So, I just switched my old NatWest account to HSBC, because of the latter’s £200 bribe (mentioned before in this forum, under HSBC 200£ bribe for CASS switching).
It highlighted just how far behind the times HSBC are, and once I have collected my bribe, I’ll be closing the account immediately.
Setting up the account was slow, tedious and time consuming. To activate the debit card, I had to:
- phone a call centre abroad to have someone set up a phone security PIN for me, which involved telling them two memorable words, and then entering a number into a computer system using the phone keypad
- use that security number to begin to set up online banking, which involved another memorable word, a bunch of security questions, before asking me to install the mobile banking app as an MFA token
- the extremely confusing mobile app then required SMS verification of my phone number, before finally allowing me to generate a token, which I could use to proceed with the online banking setup
- finally, after all of that, I was able to activate my debit card
Contrast Monzo:
- Use in-app video to request card
- Tap “card arrived” in the app when it arrived to activate it
The mobile app is years behind what I took for granted with NatWest, let alone Monzo, though at least HSBC supports Apple Pay… at least on paper, because every time I try and add the card, it fails, telling me to contact my card issuer. Given my experiences so far, I think I’ll pass