Students protest against HSBC

Students in the UK have launched a protest against one of the UK’s leading banks, HSBC, and the protest has been quickly gaining popularity through the Facebook website.

Students are now threatening to boycott HSBC over new regulations that will mean the end of the hugely popular three year interest free overdraft facility on graduate accounts with the bank.

Many graduates have benefited from this three year interest free overdraft facility with the HSBC over recent years, enabling them to enjoy a financial lifeline without paying interest between leaving university and starting work.

However, the bank has stated that many of these accounts were abused, and this combined with high levels of bad debt have resulted in the bank having to make a commercial decision to scrap the three year interest free overdraft facility.

However, students are arguing that the reason they joined the bank in the first place was to be able to take advantage of these popular graduate accounts. The protest comes at a bad time for the bank, which along with other banks in the UK, is now vying for the business of new students that are starting university as the academic year kicks off.

One student stated: “They’ve shot themselves in the foot to be quite honest. Why would they want to alienate themselves from graduates who’ll be earning high salaries in years to come?”

Another stated: “I am so disgusted with HSBC right now – it actually makes my blood boil… Never before have I lost so much faith in an organisation. As soon as I can I am closing my account, moving my ISA and finding a new decent bank.”

Tom Smith
6th October 2007

Tags: graduates, bad, accounts, bank, interest, debt, students, hsbc, free, overdraft

Consumer group warns on insurance for music downloads

A consumer group has issued a warning relating to insurance cover for music downloads. Downloading music has become a hugely popular way for younger generations in their teens, twenties, and thirties to enjoy listening to their favourite music.

However, Which? has carried out a survey into insurance cover for music downloads and is urging consumers to be aware of exclusions relating to these policies.

According to the result of the survey carried out by Which? music downloads will not be covered by insurance if they are lost as a result of a computer virus – these music collections are often worth hundreds of pounds in total, and therefore can cause considerable financial loss to consumers. Many insurance firms also did not cover music downloads if they were lost as a result of hard drive failure.

As part of the survey 46 insurance firms were reviewed by the consumer group, and out of these only 22 actually offered insurance cover for music and digital downloads. The cover is offered when the downloads are lost as the result of fire, weather conditions, or theft. However, out of the insurance companies surveyed none of the policies offered provided protection against loss of music through virus or computer failure.

One spokesperson from Which? stated: ‘Downloading music online is widely accepted now as being the easiest and most convenient way to buy music. Music lovers know it, the music companies know it – but it seems insurance companies are determined to stay behind the times.” Consumers that do take out this type of cover for their music and digital downloads should ensure that they know what is excluded from the policy, and therefore consider whether the cover is actually worth the cost.

Tom Smith
31st July 2007

Tags: free, pc, Insurance, downloading, virus, sites, failure, music, online

Financial advisers now under scrutiny

UK regulators have been cracking down on all sorts of services and sectors over the past year, from bank and credit card charges to travel insurance and payment protection cover. Read more

Tags: charge, Insurance, advisers, products, finance, personal. mortgages, advice, free

Will other banks follow First Direct and charge fees on current accounts?

Following the shock announcement recently made by officials from First Direct Bank, a subsidiary of HSBC, that it intends to start charging customers that do not pay a certain amount into their current accounts each month, many are now wondering whether other banks and building societies will follow suits, bringing to an end the era of free banking for consumers in the UK.

First Direct made the announcement last week, shocking experts and customers by stating that a ten-pound monthly fee would be charged to current accounts that did not have at least fifteen hundred pounds in. It has now been revealed that Nationwide may also be looking into charging bank account holders in the same way at some point in the future, with one executive from Nationwide allegedly stating: “I don’t think we can rule out charging for current accounts totally although we have no immediate plans to introduce such charges at the moment.”

Halifax, on the other hand, have promised that it will not be introducing any such charges on current accounts, and is in fact planning to open three new branches in the UK, as it is thought that many existing First Direct costumers will now be eager to find alternative banking solutions in order to protest against and avoid the new charges being introduced by First Direct.

One official from the Halifax stated: “Halifax is committed to free banking, and we would hope that other banks and building societies share this commitment.” Sadly it looks as though First Direct do not share any such commitment, and the impressive reputation and customer base that this Internet bank has built up over recent years is likely to take a tumble over the forthcoming months, with consumers desperate to get their accounts switched to a non-charging bank or building society.

Tags: direct, hsbc, first, account, free