Update 1/18/25: Extended to February 28, 2025
Update 11/24/24: Deal is back and valid until January 2, 2025
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:
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Receive a cash bonus of $1,500 when you deposit or invest $100,000 to $249,999.99
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Receive a cash bonus of $2,500 when you deposit or invest $250,000+
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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
I am trying to make sense of this thread but things are going over my head. Can someone summarize this please?
favo🔗 
Cathy
From what I got, if I am a new customer
then I can do the referral offer where I have to keep 250k for 90 days plus and I can get $2500 bonus
What will that $250k earn during that 90 day period? Can I put it in mutual funds? Or can it be in premier savings getting 3.75% (looks like that rate has its separate requirements though)?
I had a regular checking account back in 2015 or so, so not sure if I will qualify for referral offer.
If not, then whats the best I can do? thanks
The savings offer expired on 02/28/25, but it might be extended. Check the link next week to see if it’s renewed if you’re interested.The checking referral offer expires on 06/30/25. If you’re a new customer, you can participate in the referral checking offer. By maintaining $100K or $250K for three full calendar months after account opening, you can earn $1,500 or $2,500, respectively.If you are eligible for the referral checking offer, the checking referral offer gives a better return than the savings offer, as the savings offer is $1000 or $2000 bonus for $100k or $250k respectively.Fund Maintenance Period Options:
You can place the funds in a brokerage account where the core position is HGDXX, a money market fund earning around 4% in dividends. Other money market funds (MMFs) might be available, also SGOV, but HSBC charges high trading fees. If you fund by cash, there’s no trading fee, as the cash will go into the core sweep position (HGDXX). Alternatively, you can ACAT securities into HSBC without trading to avoid fees.You can also keep the funds in a savings account at 3.75% APY. To qualify, you need $5,000 in direct deposits or $500 in debit card spending in the previous month. There was a rate promotion that granted the 3.75% relationship rate for the account opening month plus the first three months before the savings offer expired. However, it’s unclear if this promotion is still available or automatically applied to all new account holders. If you’re interested, I recommend confirming with customer service.Checking Referral Offer Eligibility:
The checking referral offer has lifetime language, so you need to be a “new customer” to qualify, but it’s unclear how far back HSBC retains records. Someone mentioned that despite having an HSBC account 10 years ago, their information had been purged, allowing them to qualify for the referral offer. To be sure, contact customer service and ask them to check if your records are still in their system, they should be able to look up by SSN. HSBC offers customer service by phone and by online chat and they usually reply pretty quick.
Hope this helps.
For new customers, the best choice is to open the checking and savings account via the referral code, thus they can get $1500 for checking bonus or $2500 for checking and savings bonus, instead of $1000 for saving bonus.
Just to clarify, the offer referenced here does not require you to not previously have had an HSBC account, correct?
The checking referral offer requires you to not previously have had an HSBC account, but I did not see the life time language in the savings offer. It appears the savings offer is open to new and existing customers. But the return of the savings offer is not as good as the checking referral offer: $1000 bonus for $100,000 balance, $2000 bonus for $250,000 balance vs $1500 bonus for $100,000 balance, $2500 bonus for $250,000 balance
Really appreciate the details! Thanks!
You are very welcome.
Assuming the money is stuck for 100 days, bonus is equivalent to about 2.92%. Does that money earn anything during that time?
Yes, ~4% dividend if the money is held in the core sweep position in the brokerage and 3.75% if held in savings if requirements are met. See my more detailed reply about the requirements in this comment:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hsbc-up-to-4000-checking-bonus-2/#comment-2014807
for new customers, the best choice is to open the checking and savings account via the referral code, thus they can get $1500 for checking bonus or $2500 for checking and savings bonus, instead of $1000 for saving bonus.
Ready to move 250k from Wells Fargo / Wells Trade to HSBC for another 2500 bonus. Can someone please send me a referral? Would an ACATS partial transfer from WT work for this bonus without any cash deposit? Thank you
Yes, a partial ACAT transfer from WT works to meet the balance requirement for the bonus. However, you’ll still need to make a small cash deposit into the Premier Checking account to keep it open, as maintaining the checking account in good standing is required for the bonus.
This HSBC Premier Checking referral offer is similar to Wells Fargo’s Premier Checking offer, where WellsTrade balances can also be used to meet the balance requirement. Both are relationship-based offers rather than standard checking account offers. The goal is to establish a banking relationship, and the required balance can typically be met by combining funds across linked accounts like savings or brokerage under the same relationship.
For the HSBC referral offer, you’ll first need to open a Premier Checking account using the referral code and the referrer’s full name (online, in-branch, or by phone). Once the checking account is open, you can log in and open a brokerage account online. After that, call HSBC’s brokerage customer service and request that they email you an ACAT transfer form. Fill it out and email it back—they will handle the rest.
Just don’t forget to deposit a small amount (even a few dollars is fine; I personally deposited $100) into the Premier Checking account to prevent it from being automatically closed. Keeping the checking account open and in good standing is a requirement to receive the bonus.
hey could you send me one as well, how do you send it via email to me?
When did you open the brokerage? If you opened it today probably it will show up tomorrow in online banking. If not, maybe give the customer service a call? HSBC’s ACAT transfer requires customers to call CS to get a form to fill out too, so need to call the customer service anyway.
I opened it on Wed but only got the welcome email last night. I will give it until Monday and if it does not show up I will call.
That does sound a bit long if it still hasn’t showed up yet. HSBC also has online chatting and they respond pretty quick. If you do not like to call you can also chat with them online.
I am unclear on the required holding period for the referral bonus. The terms say that one must “maintain the Qualifying Balance for 3 full calendar months after account opening.” Let’s say I opened the Premier checking account on February 19 with your referral code, and funded it and the linked brokerage account on March 19. There seem to be four ways in which the hold period language can be interpreted:
(1) Count the three calendar months from the account opening date, 2/19, which would mean that one must maintain the funds from March 19 through the third week of May;
(2) Count the three calendar months from the first of the full month following the account opening date, 3/1, which would mean that one must maintain the funds from March 19 through the end of May;
(3) Count the three calendar months from the date the account is actually funded, which would mean that one must maintain the funds from March 19 through the third week of June;
(4) Count the three calendar months from the first of the full month following the account funding date, 4/1, which would mean that one must maintain the funds from March 19 through the end of June.
Which is of these is correct, as far as you know? One can minimize the difference between (1) and (2), and (3) and (4), by opening late in the month — but (1)-(2) vs (3)-(4) is an extra month of hold-up for $250,000, so it would be nice to figure this out.
Regarding your question about the holding period, based on what customer service told me when I pursued the bonus, as well as my own bonus posting timeline, the three full calendar months start on the first of the month following the date your account balance first reaches the required bonus tier ($100k or $250k). You have 30 days from account opening to reach that balance.
For example, if you open the account on February 19th with referral, you’ll have until around March 19th to fund the account and meet the required balance tier (this can be through cumulative deposits and/or ACAT transfers).
There are two scenarios if you open your account on February 19th:
Bonus Payout Timing:
For reference, I received my bonus on the 23rd of the month following the end of the third full calendar month. So, if your holding period ends in May, you can expect the bonus around June 23rd; if it ends in June, expect it around July 23rd.
Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you have further questions.
I have two more questions:
(1) APY: For the Premier Relationship Savings account, the relevant webpage (
https://www.us.hsbc.com/savings-accounts/products/relationship-savings/) states that “[w]hen you open a Premier Relationship Savings account and link it to an open Premier checking account, you’ll automatically get the Relationship APY for the rest of the month and the following 3 months.” So it sounds like you don’t need to do the $5,000 DD in the previous month to get the 3.75% APY for the purposes of referral bonus, unless you choose to keep the money in the savings account for the fourth full month.
Is this correct, or am I missing something? (I realize you can do the referral bonus with the brokerage account; I am just exploring the savings account as an alternative because I am not fully convinced that stacking the two bonuses is impossible.)
(2) Stacking: You were initially of the view that the savings and referral checking offers might be stackable. What changed your mind? Was it just this comment? https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hsbc-up-to-4000-checking-bonus-2/#comment-1998786 Or was it something else as well?
Yes, that was the comment mentioning that customer service said the referral checking offer and the savings offer were not stackable. However, if it were me, I would still give it a try. Customer service can be wrong, and no one knows exactly how the system is coded—there’s always a chance that meeting both sets of requirements could trigger both bonuses. With just a slightly longer holding period, I think the risk-to-reward ratio is worth it.
How soon after opening a new checking account is one able to refer? If P2 and I go for the stack, we would both need to open everything by 2/28. The plan is that one of us would use your referral code to open, and then refer the other. Is the referral code available as soon as you create an online login, or does the account need to age? (For example, at Citi, you have to wait 30 days.)
Still thinking about whether to risk the stack. A 0.25% APY differential does not sound like a lot, but it’s real money when multiplied by $500k. Maybe I will go to the branch and see what they say. You never know. At Wells Fargo a few months ago, the banker suggested a four-way bonus stack before I could even get the word out.
I don’t have a definite answer to your question as I didn’t try to get my referral code immediately after account opening. I’d recommend reaching out to customer service for clarification.
You said in the post above that, for the checking bonus, “the three full calendar months start on the first of the month following the date your account balance first reaches the required bonus tier.” Looking at the prior comments on a similar bonus, however, I noticed that you previously said that the 3-month count starts on the first of the month following the month of account opening, not account funding. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hsbc-up-to-4000-checking-bonus/#comment-1818528 And there were two DPs in the same thread that seemed to support that interpretation; in both, the account was opened in March, funded in April, and the bonus paid out in July, which suggests that the count started at the beginning of April, not the beginning of May. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hsbc-up-to-4000-checking-bonus/#comment-1885375 & https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hsbc-up-to-4000-checking-bonus/#comment-1885366
Has something changed since these posts that I am not catching?
I just dug up my notes from when I chatted with customer service after opening the account. Interestingly, I received two different interpretations from two different representatives. One told me that the first full calendar month is counted following the account opening month, while the other said it starts following the month of funding because the terms mention “full calendar month” while if the balance is brought up to requirements in the middle of the month, that month is not a full calendar month.
Since I opened and funded my account within the same month, it didn’t matter to me which interpretation was correct at the time. And counting from the month following the funding month seemed a safer approach if the account opening and funding fall in two consecutive months.
However, based on the two data points you mentioned, it seems like the first full calendar month is counted following the account opening date, not the funding date.
If there’s any uncertainty, I’d recommend reaching out to customer service and asking for clarification in writing. Even if their answer ends up being incorrect, having their response in writing could be helpful if you need to escalate the issue later in case the bonus doesn’t post automatically.
what about the savings version? seems more promising
For clarification:
Hope this helps clarify things!
By the way, the terms and bonus tiers for the referral offer can be found at this link: us.hsbc.com/refer
Simply clicking on the link doesn’t automatically qualify someone for the referral bonus. To be eligible, you need to obtain a referral code and the full name of the referrer, and enter both during the application process.
The “limited to 10 Referral Bonuses per calendar year” limit applies to the referrer, not the referee (the new customer). In other words, a referrer can only receive a maximum of 10 referral bonuses in a calendar year.
However, since a new customer needs to contact the referrer to obtain their code and name, it’s easy for the referrer to keep track of the number of successful referrals.
For new customers, the best choice is to open the checking and savings account via the referral code, thus they can get $1500 for checking bonus or $2500 for checking and savings bonus, instead of $1000 for saving bonus.
Referral offer extended til 6/30/2025
Currently, the refferal offer for checking account is $100K for $1500, $250K for $2500, which is better than the saving account ($100K for $1000, $250K for $2000, $500K for $3000). The new users can not get the checking bonus and saving bonus at the same time, but the old users can combine them even thought they did not get the targeted savings offer by email.
Did you confirm with customer service that the checking referral offer and the savings offer can not be stacked for new customers? I didn’t see terms and conditions that excluded the stacking.
Confirmed with agent, the new customer can only get one bonus, neither checking ($10,000 for $1500) or savings ($10,000 for $1000).
Obviously, the referred checking bonus is better than savings bonus. I have a valid referral code for friends to use.
In the T&C for savings promotion, it says “Each customer is eligible for no more than one Cash Bonus” and “Customers cannot participate in multiple offers during the Offer Period”.
Those terms were pretty vague. I interpreted those terms meant one customer could not open two savings and get two savings bonus, and could not participate in two savings offers since the context was talking about savings offers, and most bank offers are account type specific unless specified. But I guess HSBC could argue differently and say they meant the “one bonus” thing was across all product types.
I thought the checking referral offer and the savings offer were stackable but Cathy contacted CS and was told they were one or the other. If I were a new customer, I would still try satisfying both requirements to see if the stacking works in case the CS was wrong, since it only needed a slightly combined holding period if attempting both offers.
As far as “the old users can combine them even thought they did not get the targeted savings offer by email” Cathy mentioned, my understanding is existing users can pursue the savings bonus now although they received the checking bonus before when they opened the checking account and became a USBC customer.
Confused didn’t HSBC exit or plan to exit US retail banking. I did not realize they even existed anymore. I had previous checking account with them that was sold to Citizens.
Why does it say on top of this page “direct deposit – yes” . Seems it does not need direct deposit
That is from the old terms of the old promo
There was extra $500 bonus for direct deposit. Now both the checking bonus ($100k for $1500) and the savings bonus ($100k for $1000) have no extra DD bonus. But after 4 months of account opening, DD $5k or $100 k balance will be required to avoid the monthly fee.