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HSBC: Business Banking reviews

Name: Business Banking
Rating: 2.32 (217 reviews)

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2.15

Based on 217 reviews, last reviewed 5th Nov 2025

100% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

50% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

18%

12%

57%

Latest highest rating:

5

VANESSA - LINCOLN HSBC We have had a number of recent meetings with Vanessa from the Lincoln Branch. The service we received was exemplary on all occasions. Vanessa has gu... Read more Reviewed on: 21st October 2025

Latest lowest rating:

1

The worst bank in the UK by far I am a medium size business owner has has the unfortunate experience of banking with HSBC. They absolutely do not care about SME customers. Huge waiti... Read more Reviewed on: 5th November 2025

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About this product

HSBC business banking reviews at Smart Money People are helping other business people to fund out what being a business banking customer at HSBC is really like. With business banking and aspects such as access to finance being so important to many business owners, Smart Money People is becoming the UK's leading source of HSBC business banking reviews. Remember that you can write yours too, and join our mission to increase trust and transparency in financial services.

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HSBC Business Banking reviews (217)

The worst in buisness banking.

Waisted over an hour of my time at the branch for a simple business name change. Then again two weeks gone the change still has not been implemented by hsbc nor have they bothered to get back to as to why this has not been done. Wasting time again an hour on the phone to morons who do not know what on Earth they’re doing. Changing banking. I do not recommend anyone to go with hsbc or stay with them. Reviewed on: 5th December 2022

Terrible business banking

Had to order a new security device and get code to activate device. Call up and was told they will text it over within 1 hr. Never happened. Trying to reset security details filled in form and uploaded to them which was supposed to be processed in 2 hrs and email will be sent to inform us. That did not happen either. So filled in form a second time still no response. Went in branch to make a call and was told the signatures are not corrected. Then was told the forms was signed wrong. So had to update signatures and will have to wait 2 days for that to be be updated in their system. So have ti sign the form for the reset after they updated the signatures. So if they say the signatures are wrong again then what? There’s no other way. Just stay away from this bank it’s a waste of time, stressful, can’t understand them in the phone. Branch staff can’t do much. They there to verify your ID for you to the person on the line that’s it. Stay away! Reviewed on: 28th November 2022

Terrible phone customer service

I've had suspected fraud on my online account. I've spoken to 4 different agents tonight and they've all ended up trying to transfer me to someone else and I end up getting cut off. I've wasted over an hour now going thought this mindless circle of events. I'm now giving up and hope to sort this out in branch tomorrow morning. Just going that of the account has been hacked that nothing happens over night!! Joke customer service. I've been with them since 2016 and will be closing the account now. The call handling staff are beyond Terrible Reviewed on: 31st October 2022

Long hold times, unnecessary forms, terrible app

EVERYTHING you have to do with HSBC is a long, drawn-out process. Phone lines are often on hold for at least an hour and then the forms you have to do if something goes wrong are ridiculous. I would leave them in a heartbeat if I could (complex reasons why I can't). Reviewed on: 3rd October 2022

WARNING- HSBC RIPS OFF OWN CUSTOMERS

HSBC is truly the worst inefficient and crooked bank. HSBC should be sued. They will charge fees for everything and freeze your account if you do not use it within 9 months. The way to unfreeze your account is to make fund transfer transaction that will cost money. HSBC does everything to try to steal money from the customer. The online chat representatives cannot resolve anything and will drag the chat on for unnecessary time. Normally takes 1-2 hours on chat to get someone to try to help but in the end they do not help and they will tell you to call or visit the bank. Reviewed on: 23rd September 2022

Buggy software, rubbish response times, long phone wait times, few branches

We have 2 biz accounts with hsbc for separate companies. For one account we tried 4 times to setup a secondary user but even after many phone calls we still cannot manage it On second account, we made a foreign transfer that was blocked . Hsbc told us to contact our account manager.On calling the account manager for over a week, still no response. We have endured long phone wait times typically 1-2.5 hours. Horrible experience , that's why I'm looking on reviews for next bank Reviewed on: 3rd September 2022

Poor customer service and very slow

Systems work particularly badly for businesses operating over multiple sites - correspondence is all by post so if you need multiple signatories it's a huge headache to organise. Telephone banking seems impossible to set up - I've been trying since 2017 (!) and they keep rejecting my application and not telling me. They just blocked me saying I gave the wrong answers to security questions, despite the fact I'd given exactly the same (and correct) answers 10 minutes previously and getting through. They are still sending correspondence to the address of previous primary user, despite the fact that he is no longer a signatory at all, and they require another form to change the address. Avoid if at all possible - I've reached end of my tether and now planning to change. Reviewed on: 18th August 2022

Poor communication and slow application processing times

We tried to switch our business' bank account from Starling to HSBC. I was however, disappointed to receive a letter through yesterday stating that my application had been declined without any explanation nor justified reason. What is more disappointing is the time taken to go through this whole process (around 10 weeks, which is far longer than the original time estimate provided by HSBC) in which the process was time consuming: completing the application, having 2 calls, providing all the necessary documents and then not even receiving a reason for the account transfer being declined. The communication and length of time the decision took, in my opinion, was not acceptable. For context, it took less than 2 days to set-up an additional Revolut Business account with no hassle and much lower fees particularly on non-GBP accounts. HSBC Business need to improve their application processing times and importantly communication if they're to remain competitive in today's environment. Reviewed on: 12th July 2022

Avoid this company for your business

Stay clear from HSBC business banking. Their security practises are flawed. I went to report a fraudulant transaction, they couldnt tell me what the transaction was and had to pass me to another team. I had allready passed telephone security at this point. During the transfer i had an automated response asking me to put in my security code??? Which i did, unsuccessfuly. My account is now locked and the team i was passed onto, say they are unable to help with this Fraud case i raised until my account is unlocked by customer services, which wont be until monday!!!! Lets hope there are not any more transactions coming in over the weekend! HSBC are a complete joke. Stay well clear. Reviewed on: 9th July 2022

Choose very wisely

There are banks which will support your growth when it happens and who will respond to your business needs as and when they arrive. HSBC is not one of those banks. I wouldn't consider them for lending purposes (Funding Circle is the place to go for that) but they merit the seemingly poor reputation reflected on this site in every single way. I hope the indifferent and hostile customer service is intentional because if it's not, it's alarmingly amateur for a brand name bank. If you're in a position where you can switch or where you're considering whether to open with them, pay close attention to these poor reviews. They're not wrong. A lot of these reviews may be coming from people who have been refused loans and are aggrieved. Not this one. I'm trading at £5m this year (up from £2m in 2019 ) and I'm very well funded to the extent that it's been more than seven years since I last used any part of my overdraft facility but HSBC have sophisticated ways of making the banking process cumbersom and responses to queries churlish. If it wasn't for the fact that we're all real people, it would make an excellent sitcom. Reviewed on: 6th July 2022

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