Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $2,500
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: Yes
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: $50, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: $25, 180 days
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:November 22, 2024
Contents
The Offer
- HSBC is offering a $1,500 or $2,500 bonus when you open a new Premier checking account. Bonus you receive depends on the amount you deposit or invest the following for 3 full consecutive months following the new account opening month:
-
Receive a cash bonus of $1,500 when you deposit or invest $100,000 to $249,999.99
-
Receive a cash bonus of $2,500 when you deposit or invest $250,000+
-
The Fine Print
- Offer valid from January 8, 2024, through and including March 27, 2024 (“Offer Period”). Only New Customers are eligible for this offer.
- Customers who have a current or past HSBC account in the U.S. on file are not eligible for this offer.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
This account has a $50 monthly fee, this fee is waived if you do any of the following:
- Maintain balances of $75,000 in combined U.S. Dollar personal deposit accounts and investment* balances OR
- Recurring direct deposits totaling at least $5,000 from a third party to an HSBC Premier checking account(s) per calendar month OR
- Any HSBC U.S. residential mortgage loan with an original loan amount of at least $500,000. Business owners may use their qualifying HSBC U.S. Dollar commercial balances to qualify for a personal Premier relationship
Early Account Termination Fee
$25, 180 days
Our Verdict
The lowest tier is the best rate of return at ~6%. It does say you can have the funds invested, but not sure how that works in practice. Premier checking itself earns a 0.01% interest rate so probably not worth considering for most people as the 6% rate is only marginal when compared to other high interest accounts. Better than the previous bonus offered.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
My personal experience was failure. I had permanent residency at that time already for 4.5 years.
I did applied to the account about March 20th this year for previous promotion iteration, with intention to do ACAT.
They were so slow on everything, and requested the whole list of additional docs, like paystubs, green cards, etc, which I provided them the same day,they requested.
Still it took them 2 months to process it, I already thought they don’t want to open account for me. But surprisingly May 28th I am getting approval email, then I immediately applied for Brokerage, they requested docs again and… never responded, I called them to follow up, they said “we are processing”, I am still did not get an answer for brokerage…
Due to my naiveness I thought they would open brokerage soon, so I was not able to fulfill checking account “top up in 20 days” reqs, due to my intention to do it with equities, and 8 did not had 100k in just cash(so my bad on that)
After having conversation with their VP whom in result wasn’t anyhow helpful, I decided to give up on them.
Using that message info, I thought there is EATF here. To keep account free I put DD, having little hope to get at least DD bonus, did it for 3 full months – no bonus.
So that’s my DP – waisted time and no money, mostly my mistake to not having free cash, and only counting on equity…
BTW I analyzed their schedule fee, seems like they remove EATF, so I would close it next week… So if anyone from moderation team reads this, please remove that… Hm why that @Chuck thing is not working anymore…
P.S. they advertise Referral program to do “New account opening bonus +500$” to referrer. So good to “refer” P2, if P2 never been a ln HSBC client.
Some info I came across while doing a transfer out:
$95 charge for full account transfer
No change for partial account transfer but at least $300 must remain in account
If no premier status, inactive charge of $50/year applies
Is the $50/year inactivity fee for the brokerage account or the checking?
I am trying to figure out what to do with the HSBC accounts. Is there an option to downgrade the checking to some fee-free version? I didn’t see their website listed any checking other than the premier checking.
If not, is it possible to close the checking and keep a standalone brokerage account? But that way the ACH transfer out of the brokerage might be an issue as it seemed the fund need to be transferred from brokerage to checking or savings first in order to do an ACH out…
Has anyone had luck opening out of state without going into a branch?
Not interested in getting a chex hit for nothing.
Yes, I opened online from a state without a physical location. They only have 20 branches (“wealth centers”) in seven different states, they’re not a normal retail bank anymore.
Thank you. That is a helpful DP.
What were your Chex stats at the time you applied, if you don’t mind me asking?
HSBC didn’t show up on my Chex report but I was at about 20/3 56/12
I pulled my EWS report last week and there were two hits there, one each for the checking and brokerage.
AlBundysBigguns
I think this is a nationwide offer that can be opened online and they don’t pull chex.
Next day is indeed fast.
Which brokerage were the securities coming from?
From Citi – after posting I looked it up and apparently they both use Pershing for clearing, so that might explain the speed
Agree there on ‘the same clearing..’
Thanks for info!
Looks like there are multiple promotions with slightly different terms. Namely this page says you only have 20 days to fund the account, not 30. Not sure how they’ll know which bonus you’re doing without a code.
https://www.us.hsbc.com/checking-accounts/campaigns/premier-relationship/
So weird. Had hsbc account closed in 2019. Called in and was recognized by automatic system. The lady then said that despite them not showing any prior accounts in the system I do not qualify for the offer as my profile is still in the system.
How did the automatic system “recognize” you? Were you prompted to enter SSN, phone #, etc?
Asked for SSN then repeat a phrase (I guess I set up voice recognition back in 2018/2019 although don’t remember doing so)
I see.
Thanks!
If you don’t have another one of the $2500 brokerage offers lined up, you could always just try this one out and see if it posts. Maybe you could get lucky and their determination for brokerage bonus eligibility checks against the list of prior accounts instead of the list of prior customers.
007
Thanks. Doing ME bonus now then plan is P2 WF if I can although has to go to branch so who knows. I did hear on Bogleheads that hsbc bonus can require a lot of follow up so may hold off especially if can be easily disqualified
I did the HSBC bonus several months ago and was concerned after reading the comments, but the bonus was posted automatically without human intervention. I had never had a HSBC account before so that probably made things a little easier.
Fair enough thanks for sharing!
I opened premier checking yesterday with very high Chex and HSBC isn’t showing up on my Chex report.
HSBC bonus is hard to track and I have to fight to get my $450 bonus last time and it took almost 1 year to get it. I’d recommend to get Wells promo instead if you have $250k to spare.
Used to have a checking account with them like 5-6 years ago, just missed the eligibility cutoff for the last bonus earlier this year by a few months. Figured I’d check in and see about this new one, the rep says I’m still not eligible because I also used to have a credit card with them?? Fine print says “Referred customers who have a current or past HSBC account in the U.S. on file are not eligible for this offer.” Never heard of a credit card account disqualifying someone from eligibility for a checking promotion (normally it’s same/similar account types), but the language is broad enough that it would technically exclude anyone with ANY prior account with them (banking, credit, probably investment as well).
Need open investment account to take advantage, otherwies no deal at all