HSBC Direct $25 Opening Bonus - 4.00% APY
Looks like HSBC is offering another limited-time bonus for opening one of their 4.00% APY Online Savings Accounts. This time it is for $25, you must use this HSBC Direct $25 Bonus Link and the promo code ‘start‘. I managed to miss the last promotion, and am definitely going to open one this time, if only to compare with all the other online banks. Is it me or is the ‘Direct’ part of the name new?
Similar to other no-fee bank accounts, you must open with $1. One neat feature of this account is that you can link up unlimited other accounts without having to send in a voided check.
Here is the fine print:
**Limit one $25 bonus per customer. HSBCdirect Online Savings Account must remain open until bonus is credited or bonus will be forfeited. The $25 bonus will be deposited to the HSBCdirect Online Savings Account within 45 days following account opening. Offer expires 11:59:59 PM ET 2/28/06, is subject to change and cannot be combined with any other promotional offers. $25 bonus is considered taxable income and will be reported on IRS Form 1099.
It also mentions that “Fees may reduce earnings on the account.” Although there are no monthly fees and no minimum balance for this account, I did find there is a $25 fee for closing the account within six months of opening. Maybe someone with an account can point out an other little fees.
Credit goes to Boston Gal’s Open Wallet who reported receiving this in an e-mail. Also thanks to Neo for pointing this out to me.
Find more in Deals & Offers | 11/29/05, 9:15pm | Trackback
November 29th, 2005 at 11:37 pm
Just my bad luck! I just applied last week and HSBC approved my application on Nov 28. Oh well, guess I won’t get the $25.
November 30th, 2005 at 6:28 am
I signed up for the $25 account bonus a couple months ago. So far no complaints or other fees to note other than it took a while to get the account info in the mail so I could log in and check my balance. I also got a free ATM card too which I think gives the HSBC account a slight leg up on Emigrant.
November 30th, 2005 at 8:17 am
I also got that information and am planning to open an account soon. Do you know whether it’s a hard or soft inquiry.
November 30th, 2005 at 8:26 am
Reportedly it is a soft credit inquiry.
November 30th, 2005 at 9:20 am
Thanks for the link. I just opened my account with HSBC. I didn’t have to wait for their deposits to verify my bank account. Instead, I just entered in my log on information for my checking account, which is pretty neat.
November 30th, 2005 at 9:32 am
I opened my HSBC online savings account on 11/8 and verified the two small deposits on 11/10. Then I slowly received (in separate snail mailing) my acct#, password (both of these can be changed online once you gain access), ATM card and its PIN (that you cannot change and apparently you can only ask for a new assigned PIN sent by snail mail) finally around 11/21. So you should expect about two weeks from the time you open the account to the time you actually have online access to it, i.e., like EmigrantDirect, make the initial deposit small!
I wonder if this $25 bonus is available to existing HSBC customer!? It doesn’t say it’s not, rite?
November 30th, 2005 at 10:13 am
I have this account and it is true that you can transfer money to and from what looks like an unlimited number of accounts, each transfer must be to or from HSBC and you lose 2 or 3 days interest on your money during the transfer if I recall correctly. The transfers use the CashEdge service that looks almost exactly like the old Yahoo! Funds Transfer.
November 30th, 2005 at 10:47 am
Coolness. Since they raised their rate to 4.0%, I’ve been waiting for another account opening bonus.
Emigrant Direct just kinda scares me a bit; slow customer service and a really junky website.
November 30th, 2005 at 10:53 am
If anyone has the original e-mail mentioning this, could you please forward it to me to save? I’ll also host it on this site (minus your e-mail and stuff)
Thanks! - jonathanATmymoneyblogDAWTcom
November 30th, 2005 at 11:11 am
HSBC calculates interest based on average daily balance, rather than give you a full 4% for the days you have money in, and 0% for the days you don’t. Does anyone know if this method results in any difference in interest paid?
November 30th, 2005 at 12:15 pm
I believe APY (annual percentage yield) is kind of like APR (annual percentage rate) commonly used in mortgages, which factors in whatever points and fees you pay during escrow and it’s going to be a little higher than the “stated” mortgage interest rate. In the case of APY, it should already factor in the compounding effect as well. So, as long as we are comparing APY to APY, we should be just fine.
Check out this Bankrate.com CD calculator and see for yourself (java required)!
November 30th, 2005 at 12:18 pm
I had signed up with HSBC online savings and also free checking the last time they has the offer running. I did receive 2 credits … 25$ for the savings account and 50$ for the checking account, and they were really quick about crediting these amounts in my account as well … the only slowness in the whole deal is that they communicate all the account info to you through snail mail and everything comes in a different mail. Apart from that, I have been using HSBC for a while without any problem!
November 30th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
So, are we saying that I can open this with $1, keep it for 6 months, get my $25, and then close it?
November 30th, 2005 at 3:26 pm
I use this account for all my transactions. As it has a routing number you can use it to pay your credit card from your credit card providers web site. Also I linked it to my TreasuryDirect account so those transactions earn money as long as possible.
November 30th, 2005 at 3:30 pm
Rick, you can just leave your dollar in there in case HSBC raises rates again. But in short, the answer to your question is yes.
November 30th, 2005 at 4:08 pm
“HSBC calculates interest based on average daily balance(ADB), rather than give you a full 4% for the days you have money in, and 0% for the days you don’t. Does anyone know if this method results in any difference in interest paid?”
ADB should be lower compared to those that compound daily as you’re getting interest on interest by compounding daily. They extra amount compounded day by day is probably pretty small.
November 30th, 2005 at 4:10 pm
hmmm still thinking if I should open for the $25…..
November 30th, 2005 at 4:47 pm
“ADB should be lower compared to those that compound daily as you’re getting interest on interest by compounding daily. They extra amount compounded day by day is probably pretty small.”
Am I right then that there should be no difference if the interest compounds monthly (which I think both Emigrant Direct and ING do)? Thanks for the input…
December 2nd, 2005 at 5:25 pm
ING has a great referral service, where you get 10 for each you referr, does HSBC have any referral service?
Thx
December 2nd, 2005 at 10:50 pm
I don’t believe HSBC has such a referral program. On the other hand, I just emailed HSBC and was told that existing customer does qualify for this $25 bonus so long as you never received any bonus for opening the SAME kind of account previously. Hooray, I’m going to open my second HSBC Online Savings Account then!! Or should I wait until they have a bigger bonus next time!?
December 3rd, 2005 at 9:43 am
I don’t think HSBC will offer referal bonuses since they have $145mil in assets compared to 30mil(?) ING. Bonuses are given when the company is small and needs to lure in more ppl.
Highest bonus ever offered by HSBC for opening online account is $35 september promotion. People reported problems on FW getting the promotion (HSBC asked them to fax in promotional flyer).
There was $50 sign up bonus, but thats if you sign up for their checking account.
Remember that bank bonuses unlike other types are taxable (they report it to IRS). There is $25 cancellation fee if you close the savings account within 6 months.
As always, read all fine print.
December 5th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
The start promo is only for their savings, how do you sign up for their checking account.
December 15th, 2005 at 10:12 am
rates bumped to 4.25%
December 15th, 2005 at 12:13 pm
Is there a charge for transfering to and from other company’s checking account??
June 8th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
This looks like a dead thread, but I just signed up for HSBC and wanted to post that they now have a 5.05% APY for anyone else who comes across this page like I did.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:42 am
The $25 bonus is taxable income that gets reported to IRS. So you’re not really getting “free” money?
August 20th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
DO NOT OPEN ANY ACCOUNTS WITH HSBC!! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE customer service. I opened the account and the $25 was NEVER deposited to my account!! Stay away! Open with ING Direct instead!