Major bank in humiliating U-turn after claiming it made huge mistake | UK | News

HSBC has apologised for telling millions of customers that it was scrapping a £5 fee for money transfers abroad – after admitting that the information was “not correct”. The high street bank alerted customers to a number of updated terms and conditions due to be enforced from April in an email sent out last September. Among the key changes was the removal of HSBC’s £5 fee for transferring money to non-HSBC accounts while abroad.

But the banking giant has now backpedalled on the announcement, telling customers that the £5 fee won’t be scrapped after all – just weeks before it was due to come into force on April 9. “We recently wrote to you about the changes we’re making to our Personal Banking Terms and Conditions, and we gave you the wrong information on some of our charges,” HSBC said in an email seen by The Sun.

“We said we would be removing the £5 fee for some foreign currency and international payments from HSBC UK accounts (not including HSBC Premier Accounts) to non-HSBC accounts, when sending by branch, telephone, mobile or online banking – and that’s not correct.

“We’re sorry if this has created confusion. There are no planned changes to the current £5 fee.”

The fee will continue not to apply to HSBC Premier customers, or those using Private Banking or Global Money accounts.

There are also no additional fees for transfers between different HSBC accounts and payments to other providers when sent in Euros within the European Economic Area (EEA).

The banking giant also told customers that new rules will require them to make at least £100,000 a year, or have £100,000 invested, to qualify for a Premier account from April 9.

Account holders currently only need to have an annual income of £75,000 or £50,000 of savings and investments with the branch.

Addressing the U-turn on overseas spending fees, an HSBC spokesperson said: “We’re sorry for making this error and any confusion it may have caused.”