HSBC to refund fees, lost interest due to snafu
HSBC Bank USA will fully adjust all checking and savings accounts for delayed interest and will refund any deposit or credit card fees incurred as a result of its computer system disruption, the bank said in a notice posted on its Web site.
Fees charged by other financial institutions as a result of the HSBC problems may be included, the bank said.
The pledge to pay all interest owed and refund fees marks the latest effort by the area’s largest retail bank to repair damage to its image and regain customer confidence after a computer failure disrupted customer transactions and accounts for more than 10 days in some cases.
HSBC’s core banking system computer crashed Aug. 17, hindering customers’ ability to access their accounts and large amounts of money and forcing the bank to spend the next week correcting the problem and then catching up on posting transactions.
The resulting problems, including delayed posting of direct-deposit paychecks and even entire payrolls for some commercial clients, created anger among some affected consumers.
In its most recent statement at www.us.hsbc.com , the bank said it will make “full interest adjustments” to “compensate for any delayed credits to interest-bearing checking and savings accounts.” It cautioned, however, that customers who normally get their checking account statements between Aug. 15 and Aug. 22 will likely experience a delay in receiving them. However, all statement processing is now current, the bank said, so full details of transactions are available online.
The bank also said it will fully refund any “non-sufficient funds” or “unavailable funds” fees charged for transactions posted Aug. 18-22, and will fully refund late fees or over-the-limit fees for individual, business or corporate credit cards whose payments were delayed on Aug. 18 and 19.
Finally, if customers were charged fees by other banks “as a direct result of HSBC’s not processing payments,” the bank is directing customers to provide detailed documentation by fax to one of its departments. The fax number is 841-7070.
