Anybody having issues refinancing their mortgage with HSBC?

[martinjsxx]

I am bumping this old thread because it is becoming clearer what is happening with the sale of HSBC branches. Citizens Bank is acquiring most of the branches in the NYC area and will keep them open under their name. There is a list on the Citizens website which branches will become Citizens Bank branches. The accounts will changeover in February 2022 and HSBC customers will get new account numbers, debit cards, etc. so things like Direct Deposit will have to be updated. There is no description of what changes will be made to existing accounts but they said information would be mailed in January. For example I have an HSBC checking account that has no fees with a $1500 balance. At this time, to get free checking at Citizens you need to make one deposit a month with no minimum balance requirement. I usually make a deposit a month but I prefer the minimum balance requirement rather than having to ensure I make a deposit every month.

As far as their online-only Direct Savings account, there is no information on that either. I had one of those in addition to my branch accounts but closed it today as it pays a very low interest rate anyway. Who knows how Citizens Bank would treat such an account.

Citizens Bank is new to this area and online reviews of them are bad, although online reviews usually attract people with complaints. I will probably close my HSBC accounts before the sale is closed because I would rather choose to do business with a bank than be assigned to them. HSBC isn’t my main bank anyway.

[LVguy]

are you going to change bank?


So later all of HSBC will be Citizens Bank? or just NYC?

[martinjsxx]

Originally Posted by LVguy

are you going to change bank?


So later all of HSBC will be Citizens Bank? or just NYC?

I will probably close my HSBC accounts and just transfer the small balances to another existing account of mine at another bank. I never actually chose HSBC as my bank. I had accounts at other banks which were acquired by other banks and finally HSBC bought the accounts. I first started with a passbook account at Manhattan Savings which years later was acquired by Republic Bank which was then acquired by HSBC. I also had accounts at Crossland Savings which was then acquired by Republic and then by HSBC. I kept the accounts there because there is a branch nearby which is very convenient for me but if I am going to have to make a deposit every month to avoid a $10 monthly fee I’ll just close them.

All HSBC accounts other than Premier Accounts ($75,000 balance I believe) are being sold to Citizens Bank except for some in California which are being sold to Cathay Bank.