Paula FLANAGAN writes:
Our Association has been banking with the HSBC in France for over two years and have been astonished by the incredibly arbitrary way they apply banking charges. One month we are asked to fork out 25 Euros, the next 11 Euros and currently, because of my nagging, we pay 6,50 Euros or thereabouts. I have been told that this is due to the activity generated by the account but we sometimes lost 25 Euros in a month where nothing happened at all!
I only recently discovered that HSBC stands for Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation. I actually thought it stood for Highly Suspicious Banking Charges. And yet, all is not lost. I have been back to the bank to complain about the charges and the HSBC has finally stopped being too international in its outlook and has created a service for French Associations: Assodirect, which will lighten our mood by not charging us for existing.
I hear you say: Just change banks. I agree, we maybe should. However, I am going to give the Assodirect service a try and see how it fares.
Nevertheless, the advice I would give an expat settling in France is not to join the HSBC. A French bank won't bleed you with hefty bank charges. No wonder the HSBC is one of the few banks to come through le credit crunch smiling.
