I used to have a checking account with Republic National Bank of New York because they had no fees.in 1999 the bank was bought by HSBC.
I kept my account with HSBC because I was given a "permanent" waver of fees. I later opened a $1000 CD which I changed to an HSBC Online account to maintain a combined balance that was also supposed to avoid fees.
Everything was fine until last month (June) when HSBC started charging me a $12 monthly fee for not having a minimum of $1500 in my checking account; the combined balance of the two accounts no longer counted for some reason.
I got them to reverse the two fees, totalling $24, which they did as a "one time courtesy" and they switched my checking account to something called Free Checking" - no longer offered as of this week - that doesn't require a minimum balance but does require activity.
My complaint is this: two months ago (May) HSBC management globally changed all the "WAVE CODES" on all its accounts without warning, meaning that potentially thousands of HSBC customers like me are being charged $12 a month without their knowledge (unless they study their statements).
HSBC should be forced to notify its customers of this change and refund the fees it charged since the change in policy. The wave codes should be reinstated.
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