if they offered a free iPod nano, I'd open another checking account. But I have way too many checking account as it is.
HSBC Premire checking no offense is a joke compared to other interest checking from other banks with much lower balance requirements.
HSBC Premire Requires $100K min balance between linked accounts and pays a wooping 0.25% compare that to following:
BOA MRA requires $50K between linked accounts and is paying 4.44% in T-Bills Sweep account.
Wells Fargo FDIC PMA checking accounts tier interest highest rate pay 4.40% witn $100K balances + unclear is it is between combined balances or balance in the checking account as web page is unclear and CS claims between combined balance in all accounts.
Citibank Citigold Requires $100K between combined accounts and has tier rates starting as low as 1.01% to 2.75% for balance aboves $50K
Wamu Platium Checking Requires $10K min combined balances but pays interest based on combined balance tiers. For accounts $100K+ 4%
So personally I see little no reason to get HSBC premire account considering they pay worst rate of all accounts with this kinda of min balance requirement. And only good benfits you get is talking to US based CS reps so unless you call CS all time is worth little to nothing.
It's not up to BoA rep to "count" an ACH transfer as a DD. I have scheduled a $10 recurring ACH transfer from Citibank to BoA, and BoA has not charged me for the monthly fee. So I don't see any reason why Paypal would be different.
NihmRodd said:skcoder said:HSBC counts paypal transfers as direct deposit according to this thread so just send yourself $1.00 per month to avoid the $8 fee.
Are you sure though that they don't require a certain amount for a PayPal transaction to count as DD? A BoA rep I spoke with said that they (BoA) would count PayPal deposits as DD, but it had to be at least a $25 transaction. If HSBC doesn't have that kind of restriction, then I'm all on this, but otherwise...may just go with the free checking and the $25.
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