HSBC Direct Drops Interest Rate

Written by nickel - 4 Comments

Update: HSBC recently increased their interest rate.

Just a quick interest rate update… On the heels of ING Direct’s decision to cut their interest rate, HSBC Direct has now decided to drop their APY by a whopping 0.55%, from 5.05% to ~~4.50%~~ ~~3.55%~~. As of this writing, Emigrant Direct is still holding out at 5.05%, and WT Direct is at 5.15% for accounts balances of $10k or more. Also keep in mind that ING’s Electric Orange Checking offer 4.90% APY on balances over $50k.

Published on September 26th, 2007 - 4 Comments
Filed under: Banking, Online
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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

Arghhh… and AmDirectTrust just dropped from 5.31 to 5.21 - still a decent rate but I hate to see this happening. I wonder if it’s smart to put money into a CD if you don’t need it in the near future, if rates keep dropping.
Comment by Kim — Sep 27th 2007 @ 12:09 am
Kim,

I think that that would be a great idea. Set your ladder up now if you don’t have one going.

I was a little surprised by how much HSBC cut their rates, but not that they did.

I’m still going to wait out and see what my bank does next year, since my 5.25 is locked through the end of 2007. Hopefully it will remain competitive, because I don’t really want to move my money anywhere else right now. It would probably have to go below 4% for me to move it at this point.
Comment by Blaine Moore — Sep 27th 2007 @ 9:34 am
FNBO announced that their new rate is 5.05%. I am considering moving to Countrywide 5.5% savings, but will wait a week or so to see if they drop the rate.

For CDs, our local branch of Patriot Bank still has a 5.5% promotion for 11 months. Just moved more money there. I have 2 other CDs mature this month, hope to find something good when they do.

I didn’t closed HSBC when I moved most of the money to FNBO during their promotion. Will probably just close it now.
Comment by kitty — Sep 29th 2007 @ 8:46 pm
I attempted to close my HSBC account back in May. After spending way too long on the phone with someone who barely spoke English, I though it was taken care of. My checking account balance was transferred to the online savings account, and then that full amount was transferred back to my other (non-HSBC) checking account. I even got a letter from them confirming the closed account. Unfortunately, I just got a statement from them, saying that my free checking account had been converted to a basic checking account, and they were charging me a $3.00 monthly service fee. After spending another 20 minutes on the phone (with another poorly speaking phone rep), I think I might have the problem solved.

Overall, I would rate my experience with HSBC as utterly horrible, and would never recommend them to anyone.
Comment by Thad — Oct 12th 2007 @ 12:42 pm