Foreign deposit hidden fees at HSBC | HSBC | Discussion forum

Mike,

I'm afraid to say you're quite mistaken on several fronts. In fact, in one, both charges you mention are charged by all of the other banks. In the second, both charges have always been fully disclosed in HSBC Bank Canada's Personal Service Charges brochure and Statement of Disclosure, as required by federal legislation.

Particularly, look for the fee assessed on incoming wire transfers as to the $10.00 charge. The $2.50 charge refers to when foreign currency cheques or other items (i.e., bank drafts) are accepted for deposit. As these items have to be cleared separately at the end of the day and there is generally more work to do so since these items have more places to travel through to get cleared. This fee is fully disclosed and very minimal, in my opinion. There is no charge for foreign currency government pension cheques.

If you want a copy of the Personal Service Charges brochure, you can download the up-to-date PDF form when you open an account online or e-mail Internet Banking Support to request a copy by mail. You can also visit any branch and pick one up.

As far as the $30 wire transfer goes, I would recommend using Electronic Funds Transfer using the Bank-to-Bank Transfer feature of Personal Internet Banking. It only works for self-to-self transfers from another institution but there's no charge for it (on either end). If the money was from a third party, a wire transfer is always the most expensive option (on both ends). I would recommend having your colleague give you a cheque or cash to deposit at an ABM in Canada without charge.

I would definitely encourage you to pursue the charge further with your branch. Let them know how frustrated you are and that you weren't aware of the charge and because of the small amount of the wire transfer, would appreciate it greatly if they'd reverse the charge this one time only. Branches don't like complaints and staff are encouraged to correct the complaint at the branch level, especially ones regarding service charges by providing the customer with the appropriate disclosure of all service charges at the time of the complaint, reversing some or all of the disputed service charges at that time and, if necessary, going above and beyond and providing additional compensation. At the branch I work at, we maintain a supply of Starbucks cards to give to customers upon resolution of their complaint to turn that upset and anger into a smile. 🙂

Cheers,
Doug