6:44 pm
March 30, 2017
Just noticed the following new promo,
https://www.hsbc.ca/savings-accounts/savings-offer/#offer-details
Applies to new deposit (after Apr1 screenshot), good for both existing and new accounts.
8:45 pm
April 14, 2021
I have had recent dealings with HSBC and would advise extreme caution. I am not suggesting that they are doing anything illegal. However, I will recommend that you read every condition with utmost care. I took them up on a few new client offers and such only to find that, in order to fulfill the conditions for their special bonuses, I had to leave the money at the bank far longer than I wanted. I found some of their Terms and Conditions a bit tricky and difficult to fully comprehend and thus thought that I could move the money early, when I could not (without penalty.) So, I left the money until the end, missed out on some better opportunities, and then transferred the money and closed my accounts with HSBC forever.
IIRC, lots of their conditions deal with 'total account/relationship balances'. For example, to qualify, I had to maintain a combined sum of 100K from all my accounts. Transferring amounts between accounts would not qualify as new deposits. I suspect that the same would apply to the transaction you propose.
8:54 pm
October 21, 2013
Thanks for posting.
Seems to boil down to up to 2.4 to June 24 new money.
To my way of thinking, that's not good enough. Anything less than 3 months at a minimum is just not worth the nuisance. By the time you get the account going and the money moved in, it will be not much more than 2 months.
The offer ends June 24 but you would have to leave the money there until the interest is posted at the end of the month, further reducing the effective rate. In addition, July 1 is both a holiday and a Friday, so you would likely be stuck until at least July 4.
I'll wait for something better.
9:13 pm
April 6, 2013
HermanH said
…
IIRC, lots of their conditions deal with 'total account/relationship balances'. For example, to qualify, I had to maintain a combined sum of 100K from all my accounts. Transferring amounts between accounts would not qualify as new deposits. I suspect that the same would apply to the transaction you propose.
Scotiabank had something similar to "relationship" balances in one of their offers.
Ed noticed that the interest paid was under by 1/3. Investigation found that funds had to be new to the account balance, new to the relationship 'Combined Balance', and remain so throughout the offer. One couldn't add new funds to the account and withdraw funds from another account included in the 'Combined Balance'.
5:29 am
March 30, 2017
Yes one has to be careful with their fine prints, esp the new account opening promo (I recall one of them req acct to remain open for min. 1year).
As for what counts as "new balance", it is just common sense one can not transfer from "left pocket to right pocket" and call it new funds.
My understanding is one will include bonus rate up until Jun24, whether you leave it there until Jul1 or not should not be relevant.
Its only 81 days so No it is not really worth it for new applicants. But I like the fact it includes existing accounts, and there is no lottery involved like Simplii or Tangerine.
The real reason I like it is because neither Simplii nor Tangerine wants my money lol
7:12 am
March 30, 2017
8:38 am
April 6, 2013
The full details of the offer are at High Rate Savings Account New Deposits Promotion – Terms and Conditions.
Offer is affected by one's "Total deposits balance”:
(f) “New Deposits” means a portion of the daily closing balance of your HRSA balance during the Promotion Period which is the lower of two amounts:
1) Increase in total deposits, calculated starting from the close of business on April 1, 2022
and
2) Increase in HRSA balance, calculated starting from the close of business on April 1, 2022.If the lower of the two amounts is zero, then the New Deposits are zero.
Deposits at the close of business on April 1, 2022 are not New Deposits.…
(j) “Total deposits balance” means the total value in Canadian dollars of all your chequing, savings, guaranteed investment certificates (GICs) and term deposit accounts under the same Customer Account Number with HSBC during the promotion period. For the purpose of calculating the total value, foreign currency account balances will be based on the Canadian dollar equivalent.
8:59 am
April 14, 2021
savemoresaveoften said
Yes one has to be careful with their fine prints, esp the new account opening promo (I recall one of them req acct to remain open for min. 1year).
The one that caught me was something about the bonus being paid after 6 months or one year and that you had to keep the account open for an entire year after that point in order to keep it! If the account balance fell below 100K, you would be forced to repay any bonuses. So, the bonus period ended and I was forced to keep an account open for an additional 6 months at a ridiculous rate of 0.10%, which was, in essence, giving HSBC my money to use for free for 6 months.
Overall, I did not win or lose, but HSBC has made sure I never have dealings with them again, because of their shenanigans.
6:04 pm
April 11, 2022
Hi all, I'm tired of the Tangerine promo lottery and the games they play. Saw this promo from HSBC. I have no existing accounts with HSBC. If I were to open up this High Rate Savings Account with HSBC to take advantage of the limited time promo until June 24, can anyone with experience explain how easy or hard it is to get the money out quickly? I tried calling HSBC and all I could learn was if I tried to transfer the money out from the HSBC side, I'm limited to 3 transactions per month with a max transfer out via Interac etransfer of 7k per day, 10k per week and 40k per month. Or I would need to also open a chequing account to pair it with the HRSA and transfer money from the HRSA to the chequing account to be able to write a cheque from the chequing account out to myself at another institution. Does anyone have experience with a better way to access the money from the HRSA without needing to incur wire transfer fees (HSBC charges $40 per transfer up to 30k and $60 per transfer between 30k to 150k)?
Has anyone tried pulling money from a HSBC HRSA to Tangerine, via a simple Tangerine online funds transfer (provided I can link the HRSA account)? Any transaction limits or transfer fees that way? Any other surprises?
Any advice is appreciated. I know it's not a long term solution, but I need something other than Tangerine to see if I can get a better lottery promo from them in 1-3 months while I seek out other longer term alternatives
6:34 am
September 15, 2017
"Any advice is appreciated. I know it's not a long term solution, but I need something other than Tangerine to see if I can get a better lottery promo from them in 1-3 months while I seek out other longer term alternatives."
Have you considered Duca Credit Union? Special savings account rate is now 2.50% till end of December. You need to become a member for $1 and follow the instructions on how to transfer funds into their Earn More Park Account. You can read the thread about Duca to learn more.
7:01 am
March 30, 2017
GR said
"Any advice is appreciated. I know it's not a long term solution, but I need something other than Tangerine to see if I can get a better lottery promo from them in 1-3 months while I seek out other longer term alternatives."Have you considered Duca Credit Union? Special savings account rate is now 2.50% till end of December. You need to become a member for $1 and follow the instructions on how to transfer funds into their Earn More Park Account. You can read the thread about Duca to learn more.
I second the Duca one over the HSBC. Duca will give u more flexibility in transfer option, good for almost 8 months (vs 2ish for HSBC) as well.
I only use HSBC cuz I already have account there, while waiting for places like Tangerine to include me in their lottery.
In terms of being over insurance coverage, I have more comfort with HSBC over DUCA (meaning I cap it at $250k more or less), but that is just me.
7:24 am
April 11, 2022
Hi, thanks for the suggestions about DUCA. I had not known about that one since my main reference was the HISA chart and I live in Quebec (hence no EQ or Simplii etc. available to me).
I will check out the DUCA forum, but in case someone is able to answer my question quickly: can anyone confirm whether someone from Quebec will be allowed to join and open an account at DUCA?
Sorry, I realized I should have mentioned the Quebec issue in my post.
Thanks all!
7:34 am
April 6, 2013
DUCA is an Ontario-regulated credit union. According to their Join page, one must be an Ontario resident:
To help us complete your online application, you must be a resident of Ontario and you will need your Social Insurance Number (SIN) if you are looking to open an account that generates interest or investment income.
9:01 am
April 11, 2022
Aww, nuts (though I sort of suspected). Thanks for the quick confirmation about DUCA being Ontario only. It seems like there isn't really as many good alternatives to Tangerine in Quebec, which is why I was considering the HSBC promo, even if it is short. Unless there is a catch with it I haven't seen yet.
9:06 am
August 6, 2018
SavingsQs said
Hi all, I'm tired of the Tangerine promo lottery and the games they play. Saw this promo from HSBC. I have no existing accounts with HSBC. If I were to open up this High Rate Savings Account with HSBC to take advantage of the limited time promo until June 24, can anyone with experience explain how easy or hard it is to get the money out quickly?...
Has anyone tried pulling money from a HSBC HRSA to Tangerine, via a simple Tangerine online funds transfer (provided I can link the HRSA account)? Any transaction limits or transfer fees that way? Any other surprises?
I have no problem EFT pull money out of HSBC chequing or savings account to EQ, Tangerine, etc. Though depending on the account type the savings may have a fee for each transaction after the first few free ones each month - you can look it up on their fee schedule. You can also write a cheque.
It's just exactly like the big 5 banks. You cannot do EFT push out of them and there may be fees for transactions.
11:32 am
April 14, 2021
con6450 said
I have no problem EFT pull money out of HSBC chequing or savings account to EQ, Tangerine, etc. Though depending on the account type the savings may have a fee for each transaction after the first few free ones each month - you can look it up on their fee schedule. You can also write a cheque.
The last time I checked, it was 12 transactions for savings accts and unlimited for chequing. After opening my accounts, I made too many transactions on savings account, wrongly thinking that it was no different than my chequing account. To their credit, HSBC gratiously gave me a one-time forgiveness adjustment and cancelled the extra charges.
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