HSBC
Personal Banking
Booklet
17 July 2024
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Contents
. WHO’S YOUR AGREEMENT BETWEEN?
. WHICH PRODUCTS AND SERVICES DOES THIS BOOKLET APPLY TO?
. WHERE WILL YOU FIND IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT
YOUR AGREEMENT WITH US?
PART A: USING YOUR PERSONAL BANKING PRODUCTS
Acceptable Use Policy 13
Security
. HOW DO WE MAKE SURE WE’RE DEALING WITH YOU?
. KEEPING UP SECURITY
. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU SUSPECT AN INCORRECT PAYMENT,
UNAUTHORISED PAYMENT OR MISTAKEN INTERNET PAYMENT
FROM YOUR ACCOUNT?
. WHAT YOU MUST REPORT TO US
. WHEN WE AREN’T RESPONSIBLE FOR THINGS THAT GO WRONG
Payments
. MAKING PAYMENTS ON BUSINESS DAYS
. ADJUSTING PAYMENTS TO YOUR ACCOUNT
. PAYMENTS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT (OTHER THAN BY CHEQUE)
. DIRECT DEBITS
. PAYMENTS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT BY CHEQUE
. PAYMENTS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT BY MISTAKE OR FRAUD
. WHEN WE CAN REFUSE TO ACCEPT PAYMENTS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT
. BLOCKING PAYMENTS, PAYMENT DEVICES, SERVICES AND ACCOUNTS
AND TEMPORARY TRANSACTION LIMITS
. HOW WE DECIDE WHETHER TO MAKE A PAYMENT FROM YOUR ACCOUNT
. PAYMENTS FROM YOUR ACCOUNT
. CANCELLING OR CHANGING PAYMENTS (OTHER THAN CHEQUES)
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
. REFUNDS AND RETURNED PAYMENTS
Foreign Currencies
. FOREIGN CURRENCIES
Overdrafts, Charges and Interest
. OVERDRAFTS
. FEES AND CHARGES
. INTEREST
. STATEMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION WE’LL GIVE YOU
Third Parties
. CAN SOMEONE ELSE OPERATE YOUR ACCOUNT FOR YOU?
. JOINT ACCOUNTS
. TRUST ACCOUNTS
. USING A THIRD-PARTY PROVIDER
PART B: BANKING SERVICES FEES AND CHARGES
. IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT OUR FEES AND CHARGES
. CHARGES WE CAN’T CONTROL FOR PAYMENTS AND ATMS
. COLLECTING FEES AND CHARGES
. INTEREST RATES
. RECEIVING MONEY
. SENDING MONEY
. FOREIGN CURRENCY NOTES
. CHEQUES
. INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTION FEES OR CHARGES FOR HOME SMART,
HOME EQUITY, OFFSET SAVINGS AND HOME LOAN TRANSACTION
(NON OFFSET) ACCOUNTS
. PERSONAL CREDIT LINE
. BANK GUARANTEE
. OTHER SERVICES
PART C: OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS
. COMBINING ACCOUNTS AND SETTING-OFF
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
. PRIVACY AND CREDIT INFORMATION
. HOW DO WE COMMUNICATE?
. INFORMATION WE NEED FROM YOU AND WHEN WE CAN DISCLOSE
INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
Changes to Your Agreement
. CHANGES WE CAN MAKE AFTER GIVING NOTICE
. HOW WE CAN TRANSFER ACCOUNTS
. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU STOP USING YOUR ACCOUNT?
Closing your account
. HOW CAN YOU CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT OR END THIS AGREEMENT?
. HOW CAN WE CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT OR END THIS AGREEMENT?
. HELP WE CAN OFFER IF YOU WANT TO SWITCH TO ANOTHER
BANK ACCOUNT
Other useful information
. TRANSFERRING YOUR AGREEMENT AND THE SECURITY
. TAX
. RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH FOREIGN CURRENCY ACCOUNTS
. OUR RIGHTS
. RECOVERING COSTS AND EXPENSES FROM YOU
. COMMISSIONS
. TRANSACTION QUERIES
. COMPLAINTS, DISPUTED TRANSACTIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS
. RESULTS OF OUR INVESTIGATIONS
. WHAT COUNTRY’S COURTS AND LAWS APPLY TO THIS AGREEMENT
AND OUR DEALINGS
PART D: NATIONAL CREDIT CODE INFORMATION STATEMENT
Form 5—Information statement
. HOW CAN I GET DETAILS OF MY PROPOSED CREDIT CONTRACT?
. HOW CAN I GET A COPY OF THE FINAL CONTRACT?
. CAN I TERMINATE THE CONTRACT?
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
. CAN I PAY MY CREDIT CONTRACT OUT EARLY?
. HOW CAN I FIND OUT THE PAY OUT FIGURE?
. WILL I PAY LESS INTEREST IF I PAY OUT MY CONTRACT EARLY?
. CAN MY CONTRACT BE CHANGED BY MY CREDIT PROVIDER?
. WILL I BE TOLD IN ADVANCE IF MY CREDIT PROVIDER IS GOING TO
MAKE A CHANGE IN THE CONTRACT?
. IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO IF I THINK THAT MY CONTRACT IS UNJUST?
. DO I HAVE TO TAKE OUT INSURANCE?
. WILL I GET DETAILS OF MY INSURANCE COVER?
. IF THE INSURER DOES NOT ACCEPT MY PROPOSAL, WILL I BE TOLD?
. IN THAT CASE, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PREMIUMS?
. WHAT HAPPENS IF MY CREDIT CONTRACT ENDS BEFORE ANY
INSURANCE CONTRACT OVER MORTGAGED PROPERTY?
. IF MY CONTRACT SAYS I HAVE TO GIVE A MORTGAGE,
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
. SHOULD I GET A COPY OF MY MORTGAGE?
. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DO WITH THE
PROPERTY I HAVE MORTGAGED?
. WHAT CAN I DO IF I FIND THAT I CANNOT AFFORD MY
REPAYMENTS AND THERE IS A MORTGAGE OVER PROPERTY?
. CAN MY CREDIT PROVIDER TAKE OR SELL THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY?
. IF MY CREDIT PROVIDER WRITES ASKING ME WHERE THE MORTGAGED
GOODS ARE, DO I HAVE TO SAY WHERE THEY ARE?
. WHEN CAN MY CREDIT PROVIDER OR ITS AGENT COME INTO A
RESIDENCE TO TAKE POSSESSION OF MORTGAGED GOODS?
. WHAT DO I DO IF I CANNOT MAKE A REPAYMENT?
. WHAT IF MY CREDIT PROVIDER AND I CANNOT AGREE ON
A SUITABLE ARRANGEMENT?
. CAN MY CREDIT PROVIDER TAKE ACTION AGAINST ME?
. DO I HAVE ANY OTHER RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS?
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
This Personal Banking Booklet
This Personal Banking Booklet contains important information about the products
listed in clause 2 (‘Which products and services does this booklet apply to?’) and
must be read with the other documents that apply to those products. Those other
documents are detailed in clause 3 (‘Where will you find important information
about your agreement with us?’) of this booklet.
Certain terms in this booklet form part of the product terms of each of the
products in clause 2 (‘Which products and services does this booklet apply to?’)
of this booklet. When you enter into an agreement for one of those products, you
agree to the terms in this booklet that are identified as applying to those products
(whether in the product terms or in this booklet).
Please contact us on one of the phone or text telephone (TTY) numbers as
detailed in the table under clause 44 (‘How do we communicate?’) if:
• you are an indigenous customer or are in a remote area and would like
assistance with relevant products or accounts or
• you consider that you may be a vulnerable customer.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
. WHO’S YOUR AGREEMENT BETWEEN?
You We/Us/Our
Depending on your product (see your
product terms), “you” means the
person or persons we’ve:
• opened one or more accounts for or
• named as the borrower in your letter
of oer or schedule.
If permitted under your product
terms, this can also include a personal
representative, or anyone else who
takes over your legal rights or duties.
HSBC Bank Australia Limited
ABN 48 006 434 162
GPO Box 5302 Sydney NSW 2001
AFSL/Australian Credit Licence
232595)
T: 1300 308 008 www.hsbc.com.au
These also apply to anyone who we’ve
told you has taken over from us under
your agreement.
. WHICH PRODUCTS AND SERVICES DOES THIS BOOKLET
APPLY TO?
PRODUCTS
Transaction and Savings Accounts
Transaction Accounts
3 Everyday Global Account
3 Day to Day Account
3 HSBC Premier Children’s Savings
Account
Savings and Term Deposit Accounts
3 HSBC Bonus Savings Account
3 HSBC Everyday Savings Account
3 Term Deposit Account
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Home Loans
3 Standard Variable Loan
3 Home Smart® Loan
3 Home Equity Loan
3 Construction Loan
3 Home Value Loan
3 Fixed Rate Loan
3 Bridging Loan
Home Loan Transaction and Savings Accounts
3 Oset Savings Account 3 Home Loan Transaction
(Non Oset) Account
Credit Cards Personal Loans
3 HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card
3 HSBC Premier Credit Card
3 HSBC Premier Qantas Credit Card
3 HSBC Platinum Credit Card
3 HSBC Platinum Qantas Credit Card
3 HSBC Low Rate Credit Card
3 Personal Loan
Services
3 Online banking
3 Phone banking
3 Mobile banking
3 Digital wallets
This booklet also applies to any card we issue if your product terms state
that a card is issued.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
PRODUCTS WE NO LONGER OFFER
Transaction Account
3 HSBC Premier Cash Management Account
Overdrafts
3 Arranged Overdraft
Home Loans
3 Market Linked Loan
3 Home Rewards Loan
Credit Cards
3 Classic Credit Card
Bank Guarantee
3 Secured by Property
3 Secured by Cash
Credit Lines
3 Personal Credit Line
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10
. WHERE WILL YOU FIND IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT
YOUR AGREEMENT WITH US?
The following table is a quick reference that sets out the type of information you
might be looking for, and where you might find that information. For a list of all
documents that form your agreement with us, see your product terms.
Terms Where you’ll find them
General terms that apply to our
products and services where specified
(e.g. transaction and savings, home
loans, credit cards, overdrafts and
personal loans).
Where specified in this booklet
Statutory Important Information notice
that applies to credit cards, home loans
and personal loans that are regulated
under the National Credit Code
Part D of this booklet
Specific terms for transaction accounts
and savings accounts
The Transaction and Savings Accounts
Terms
Specific terms for home loans The Home Loan Terms
Your letter of oer
Specific transaction terms for Oset
Savings Account, Home Loan
Transaction (Non Oset) Account,
Home Smart®, Home Equity, Home
Value and Standard Variable Rate loan
accounts
The Home Loan Terms
Your letter of oer
Specific terms for credit cards The Credit Card Terms
The credit card schedule
Your credit card oer document
Specific terms for personal loans The Personal Loan Terms
Your letter of oer
Specific terms for arranged overdrafts
(we no longer oer this product)
Your letter of oer (if applicable)
Specific terms for online and mobile
banking
The Online Banking Terms
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Terms Where you’ll find them
Interest rates
• For Transaction and Savings Accounts
For your current interest rate, please
check our website at hsbc.com.au
and click on the relevant product or
contact us at 1300 308 008.
For the terms on how interest is
paid, see clause 24 (‘Interest’) of
this booklet and the Transaction and
Savings Accounts terms.
• For home loans, credit cards,
personal loans and overdrafts
Please refer to the rate notices from
us, your letter of oer or credit card
schedule (as applicable). Our current
interest rates are also on our website
at hsbc.com.au and clicking on the
relevant product page.
Our current exchange rates
To find out our current indicative
exchange rate, please contact us in
branch or by phone at 1300 308 008
or check our website at hsbc.com.au
Digital wallets The HSBC with Apple Pay or HSBC
with Google Pay Terms and Conditions
(as applicable).
Laws and regulations
When we talk about “laws and regulations”, this includes all laws,
rules, regulations and codes of practice applicable to us and any
recommendations, requirements or decisions laid down by any court,
regulator, government authority or agency or other similar body that apply
to us.
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ePayments Code
The ePayments Code is a voluntary code that regulates electronic payments,
including ATM, EFTPOS and credit card transactions, online payments, online and
mobile banking, and BPAY®.
We warrant that we will comply with the ePayments Code.
Banking Code of Practice
The Banking Code of Practice (BCOP) sets out the standards of practice and
service in the Australian banking industry for individual customers, small business
customers and their guarantors. See BCOP for customer definitions. If BCOP
applies to you, the relevant provisions of that code apply when you use one of our
products or services.
You can obtain a copy of BCOP from our website, by calling us, or by asking in
our branch.
If you require further information on anything in our documents, you can request
it from us anytime.
Product Terms
When we say ‘product terms’ we mean the agreement between you and
us that specifically applies to the product or service you’ve taken out. Your
product terms state what documents and terms make up the agreement
between you and us.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
PART A: USING YOUR PERSONAL BANKING PRODUCTS
Part A of this booklet describes how you use your personal banking products,
security requirements and key features and services. If we make electronic banking
available, for example, through online banking, mobile banking, phone banking,
direct debits and credits, EFTPOS and credit and debit cards, you may give us
instructions electronically, and we are authorised to carry out those instructions
under the terms of the agreement between you and us.
Acceptable Use Policy
Our customers are important to us. This means that it is important that our
products, accounts and online banking services are not used in a way that harms
others or to perpetuate financial abuse.
You must not use our products, accounts or online banking services in a manner
which we determine on a reasonable basis does, or is likely to, result in financial
abuse. This can include where your conduct:
• is unlawful in a way that would reasonably cause harm to another person
• unreasonably impacts another persons’ ability to use our products, accounts
and services or
• is harassing, oensive, threatening, intimidating, abusive or caused or is likely
to cause or encourage physical or mental harm to another person or promotes
violence against any person, including customers of another bank.
Where we identify or are made aware of instances where in our reasonable opinion
a product, account or online banking service is being used in a manner that does
not comply with this Acceptable Use Policy as detailed above, we may respond
proportionately at any time, including immediately and without notice, and take any
action against you that is reasonably necessary to protect us or another person,
including:
• sending a cautionary notification requesting you to cease the conduct
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EFTPOS or payment terminal
When we use the words ‘EFTPOS’ or ‘payment terminal’ we mean device
which accepts card payments.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
• restricting your access to a product or service
• blocking your accounts
• refusing to act on your instructions, including processing a payment or
• ending our banking relationship with you as set out in clause 50 (‘How can we
close your account or end this agreement?’).
If you are concerned about your banking safety, you can call us on
1300 308 008 (+61 2 9005 8220) or refer to our website at
hsbc.com.au/help/extra-care
Security
. HOW DO WE MAKE SURE WE’RE DEALING WITH YOU?
This clause applies to all products and services.
Before we provide information about your account, allow you to make payments
(where applicable), provide new services, open or close accounts and do other
things we’re asked to, we need to check your identity and make sure that the action
you’re asking us to take is authorised by you. The law may also require us to collect
identification information and verify your identity throughout our relationship.
You’ll need to undergo our verification of identity procedure before you open an
account. Depending on the type of account you open, we may use electronic
verification of identity (EVID). Otherwise, we’ll ask to see your identity documents
or ask to see these if you don’t pass EVID.
We may need to check that your signature on a document authorising a payment
matches a signature you’ve given us or on your card (if you have one). If you’re in a
branch, we may also ask for an identity document which has your photo on it (e.g.
a driver’s licence or passport).
Otherwise, where it is reasonable to do so, we’ll assume we’re dealing with you
and that we’re authorised to take action if your security details are used with phone
banking, online banking or mobile banking (or another service we provide for
accessing your accounts) or with a payment device (if you have one). We may add
other ways of checking your identity in the future.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
What is a ‘payment device’? What are ‘security details’?
This is a card (debit or credit), digital
wallet (such as Apple Pay or Google
Pay™), Secure Key (physical or digital)
or another device that you can use
(usually with security details) to make
payments, funds transfer and cash
withdrawal (where applicable), give
us instructions or access information
about your account.
These can be passwords, PINs,
passcodes, memorable data, biometric
data (such as a fingerprint, face picture
or voice ID) or any other information
or details that you’re required to
keep secret, that may be required to
authenticate a transaction or user, and
that you’ve set up with us or we give
you for use with a payment device
or phone banking, online banking or
mobile banking.
. KEEPING UP SECURITY
This clause applies to all products and services.
We’ll do all we reasonably can to prevent unauthorised access to your account.
You must also act reasonably to prevent misuse of your account by keeping your
payment devices and security details safe. If you don’t, we may take steps to
reduce loss, as described in clause 16 (‘Blocking payments, payment devices,
services and accounts and temporary transaction limits’) and you may become
responsible for the unauthorised payments and use on your account. Please see
clause 6 (‘What should you do if you suspect an incorrect payment, unauthorised
payment or mistaken internet payment from your account?’) for who is responsible
for unauthorised transactions.
Security Tips
These are tips for preventing misuse of your accounts (this isn’t a complete list) and
are for your information:
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Your liability will be determined under the ePayments Code and not by these
tips.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Don’t
7 allow anyone (other than an authorised signatory or third-party provider) to use
any payment device or tell them your security details or
7 choose security details that can be easily guessed by anyone else such as your
date of birth or a recognisable part of your name. This would be extremely
careless and may result in you being found responsible for unauthorised access
to your account using your security details or
7 write down or store any security details (such as a password or PIN) in a way
that can be understood or retrieved by someone else or keep them with your
payment device. Never allow your device or browser to automatically store your
banking passwords or
7 log in, or stay logged in, to an internet or mobile payment device or app if you’re
not in full control of it or it’s not in your possession or
7 tamper with any of the services (for example decompile, reverse-engineer,
translate, convert, adapt, alter, modify, enhance, add to, or delete) provided
through online banking or mobile banking or
7 use any services in any unlawful manner or purpose or act fraudulently or
maliciously (e.g. inserting a malicious code, virus, or harmful data into the
operating system of our online banking or mobile banking software).
Do
3 delete or deactivate any stored biometric access to a payment device (such as
fingerprint, face or voice ID) or to any device linked to a payment device used by
anyone else and
3 delete cards from a payment device or from any digital wallets accessed from
a payment device before you transfer possession of it to someone else (for
example if you sell it, give it to someone for repair or throw it away) and
3 follow all security measures provided by your mobile device manufacturer that
apply to your use of the mobile banking app or your mobile device. Never modify
the device or its system without the manufacturer’s permission (sometimes
referred to as ‘jail-broken’ or ‘rooted’), and always install and update all security
and software updates and
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
3 keep your personal online banking account and mobile device secure by using
anti-virus and anti-spyware software and a personal firewall and
3 make sure you only access the online banking service directly from our website
or our ocial app from the app store. Don’t click on any email links and then
enter your personal details and
3 if you allow an authorised signatory or third party provider to use any payment
device or tell them your security details, make sure that they act reasonably
to prevent misuse of your payment devices and security details, including by
sharing these security tips with them and ask them to check our website for
additional tips.
Additional tips for protecting your account and for keeping your payment devices
and security details safe are on our website. Please check for any updates we
may make over time.
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18
. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU SUSPECT AN INCORRECT
PAYMENT, UNAUTHORISED PAYMENT OR MISTAKEN INTERNET
PAYMENT FROM YOUR ACCOUNT?
This clause only applies to products that allow you to make payments from your
accounts – see your product terms.
What is an incorrect payment, unauthorised payment or mistaken internet
payment?
What is …
an incorrect payment? an unauthorised
payment?
a mistaken payment?
A payment that we have
made in error because
it has not been sent to
the person or account
you specified when you
asked us to make the
payment.
A payment made from
your account which
was not authorised by
you or someone you’ve
authorised to make
payments from your
account. A payment is
not ‘unauthorised’ where
it is performed by you or
by anyone else with your
knowledge and consent.
If you give someone
your payment device
or security details and
they use them to make a
payment, we may treat
the payment as if you
would have authorized
it depending on what
happened.
This is why you mustn’t
tell anyone your security
details or allow anyone
access to your payment
device.
A payment (other than
a payment using BPay®)
from your account using
a “pay anyone” banking
facility where funds are
paid into an account of
an unintended recipient
because you entered
a BSB and/or account
number that doesn’t
belong to the intended
recipient because of
your error or you being
advised of the wrong
details. This excludes
payments you made as a
result of a scam.
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What should you do?
If you think an incorrect unauthorised or mistaken internet payment has been
made, you need to report it to us. See clause 7 (‘What you must report to us’) for
further details. If you think a mistaken internet payment has been made, see the
clause ‘What happens if you make a mistaken internet payment?’ below.
Question Answer
What will we do
when you tell us
about an incorrect,
or unauthorised or
mistaken internet
payment?
We’ll let you know when we’ve received your report of an
incorrect, or unauthorised or mistaken internet payment.
We’ll investigate (and update you on) an unauthorised
payment in accordance with our obligations under the
ePayments Code. Please see clauses 58 (‘Transaction
Queries’), 59 (‘Complaints, disputed transactions and
investigations’) and 60 (‘Results of our investigations’)
for details about how to raise a transaction query, make
a complaint (if you are not satisfied with the outcome of
our investigation) and how we deal with investigations.
Will I always get my
money back?
For incorrect payments, yes, if we determine that the
payment was made due to our error, we will reverse the
payment, make any correction to your account in a way
that ensures you are no worse o and notify you as soon
as practicable.
For unauthorised payments, no. However, you may get
your money back in instances where:
• you have informed us immediately for circumstances
outlined in clause 7 (‘What you must report to us’) or
• you have told us about the transaction within the
timeframes set out in clause 59 (‘Complaints, disputed
transactions and investigations’) (where applicable)
and:
• a chargeback right exists and was found in your
favour or
• a recall of a payment from another bank is
successful.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
What happens if an unauthorised payment has occurred?
If we determine that the payment was an unauthorised payment, we will determine
your liability in accordance with the ePayments Code. This means that your liability
will generally be as set out in the following table:
Who’s responsible for unauthorised payments?
Question Answer
Can we take back a
refund we’ve made?
Yes. We can take back refunds after giving you reasonable
notice in the following circumstances:
• if information becomes available to us at a later date
and we can prove that you acted fraudulently or
• if a chargeback right that existed is later found to be
not in your favour or
• if we gave you a refund and we subsequently
determine that you are responsible for an unauthorised
payment (e.g. you knowingly gave your card and PIN to
someone else).
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Will I always get my
money back?
See ‘What happens if an unauthorised payment has
occurred?’ below for more information.
For mistaken internet payments – see ‘What happens if
you make a mistaken internet payment?’ below.
When are you not
responsible?
Sometimes you’re not responsible. For example, where
you did not contribute to the loss a payment device or
passcode is forged, faulty, has expired or been cancelled
we’ve incorrectly debited your account twice there
has been fraud or negligence by us or a merchant or a
transaction that requires a passcode took place before
you were issued a passcode, or after you gave us notice
that the passcode was stolen or lost.
We will determine your liability in accordance with the
ePayments Code. You’re always responsible if you’ve
acted fraudulently.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Who’s responsible for unauthorised payments?
Question Answer
What if it’s clear that
you’ve contributed
to the loss through
fraud or failed to
keep your security
details safe (for
example, you’ve
been extremely
careless in relation
to securing your
passcodes)?
You’re responsible for the losses from your account
that occur before you report the loss, theft or misuse
of your payment device or that you’ve failed to protect
your security details. We will determine your liability in
accordance with the ePayments Code.
What if it’s clear
you’ve contributed
to the loss by leaving
your card in an
ATM?
You’re responsible for losses that occur because you
did this, unless the ATM didn’t have reasonable safety
standards to try and reduce this risk. We will determine
your liability in accordance with the ePayments Code.
What if it’s clear
you’ve contributed
to the loss by having
unreasonably
delayed reporting:
• your lost, misused
or stolen payment
device or
• the fact that you
failed to keep
your security
details safe?
You’re responsible for all payments made from your
account made between when you first knew or should
have reasonably known that your device was lost
or stolen, to when you made the report. You are not
responsible for payments made after you report your lost,
misused or stolen payment device or security details.
We will determine your liability in accordance with the
ePayments Code.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Who is responsible for technical problems?
Question Answer
What if there was a
fault with the system
or equipment that
you didn’t know
about?
You’re not responsible if there is a problem with the
payment that was caused by a fault with the system or
equipment of a party to a shared electronic network that
you didn’t know about. Our liability may be reduced if you
reasonably knew about the malfunction.
Limits on your loss
Could losses be
shared between us?
We will limit your liability for loss in accordance with the
ePayments Code. For example, if the unauthorised access
was your fault, but resulted in a loss that is more than
your daily limit, you may be responsible for the loss up to
your daily limit and we may be responsible for amounts
accessed over your daily limit.
What happens if you make a mistaken internet payment?
The first thing you need to do, is to tell us – see clause 7 (‘What you must report to
us’) for further details.
When you tell us that you’ve made a mistaken internet payment, we’ll acknowledge
this and will start investigating it. We’ll write to you within 30 Business Days to tell
you the outcome, and we aren’t required to do anything further if we don’t think
there’s been a mistaken internet payment.
You can report a mistaken internet payment by phoning us. Refer to clause 44
(‘How do we communicate?’) for how to contact us.
If we believe there has been a mistaken internet payment, we’ll ask (within 5
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Important Information
We’re not responsible for payments where you gave us the wrong details.
When processing payment instructions, HSBC will only rely on the BSB
number, account number and bank details you provide, the account name is
not validated. Before proceeding with a payment instruction, it is important
that you always check the payment details provided carefully, because if the
payment is paid to an incorrect recipient, it may not be possible to recover it.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Business Days of receiving your report) the receiving bank to return the money.
They must tell us within 5 Business Days that they’ve got our request and whether
the recipient who received the payment by mistake has enough money in their
account to cover the request we’ve made.
If we are satisfied that a mistaken internet payment has been made, the processes
we, and the receiving bank, will follow depends on when you reported the mistaken
internet payment, and whether the money is available, as set out in the table below.
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Circumstances If reported
under 10 days
If reported
between 10 days
and 7 months
If reported after
7 months
There’s enough
money in the
account to cover
the mistaken
internet
payment.
If the receiving
bank agrees a
mistaken internet
payment has been
made, they must
return the money
within 5 Business
Days of receiving
our request,
if possible, or
otherwise within
10 Business Days
of our request.
If they don’t
agree a mistaken
internet payment
has been made,
they may ask
the mistaken
recipient’s
permission to
return the money
as soon as
possible, but there
is no guarantee
The receiving bank
will investigate the
payment within 10
Business Days of us
contacting them.
If the bank agrees
a mistaken internet
payment has been
made, they will:
• notify the mistaken
recipient and
prevent them from
withdrawing that
money for 10 further
Business Days and
• give the mistaken
recipient 10
Business Days
(starting from the
date their account is
blocked) to object or
prove they are
entitled to the
money.
If the receiving
bank agrees a
mistaken internet
payment has been
made, it must
get the mistaken
recipient’s
consent to return
the money.
If the receiving
bank doesn’t
agree a mistaken
internet payment
has been made,
they may ask
the mistaken
recipient’s
permission to
return the money
as soon as
possible, but there
is no guarantee
they’ll transfer the
money to you as
soon as possible.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
24
Circumstances If reported
under 10 days
If reported
between 10 days
and 7 months
If reported after
7 months
that they’ll give
permission, or
the money will be
returned.
If the recipient does
not, the receiving
bank will return the
money within 2
Business Days after
the 10 Business Days
has expired.
If the receiving bank
doesn’t agree a
mistaken internet
payment has been
made, they may
ask the mistaken
recipient’s permission
to return the money
as soon as possible,
but there is no
guarantee that they’ll
give permission, or
the money will be
returned.
There’s not
enough money
in the account
When there’s not enough money in the account to cover the
mistaken internet payment, the receiving bank may decide to:
• recover the full payment
• recover a partial payment or
• not to recover any funds.
If the receiving bank decides to recover the full payment, it
must take reasonable steps to recover the funds, for example
by taking instalment payments from the mistaken recipient.
Refer to clause 9 (‘Making payments on Business Days’) of this booklet on how we
define a Business Day.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
25
If the payment was to another bank in Australia and we’re unable to recover your
money, you can ask us in writing to give you all the information we’ve been given
by the bank that received the money, so you can try to recover the money yourself.
If you’re unsatisfied with any way the investigation or process has been dealt with,
either by us or the receiving bank, you can make a complaint by following the steps
set out under Part C: Other Important Terms, of this booklet.
The amount you are responsible for will always be determined by us by complying
with the ePayments Code.
. WHAT YOU MUST REPORT TO US
This clause only applies to products that allow you to make payments – see your
product terms - or where you use online banking.
You must tell us immediately if there is an incorrect payment, an unauthorised
payment or mistaken internet payment (see clause 6 (‘What should you do if
you suspect an incorrect payment, unauthorised payment or mistaken internet
payment from your account?’).
You must also tell us immediately, if you suspect that any of the following has
occurred:
• a card or payment device is lost, stolen or misused.
• an access code or PIN becomes known to someone else or misused.
• a transaction may have been made without your authority.
• you’ve lost a bank cheque or personal cheque or where you were issued a
cheque book linked to your account, your cheque book.
• you suspect your security details are no longer safe.
• you believe you have made a mistake in instructing us to make a BPAY®
Payment.
• you’ve been a victim of identity fraud.
• if there are any delays or mistakes in processing a BPAY® payment.
• A BPAY® payment that has been made by us hasn’t been authorised.
• if you’ve been fraudulently induced to make a BPAY® payment.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
How we will respond to your report
We may cancel your access method and/or restrict your account, if this is
necessary. Where we cancel your access method, we will arrange for you to select
a new one.
We’ll acknowledge your report by giving you a reference number that verifies the
date and time we were contacted. You must keep this reference number as proof
that we were advised.
We’ll ask you to give us information or other help and this may include information
to the police to assist with any investigation.
What if you find it after you have reported it?
If you recover a card that has been reported lost or stolen, the card must not be
used again. The card should then be cut in half.
If you find a payment device or cheque after you have reported it lost, stolen or
misused, do not use it. You must return it to us or destroy it if we ask.
Our fees to send you a new or replacement payment device or passcode
We currently do not charge a fee to issue a new or replacement payment device
or passcode.
. WHEN WE AREN’T RESPONSIBLE FOR THINGS THAT GO WRONG
This clause applies to all products and services.
For when we are not responsible for incorrect payment, unauthorised payment
or mistaken internet payments, see Clause 6 (‘What should you do if you suspect
an incorrect payment, unauthorised payment or mistaken internet payment from
your account?’). For unauthorised payments, we will determine your liability in
accordance with the ePayments Code. For everything else, we won’t be responsible
for any losses you may suer if we can’t perform, or we delay in performing, our
obligations under this or any of our other agreements with you as a result of:
• any legal or regulatory requirements. This includes for example those relating
to the prevention, detection or investigation of financial crimes such as money
laundering, terrorist financing, bribery, corruption, fraud, tax evasion, economic
sanctions, or other unlawful activity or
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
• us reasonably believing that we may fail to comply with a law, regulation, code,
court order or other requirement imposed on us if we act or choose not to act
or
• abnormal or unforeseeable circumstances including but not limited to systems,
network or equipment interruptions or failures, which are outside our (or our
agents’ and/or subcontractors’) control and which we could not have avoided
despite all eorts to the contrary or
• a merchant or ATM retaining or not accepting your payment device or
instructions (or the way in which it is conveyed to you).
Payments
Here we explain when and how payments can be made. This section only applies
to products that allow you to make payments – see your product terms – or where
you use online banking.
How we manage payments can depend on a variety of factors such as whether the
payment is made within Australia, or whether it is in Australian dollars. There may
also be additional rules applicable to your type of account or method of payment
which can be found in Part C: Other Important Terms of this booklet or the specific
product booklet.
. MAKING PAYMENTS ON BUSINESS DAYS
This clause applies to all products and services that allow you to make or receive
payments.
We will usually process payments on Business Days. Some branches are open on
a Saturday and can accept payments, but these will be reflected in your account
on the next Business Day. Payments between HSBC Australia accounts you make
using online banking quoting your BSB and account number are processed 24/7.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
. ADJUSTING PAYMENTS TO YOUR ACCOUNT
We may adjust payments to or from your account and the account balance for
example where we discover an error, a cheque is dishonoured, or a payment is
reversed. This may result in changes to your account e.g. to the interest payable.
We may notify you afterwards.
. PAYMENTS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT (OTHER THAN BY CHEQUE)
This clause does not apply to payments in or out of credit card or personal loan
products.
Payments can be paid into your account in dierent ways and will be available to
you at dierent times.
Payment using: When you can use the money:
Cash
At our self-service ATMs that
accept deposits
Immediately
Over the counter at our
branches (AUD, USD and
HKD only)
Immediately (except on weekends where money
will be credited the next Business Day)
28
Business Day
Business Days are usually Monday to Friday excluding:
• National public holidays in Australia and
• public holidays of the US and the currency country or region if you are
making an International Transfer via branch or
• public holidays of the currency country or region if you are making an
International Transfer via online banking or
• public holidays of the UK and the currency country or region if you are
making an International Transfer via mobile banking.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
29
Payment using: When you can use the money:
At other banks if they allow
you to do so
Immediately after we receive your money from
the other bank
Electronic payments
All payments in Australian
dollars (not including Fast
Payments)
By the end of the Business Day the payment is
received
Fast Payments in Australian
dollars
Payments may be received within a few seconds
of the sender making it, 24/7. This will depend
on the other bank, and whether the payments
platform that allows this is running at the time.
All payments not in Australian
dollars
For Everyday Global Account and Foreign
Currency Bonus Savings Account
Within 48 hours of us receiving your money from
the other bank.
Transactions can be settled in the same foreign
currency.
For foreign currency payments, money will
be converted into Australian dollars using the
prevailing HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate that
applies to the relevant currency pair at the time of
processing, if any of the following applies:
• You don’t have a foreign currency account or
• The currency is not supported by Everyday
Global Account or the Foreign Currency Bonus
Savings Account or
• You have nominated an Australian dollar (AUD)
account to receive the payment.
For information on HSBC Real Time Exchange
Rates, see clause 21 (‘Foreign Currencies’), and
for information on applicable fees, see clause 34
(‘Receiving Money’).
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
If you receive a payment in a dierent currency, we will convert it using the
prevailing HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate that applies to the relevant currency pair
at the time we process the payment. If the payment is to repay money you owe
us under an overdraft, there is a risk that the currency conversion may result in a
shortfall. We are not responsible for any exchange rate losses.
. DIRECT DEBITS
This clause only applies to products that allow you to make payments by direct
debit (or regular payments for credit products) – see your product terms.
Making payments by direct debit
You can set up a direct debit to make regular payments and fee payments
required under a loan with us. You should check with your financial institution if
direct debit is available from your nominated account before submitting a direct
debit request.
We will arrange for the money to be debited from a nominated account into
your HSBC account as authorised in your direct debit request. You must ensure
you provide us with correct debit account details. You must also ensure you
have sucient money in your account on the direct debit date for it to be made.
If you don’t, the direct debit will be rejected, you may incur fees (to cover our
reasonable costs incurred, and your bank may also charge you) and you must
arrange for your account to have sucient money within the next 7 days or
make the payment using another method. This may also impact your agreement
relating to the payment. We will provide you with 14 days’ written notice if we
make changes to our direct debit arrangements with you.
You may also authorise other merchants to direct debit your HSBC account to
collect payment. You can also ask us to give you a list of the direct debits and
recurring payments that you’ve made for up to 13 months.
Direct debit errors
You should contact us as soon as possible if you believe there is an error in
debiting your account. We will investigate this. If we find there was an error,
we will contact your other bank and ask them to adjust your account (including
any interest and charges) and let you know the outcome. If the error is due to
incorrect details you provided us, and we have debited an account that doesn’t
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
belong to you, we may charge you a fee to cover our reasonable costs incurred in
fixing this and will return the money to the relevant account.
Cancelling a direct debit
See clause 19 (‘Cancelling or changing payments (other than cheques)’) of this
booklet for how to cancel a direct debit.
Your responsibility to update your direct debit
If you give someone else a direct debit authorisation, and you change your card
or account details, it is your responsibility to update your direct debit request. If
you do not, your payments may fail, and you may incur late payment fees.
. PAYMENTS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT BY CHEQUE
This clause only applies to products that allow you to pay cheques into your
account – see your product terms.
Depositing an Australian dollar cheque into your account
If deposited at our
branches:
Number of Business Days:
You’ll start earning interest On the day the cheque has been deposited
You‘ll be able to use the
money
Usually after 3 Business Days
We may not pay a cheque if there are reasonable grounds which are:
• if you have insucient funds in your account
• it’s a forgery
• it’s been materially altered
• it’s been reported lost or stolen
• a court order preventing the drawer’s account being used
• it’s been stopped by the drawer
• the date on the cheque is a future date
• it was dated more than 15 months earlier
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
• it has been crossed ‘Not Negotiable Account Payee Only’ in favour of a person
other than you
• it is reasonably necessary to protect our legitimate interests.
If a cheque paid into your account is returned unpaid, we’ll tell you and take the
payment from your account. We may ask for payment again from the paying bank.
Paying foreign currency and foreign bank cheques into your account
We cannot always process a foreign cheque (including a cheque in AUD where
the paying bank is not in Australia). This may occur, for example, if exchange
controls apply. You’ll be responsible for the cost to us of processing or trying to
process a foreign cheque. We’ll take our charges, and any charges made by the
foreign bank or an agent we use to collect the payment, from the account you
told us to pay the cheque into.
To pay a foreign cheque into your account that has a dierent currency, we either
need to negotiate it or collect it. Whether we negotiate the foreign cheque or
collect it will depend upon our assessment of the risk involved in us negotiating
the cheque. Fees will apply. Our fees and charges are contained in Part B of this
booklet. The paying bank may also charge their fees and charges.
Negotiating a foreign cheque Collecting a foreign cheque
This means we’ll assume
that the cheque will clear.
We’ll convert the cheque into
Australian dollars using the
HSBC exchange rate at the time
of receiving the cheque and pay
that amount into your account
on within 3 – 4 Business Days
after we receive the cheque.
This means we’ll send the cheque to the
paying bank and only apply the payment to
your account when we receive the payment
from the paying bank. Before we apply it,
we’ll convert the amount into Australian
dollars using our HSBC exchange rate after
the paying bank pays us.
The time this takes will vary depending on
the paying bank or its country, and could take
between 6 – 8 weeks before the money is
deposited into your account. You can ask us
for details. We may use an agent to collect
payment.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
In both cases, if the foreign bank returns the cheque or asks for the money to
be returned, we’ll take enough money from your account to cover the payment
in the foreign currency. This is unlikely to be the same as the amount we paid
into your account if exchange rates have changed. We’ll do this even if you have
already spent the money and this may cause your account to become overdrawn
if you have insucient funds in your account. Fees and interest payable may
apply if your account becomes overdrawn – our fees and charges are set out in
Part B of this booklet.
Other cheque information
Where you were issued a cheque book linked to your account, we will only pay
the person named on the cheque if you cross the cheque with two parallel lines
with the words ‘not negotiable’ or ‘account payee only’, or you delete the words
‘or bearer’ which is pre-printed on the cheque. This provides extra security if your
cheque is lost or stolen.
Crossing a
cheque with
parallel lines
By crossing the cheque with two parallel lines, you’re telling
us not to pay the cheque over the counter. This means that we
can only pay the amount of the cheque into an account. This is
known as ‘crossing’ and is usually drawn vertically or in a right
elevation across the cheque, or in a right elevation in the top
left corner of the cheque.
Not
Negotiable
Writing ‘Not Negotiable’ between two parallel lines that have
crossed the cheque means that if the cheque is transferred
to a person, who is not the payee named on the cheque, the
unnamed holder has no greater rights to the cheque amount
than the person named on the cheque. This feature helps
protect the true owner of the cheque if it is lost or stolen.
For example, where a cheque has been stolen, the person who
had the cheque stolen from them and is named on the cheque
may recover the amount of the cheque from the unnamed
person who received payment, even if the person who
ultimately receives the payment had no part in the theft.
Not
Negotiable
Account
Payee Only
By writing ‘Not Negotiable Account Payee Only’ between
two parallel lines that have crossed the cheque, you’re telling
us that we can only pay the cheque into the account of the
named payee.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Or bearer Our cheques are printed ‘or bearer’. This means that the
cheque is payable to the person presenting the cheque, unless
we suspect it has been stolen. By drawing a line through
the words ‘or bearer’, you’re telling us only to pay the payee
named on the cheque or to the person who has had the
cheque endorsed to them.
You will not receive a receipt from us where you deposit cheques in our branch
express boxes or when you post a cheque to us.
You can request us to stop a cheque by calling us or visiting one of our branches
and providing us the details of the cheque. We will need the cheque number,
payee name, date and amount of the cheque. A fee will apply – see clause 37
(‘Cheques’).
34
. PAYMENTS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT BY MISTAKE OR FRAUD
This clause only applies to products that allow you to make payments into your
account – see your product terms – or where you use online banking.
If we reasonably determine that a payment has been made into your account
as a result of mistake or fraud (including scams), we may take the money out of
your account and return the money to another person. Where that account has
insucient balance, we may take money from another account that you hold with
us so long as you are no worse o than had the payment not occurred. We may
also need to share information about you or your account with the sender and/or
their bank to do this.
We may not always be able to tell you before we do this. If we do not give you
prior notice we may give you general reasons for us taking action under this
clause afterwards (where it is appropriate for us to do so) but we do not have
to do so if we believe the law, or any regulation prevents us from doing so or
we believe doing so would compromise reasonable fraud prevention or security
measures, or cause harm to someone else.
If you receive a mistaken internet payment into your account, we will act in
accordance with the below table:
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
35
Mistaken Internet Payments into your account
If reported to us less
than 10 days after the
payment is received
If reported to us
between 10 days and
7 months
If reported to us after
7 months
When we are contacted
by another bank, we will
investigate.
If we agree a mistaken
internet payment has
been made, we will
return the money from
your account within 5 –
10 Business Days.
Where you do not have
enough money to cover
the mistaken internet
payment, we may decide
to:
• return the full payment
• return a partial
payment or
• not return any funds.
If we decide to return the
full payment, we may
return the amount in
instalments.
If we don’t agree it’s
a mistaken internet
payment, we will ask for
your permission to return
the mistaken amount.
We will investigate within
10 Business Days of
being notified by another
bank.
If we agree a mistaken
internet payment has
been made:
• we will let you know
and place a block on
your account for that
amount (you won’t be
able to withdraw this
amount) for 10
Business Days
• you have a right to
object or prove you are
entitled to the money
within 10 Business
Days of your account
block.
• If you do not object or
provide proof (or you
are unsuccessful in
doing so), we will return
the amount to the
sender without your
permission.
Where you do not have
enough money to cover
the mistaken internet
payment, we may decide
to:
• return the full payment
We will investigate within
10 Business Days of
being notified by another
bank.
If we agree a mistaken
internet payment has
been made, we will
return the amount to the
sender, once we have
your permission.
Where you do not have
enough money to cover
the mistaken internet
payment, we may decide
to:
• return the full payment
• return a partial
payment or
• not return any funds.
If we decide to return the
full payment, we may
return the amount in
instalments.
If we don’t agree it’s
a mistaken internet
payment, we may ask for
your permission to return
the mistaken amount.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
36
If reported to us less
than 10 days after the
payment is received
If reported to us
between 10 days and
7 months
If reported to us after
7 months
• return a partial
payment or
• not return any funds.
If we decide to return the
full payment, we may
return the amount in
instalments and we will
do so in accordance with
the ePayments Code.
If we don’t agree it’s
a mistaken internet
payment, we may ask for
your permission to return
the mistaken amount.
If you receive benefits from Services Australia or Department of
Veterans’ Aairs, we’ll always follow the
Code of Operation: Recovery
of debts from customer nominated bank accounts in receipt of Services
Australia income support payments or Department of Veterans’ Aairs
payments,
to ensure you will still have enough money to meet essential
living expenses before we return a mistaken payment amount (including
a mistaken internet payment amount).
. WHEN WE CAN REFUSE TO ACCEPT PAYMENTS INTO YOUR
ACCOUNT
This clause only applies to products that allow you to make payments into your
account – see your product terms – or where you use online banking.
We can refuse to accept a payment into your account if it’s reasonable for us to
do so in the following circumstances:
• we reasonably believe that accepting it might cause us to breach a law,
regulation, code, court order, obligation imposed on us (including by third
parties) or any related internal policy or procedure or, might expose us to action
from any government, regulator, or law enforcement agency or
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
• acting reasonably, we consider that accepting it might have a significant impact
on our reputation or is not in line with acceptable levels of risk to our business
or
• we suspect that there is fraudulent or criminal activity on the account or in
connection with the payment or
• there are reasonable administrative reasons that apply (for example, a cheque is
not written correctly – see clause 13 (‘Payments into your account by cheque’))
or
• it is reasonably necessary to do so to protect our legitimate interests.
We’ll let you know, unless we believe the law or regulation prevents us from
doing so, or for fraud prevention or security reasons.
16. BLOCKING PAYMENTS, PAYMENT DEVICES, SERVICES AND
ACCOUNTS AND TEMPORARY TRANSACTION LIMITS
We can block or suspend a transaction, your use of any payment device (and
your access to related services such as phone, online or mobile banking), keep
hold of your payment device, freeze your account or place temporary transaction
limits on your account if we reasonably believe it’s necessary because of:
• a significantly increased risk that you may be unable to pay any money you owe
us on the relevant account, or may no longer meet the minimum balance
required for your account or
• a significant increase of risk to our business which exceeds our internal policies.
We consider these risks to include those which are legal, regulatory, compliance
or reputational in nature or
• suspected fraudulent or criminal activity of any kind that is connected with
you or your account whether or not the suspected fraudulent or criminal
activity occurs using your account (such as financial crime like money
laundering, sanctions breaches, tax evasion or scams) or
• we need to comply with or, we suspect it may cause us to breach a law,
regulation, code, court order, our internal policies or procedures, other
obligations imposed on us (including by third parties) or, might expose us to
action from any government, regulator or law enforcement agency or
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
• security concerns (for example, if we know or suspect that your payment device
and/or security details have been misused) or
• behaviour by you that was illegal, oensive, threatening, intimidating, abusive
or caused harm to another person or
• in the case of digital wallets, we are told to by the digital wallet provider or if our
arrangements with them are suspended or terminated or
• reasonable regulatory or administrative reasons or
• your account is in the process of being closed or
• we make a reasonable request for information, and you don’t give it to us.
If we do this, we may let you know why reasonably soon afterwards, unless we
believe the law, or any regulation prevents us from doing so or we believe doing
so would compromise reasonable fraud prevention or security measures, or
cause harm to someone else.
Any scheduled payments during any block or after closure will not be made
and we are not responsible for any losses this may cause. We’ll unblock the
transaction, payment device or service as soon as we believe the reason for it
ends (we may ask you for more information to help us assess if this is the case)
and if it doesn’t, we may reject your payment, keep and close your payment
device and refuse to issue replacements, close access to related services and
close your account.
17. HOW WE DECIDE WHETHER TO MAKE A PAYMENT FROM
YOUR ACCOUNT
This clause only applies to products that allow you to make payments from your
account – see your product terms – or where you use online banking.
We’ll make a payment from your account if you ask us to unless:
• you don’t have enough money in your account (including any overdraft we’ve
agreed) or
• you haven’t given us the account or reference details, or we know the details
you’ve given us are incorrect or
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
• you’ve asked us to make the payment in a particular way and the recipient’s
bank doesn’t accept them or
• you’ve not provided any extra identification or information about the payment
that we’ve reasonably asked for or
• the payment exceeds a limit that we tell you when you make the payment or
• we need to block the payment – see clause 16 (‘Blocking payments, payment
devices, services and accounts and temporary transaction limits’) above.
When working out whether you have enough money in your account to make a
payment we include all payments that we know are due to be made out of the
account that day.
If you don’t have enough money at the start of the day to make a payment, and
you’ve set up a future payment or, where you were issued a cheque book linked
to your account, or a cheque payment is due, we’ll check again later that day
to see if we can make it (unless you’re trying to make the payment on a non-
Business Day).
If when we check again, we’re able to make some, but not all, of the payments
you’re trying to make that day, we’ll pay cheques first and then direct debits
and standing orders and, if there’s more than one, we’ll start with the smallest
payment. Any payments that we can’t make will be returned unpaid. There may
be fees we charge for any returned payments.
You’ll know we’ve refused to make a payment if:
• you’re making it via online banking or using mobile banking or phone banking
or
• you’re using a payment device (such as a card),
because the payment won’t be accepted. Where we refuse a payment, we’ll
make information available about why and what you need to do to correct any
errors that made us refuse it through online, mobile and phone banking. We’ll let
you know this information unless we believe the law, or any regulation prevents
us from doing so or for fraud prevention or security reasons or we think it will
cause harm to someone else.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
18. PAYMENTS FROM YOUR ACCOUNT
This clause only applies to products that allow you to make payments from your
account – see your product terms – or where you use online banking.
Cash withdrawals in branch If you’re withdrawing cash in branch:
3 Only AUD, USD or HKD can be withdrawn and you may be charged a fee.
Our fees and charges are contained in Part B of this booklet.
3 A number of our branches oer withdrawals of USD and HKD and
withdrawals in minimum multiples of 10 dollar notes in these currencies
apply. To find out please call us on 1300 308 008 or use our branch locator at
hsbc.com.au/locations
3 Please give the branch 24 hours’ notice for USD or HKD withdrawals, and we’ll
do our best to make this available, however it’s subject to currency availability
at an applicable branch.
Payments (other than by card or cheque)
To make a payment from your account you’ll need to give us details of the
account you want to make the payment to and any other details we ask for,
including payment references.
This is usually the BSB number and account number (or the equivalent
information for payments outside Australia) or (where available) a number that is
linked to these, such as a mobile number or Australian Business Number (ABN).
40
It’s your responsibility to check that the details are correct before asking us to
make a payment. We’ll make the payment using only these details, but we’ll
also ask you for the name of the person on the account.
Other banks and retailers may set their own restrictions and limits on transactions
and separate limits apply if you are making a transfer using our Global Transfers
service – see our Online Banking Terms.
We’ll process your payments in the order we receive your instructions.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
41
Type of payment Each user’s own daily limit
Between HSBC Australia accounts
you can operate
$500,000
To other accounts We’ll agree the limit with you.
Default limit: $5,000
Maximum limit: $50,000
To nominated accounts (service
available on request)
1
We’ll agree the limit with you.
Default limit: $100,000
Maximum limit: $250,000
BPAY® $25,000
1.
When we’re calculating the Australian dollar value of a foreign currency transaction to check if it’s
within the daily limit, we’ll use the HSBC Daily Exchange Rate that applies at the time you request
the transfer. For International Transfers made via mobile banking, the HSBC Real Time Exchange
Rate will always apply.
Cut-o time
This is the latest time on any given day that we can process instructions
or add payments to an account. Cut-o times may vary depending on the
currency of your payment, whether your payment is an internal transfer, to
another local bank or overseas. You can ask us for the relevant cut-o time
when you give us a payment instruction or by visiting our website.
We can’t control how a payee bank processes a payment so can’t guarantee
the exact date a payment will be received. Payments overseas take longer and
can typically take up to 10 Business Days or longer.
Note: if we don’t receive a payment request before the cut-o time on a
Business Day, we’ll treat your request as received on the next Business Day.
If you ask us to make a payment
on a future date then:
If you ask us to make regular
payments on future dates then:
We’ll make the payment on that date,
unless it’s a non-Business Day, in
which case we’ll make the payment on
the next Business Day.
We’ll make the payment on those
dates, unless any of them are a
non-Business Day, in which case the
payments will resume on the next
Business Day.
If you want to make a regular payment (such as a periodical payment) you must
set it up with us at least 3 Business Days in advance. If you’ve set this up to
be a specific number of regular payments, we don’t notify you when they’ve
finished, so you should check your statement regularly.
If you have set up a regular payment in a currency other than Australian dollars
(AUD), we’ll apply the HSBC Daily Exchange Rate that applies at the time we
process the payment.
Payments in foreign currencies
Please see clause 21 (‘Foreign currencies’) for more information on the HSBC
exchange rate we will use.
If you want to make a payment in a currency other than Australian dollars you can
ask us to convert the amount to be paid into that currency and we’ll tell you the
HSBC exchange rate that we’ll use. If you’re making this currency payment from
online banking after our currency cut-o time, we won’t tell you the HSBC exchange
rate that we will use, and your payment will be processed the next Business Day and
the HSBC Daily Exchange Rate at the time of our processing will apply. We won’t
change the rate if the payment goes ahead immediately. If the payment isn’t made
immediately, we’ll apply the HSBC exchange rate that applies at the time we process
the payment. If you make a payment to someone overseas, they’ll usually get it
within 10 Business Days, but it may take longer.
Currency cut-o times do not apply to International Transfers made via mobile
banking. For these payments, the HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate at the time we
receive the payment request will be used.
Where you make the same payment more than once within any 3 minute blocks
using our Global Transfers service, we will assume that you have made a mistake,
and will only process the first payment request.
You can also set up a periodical payment to make regular payments. If you have
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
insucient money in your account on 3 consecutive payment dates, we will cancel
the periodical payment. You may also be charged a dishonour fee. You can also
cancel a periodical payment through online banking or by visiting our branch at least
3 Business Days before the next payment date.
We have no control over when the person you’re paying processes a transaction, and
whether it’s in Australian dollars or a foreign currency. You should check this with
them. If they process payment in a foreign currency then you may have to pay more,
or less, depending upon the exchange rate at the time they process the transaction.
Payments by cheque
Where you were issued a cheque book linked to your account, you can only write
a cheque in Australian dollars – we do not issue foreign currency cheques.
To make a payment by cheque you need to write the name of the payee, the
amount of the payment (in numbers and words) and the date that you are signing
it. See clause 13 (‘Payments into your account by cheque’) which also contains
terms about making payments from your account by cheque.
Payments by Visa Debit cards (including digital wallet)
Visa Debit cards
Using your Visa
Debit card
Use your card for:
3 cash withdrawals
3 purchases
3 balance enquiries
3 deposits and withdrawals at our branches
You can also use your card by tapping it at an EFTPOS
terminal. You may have to enter your PIN if the purchase is
above a certain amount.
If you’re the only account holder, you can only have one card
linked to your account (including any overdraft facility). Joint
account holders can have up to two linked cards.
You can access up to two HSBC transactional accounts
linked with your card (or one if you have an Everyday Global
Account.) You must not use your card to purchase anything
illegal.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Visa Debit cards
Digital wallets You can add your card onto a digital wallet (such as Apple
Pay or Google Pay™) and use it pay for goods and services.
Once a card is added to a digital wallet, you and any
additional cardholder can authorise transactions on the card
account. This is done by using the digital wallet in place of
the HSBC card. Some contactless payment terminals may
require you to enter your card PIN and where the payment
terminal does not recognise authorisation by means of
biometric data or the mobile passcode.
If a card is used through a digital wallet, the same terms
of your agreement apply as if the card was used as a card
without the digital wallet.
We do not provide services related to the digital wallet,
these are done so by other providers (such as Apple and
Google). Our obligation to you in relation to a digital wallet is
limited to securely providing information to other providers
(such as Apple or Google) in order to allow you to use your
card through a digital wallet on a mobile device. You should
always read the terms and privacy policy of a digital wallet
provider, and make sure they are credible.
Visa Debit card
limits
The below daily limits apply to your card each day between
12am to immediately before 12am on the following day,
AEST / AEDT.
Daily ATM/
EFTPOS
Withdrawal
Limit
Daily Visa
Transaction
Limit
Standard daily limit $2,000 $10,000
Maximum daily limit
You can request to change your
daily limit by contacting us
$5,000 $20,000
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
If you use your Visa Debit card:
To make a purchase To make a payment
by giving the person
your card number and
expiry date
To withdraw cash
We’ll place a hold on this
money and it won’t be
available for you to use (as
this money is on hold and
will be taken from your
available balance), until
the Pending Transaction
is cleared for payment.
That person is entitled to
ask us to pay them from
your account, we have
to pay them and the left
column will apply.
We’ll take this money
if it’s available in your
account subject to limits
(discussed below).
45
Pending Transaction
Pending Transaction occurs when a payment has been authorised but is
still waiting for merchant confirmation. This amount is then deducted from
your available balance, not your account balance. The transaction will
show as pending on your account until the payment process is complete.
Pending transactions generally take up to 3 – 10 Business Days to process.
If you let a merchant use your card for pre-authorised payments (such
as a security deposit for a hotel booking or car hire), the money will be
deducted from your available balance and the merchant can hold this
money for up to 31 days.
Visa Debit cards
Merchants and other banks may set their own daily limits
and restrictions on card use including transaction limits. We
are not responsible for goods or services obtained by using
a Visa Debit card unless we have sold you those goods or
services.
Cancelling your
Visa Debit card
You can cancel your card by giving us notice and confirming
that you have destroyed your card. You can find more
information on Visa Debit cards at hsbc.com.au/debit
We may cancel your card when it is reasonably necessary to
protect you or us (for example, when we suspect fraudulent
activity). We will tell you if we cancel your card, and the
reason, unless we are prohibited from doing so.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
International
transactions, AUD
transactions or cash
withdrawals in foreign
currency
Everyday Global Accounts
International transactions and withdrawals in foreign
currency using the Visa Debit card will be made in
the relevant foreign currency.
Where a currency is not one of the listed currencies
available on the Everyday Global Account or is a
restricted currency (such as Chinese Renminbi
(CNY) and Indonesian Rupiah (IDR)), the money
will be deducted from the AUD account and will be
automatically converted into the local currency at
the Visa exchange rate or the HSBC Group exchange
rate if you withdraw cash from an eligible overseas
HSBC ATM.
If you use your Visa Debit card to make payments
in a particular foreign currency and you don’t
have enough money in your foreign currency
sub-account, we’ll deduct the full amount of the
transaction from your AUD account, applying the
applicable HSBC Daily Exchange Rate that is used to
authorise your transaction. See clause 21 (‘Foreign
Currencies’) of this booklet for the HSBC Daily
Exchange Rate. If you don’t have enough money in
your AUD account, we won’t authorise the payment.
Some merchants may request authorisation or
settlement for a transaction in a currency which
may be dierent to the purchase currency resulting
in your account becoming overdrawn. If you have
sucient money in your Everyday Global Account,
we may transfer money from an applicable sub-
account to bring your account into positive balance.
Transacting in foreign currency with a Visa
Debit card
When you are using your card overseas, some
merchants and ATM providers may oer you the
choice to process your transaction in AUD rather
than in the local currency. This process is called
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC).
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
47
Visa Debit cards
International
transactions, AUD
transactions or cash
withdrawals in foreign
currency
If you choose to proceed with DCC, the transaction
will be processed and converted into AUD by the
merchant’s DCC service provider.
If you do not wish to proceed with DCC, the
transaction will be processed in the local currency.
What to do if DCC is used without your
permission
Contact us as soon as possible with the transaction
details to lodge a dispute. See clause 58
(‘Transaction Queries’) and clause 59 (‘Complaints,
disputed transactions and investigations’) of this
booklet for more information.
More information:
Please see clause 21 (‘Foreign Currencies’) of this
booklet. We also apply charges to these transactions
and charge you if you use your card overseas
(including purchases in Australia that are processed
by the card provider or billed by the merchant
overseas).
You can find our fees and charges in the relevant
product terms.
If you make international payments, for example
from an online merchant showing the price in
Australian dollars, your purchase will generally be
converted into Australian dollars by Visa at the Visa
exchange rate, and Visa currency conversion fees
may apply. We may also charge an international
transaction fee. Please:
• check with the online merchants before you agree
to buy online and
• don’t assume that because they show an
Australian dollar price, they are located in
Australia and
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
48
Visa Debit cards
International
transactions, AUD
transactions or cash
withdrawals in foreign
currency
• use tools such as the Visa calculator to estimate
the total cost of your online purchase:
www.visa.com.au/travel-with-visa/exchange-rate-
calculator.html
What we can do with
your card
Your card is our property. We can do any of the
following:
• replace your card when it is due to expire if your
account is active. See clause 48 (‘What happens
if you stop using your account?’) of this booklet for
information on what is an active account and
• replace or substitute your card with another type
of card we oer after reviewing your personal
circumstances or your relationship with us
changes in accordance with applicable laws and
• replace or substitute your card if we rebrand your
product and
• give you a new type of card in substitution for your
card in accordance with applicable laws and
• change the card scheme and
• keep hold of your card or replace it where it is
reasonably necessary to do so to protect you or us.
We’ll tell you about the features of the card when
we send you the replacement.
Payments by Phone
Daily limits apply to transfers made through phone banking. These limits apply
per account, and not per account holder if you have a joint account.
Payment by Phone Daily Withdrawal Limit
Transfers between HSBC Australia
Accounts:
• in your name only $500,000
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Payment by Phone Daily Withdrawal Limit
• to other HSBC Australia
accounts
$3,000
(for all transfers you set up to be
automatically paid on a future date)
BPAY® $20,000
We sometimes use third party services to help us carry out a phone banking
transfer. For example, you may instruct us over phone banking to make a
payment using BPAY®. These third parties may charge additional fees and
charges on top of our fees and charges. The bank or financial institution you are
making a transfer to may also charge fees and charges.
Payments by Direct Debit or Regular Payments
See clause 12 (‘Making payments by direct debit’) for terms that apply to making
payments by direct debit. When you establish a direct debit or regular payment
arrangement , we will arrange for the money to be:
• debited from your transaction or savings account or any other account that
allows for direct debits from that account, as authorised in your direct debit
request or
• debited from your credit card account as authorised in your regular payment
request.
You will need to ensure that you have sucient money to cover a payment,
especially where you have authorised a variable amount.
Payments by BPAY®
To make a BPAY® payment, you must give us the information we need such as
the account from which the payment is to be made and the amount to be paid
and the biller code.
A BPAY® payment will normally be received on the date you ask us to make it if
it’s a Business Day (otherwise on the next Business Day). For same day payments
you must ask us before the cut-o time of 6pm, Sydney, Australia time.
There may be a delay if:
• it’s a non-Business Day the day after we’re asked to make a BPAY® payment or
• the person you’re paying (or another participating financial institution) fails to
comply with its obligations under the BPAY® scheme.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Once we’ve accepted a request to make a BPAY® Payment, you can’t stop it.
If you’ve paid more than you intended, then you should contact the biller to
obtain a refund. If you are unable to resolve this with the biller, please see clause
59 (‘Complaints, disputed transactions and investigations’) for how to raise a
dispute.
We’ll contact you if a biller tells us they can’t process a BPAY® Payment and credit
the relevant account with the payment amount.
50
19. CANCELLING OR CHANGING PAYMENTS (OTHER THAN CHEQUES)
This clause only applies to products that allow you to make payments from your
account – see your product terms – or where you use online banking.
We may not be able to change or cancel a one-o payment that you have asked us to
make. You can ask us to stop other payments as follows:
Payment How to stop
Regular
payments
Regular payments by card
You can stop these by contacting
who you’re paying (such as the
merchant) and tell them that you
want to stop these or change these,
as we’re unable to do this for you.
You should do this at least 15
Business Days before the next
payment. We’ll continue making
these regular payments until they’re
cancelled by the person you’re
paying.
You should keep evidence of your
notice in case you need to dispute
future transactions.
Other regular
payments (direct
debits)
Contact us at least 3
Business Days before
the next payment is due
to be made and give us
the payment
details. This may impact
the agreement relating
to that payment. See
clause 12 (‘Making
payments by direct
debit’) of this booklet
for information about
making these types of
regular payments.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Payment How to stop
Transactions
(direct credits,
standing orders
and other
payments)
through phone
banking or
online banking
service
(including
BPAY®), ATM or
EFTPOS
This type of payment instruction usually can’t be stopped
once you’ve given us your instruction, unless it’s to an HSBC
account. In that case, contact the sta-assisted phone banking
service.
It may be possible to stop future online banking payment
instructions from your future payments list. If the payment
does not appear on your future payments list, the payment is
being, or has been processed, and we won’t be able to stop it.
If you cancel a regular payment by card but payments are still collected (e.g. by
the merchant), when you provide us with evidence of your cancellation, we’ll treat
the payment as unauthorised and dispute the transaction on your behalf. You’ll
need to give us information we reasonably request so we can do this.
If you cancel a direct debit, you should also tell the person you’re paying so that
they can cancel or change it (and any future payments) as well.
20. REFUNDS AND RETURNED PAYMENTS
This clause only applies to transaction and savings accounts.
How much will we refund, and can we reverse a refund?
If we give a refund for any reason, we’ll return your account to the position it
would have been in if the payment had not taken place. If we provide a refund but
later investigation finds you were not entitled to it, we’ll return your account to
the position it would have been in if we had not made the refund.
Returned payments
Other banks may charge fees when payments are returned to us, the amount we
pay back to your account may be less than the original amount you sent.
If a payment you have asked us to make (by converting to a foreign currency first)
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
is returned to us or we’re unable to make it for any reason, we’ll reverse the
payment using the HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate at that time. If the HSBC Real
Time Exchange Rate has changed, the amount we pay back when we reverse
the payment will be more or less than the amount we originally took from your
account.
Foreign Currencies
. FOREIGN CURRENCIES
This clause applies if your product terms allow you to transact in or buy or sell
foreign currencies.
You can buy and sell foreign currencies with us or make or receive payments in
foreign currencies using our products in a number of ways. Depending upon how
you buy or sell foreign currencies / make or receive payments in foreign currencies,
the HSBC exchange rate will comprise the following:
If you do the following: The HSBC exchange rate you will get is:
Transact in branch The HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate
1
.
Use our online banking service The HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate
1
.
Use our Markets Desk The HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate
1
.
Use your Visa Debit card linked to
an Everyday Global Account
The applicable HSBC Daily Exchange Rate
that is used to authorise your transaction
or the HSBC Group exchange rate if you
withdraw cash from an eligible overseas
HSBC ATM, if there is an insucient
balance of the foreign currency in your
account.
Use your Visa Debit card linked to
other accounts
The Visa exchange rate or the HSBC Group
exchange rate if you withdraw cash from
an eligible overseas HSBC ATM.
Use your Visa credit card The Visa exchange rate.
Use your Mastercard credit card The amount will be first converted into
US Dollars, and then to AUD using the
Mastercard exchange rate.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
If you do the following: The HSBC exchange rate you will get is:
Make a transaction that’s rejected
(e.g. an International Transfer)
The HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate that
applies when we process the payment
back to your account.
Receive a foreign currency
electronic payment and don’t have
an account in that foreign currency
or payment is to credit into an AUD
account
The HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate that
applies when we process the payment into
your account.
Where you instruct us to make a
payment at a future date or where
you pay a third party after currency
cut-o times
The HSBC Daily Exchange Rate at the time
we process your instruction.
Deposit a foreign currency cheque/
draft into an account of a dierent
currency
The exchange rate as determined by HSBC
applicable at the time we process the
deposit into your account.
Deposit Australian dollar cheques
into a foreign currency account
The HSBC Daily Exchange Rate at the
time when the money is available to be
credited to your account. If your cheque is
dishonoured, we’ll calculate the amount
using the current HSBC Daily Exchange
Rate or the HSBC Daily Exchange Rate
that was applied at the time your account
was credited, whichever is lower.
Set up a periodical payment
that involves a foreign currency
conversion
The HSBC Daily Exchange Rate at the time
we process the payment on the periodical
payment date.
Instruct us to convert the Term
Deposit at maturity into the
currency of your nominated
account
The HSBC Daily Exchange Rate at the time
we process your instruction.
1.
The HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate won’t apply and the HSBC Daily Exchange Rate will apply
when we process the payment if: (a) you instruct us to make a transaction at a future date or (b)
if you’re paying another person via online banking and it’s a weekend or public holiday in NSW or
the US or (c) if you’re paying another person via online banking after the currency cut-o time. For
International Transfers made via mobile banking, the HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate will always
apply. For some transactions made in branch, the HSBC Daily Exchange Rate may be applied.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Overdrafts, Charges and Interest
22. OVERDRAFTS
This clause only applies to transaction and savings accounts.
We may agree to give you an unarranged overdraft on an account if we think you
can aord it. Overdrafts are only available for short term borrowing.
An overdraft is explained below and is repayable ‘on demand’. This means that
we can ask for immediate repayment even if you have or haven’t breached this
agreement, and you must pay us the full amount of what we’ve demanded and
within the time we’ve demanded.
HSBC Daily Exchange Rate
The HSBC Daily Exchange Rate is
set and refreshed regularly from
7:00 AM to 7:00 PM AEST/AEDT
(excluding weekends and NSW
public holidays). The previous rate
may continue to apply until the
rate is refreshed. For some debit
card transactions, rates may be
refreshed once a day. This includes
HSBC’s risk and retail margins.
It can therefore dier from the
HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate. It
applies to currencies not covered
by HSBC Real Time Exchange
Rates, or in instances when HSBC
Real Time Exchange Rates cannot
be applied.
HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate
The HSBC Real Time Exchange
Rate is linked to the foreign
currency market and is inclusive of
HSBC’s risk and retail margins.
When the FX market is closed on
weekends (that is from the US
market closing time on Friday to
the Asia market opening time on
Monday), the HSBC Real Time
Exchange Rate will also include an
additional weekend margin.
HSBC Real Time Exchange Rates
only apply to select currencies.
Please check our website at
hsbc.com.au for more details.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Unarranged overdrafts
This is where we provide you with a temporary overdraft to allow a
transaction to be processed that would otherwise cause your account to be
overdrawn. If your account balance goes below zero, we will treat this as
your request for an overdraft. We do not have to agree to this request.
If your account becomes overdrawn and there is no arranged overdraft in
place, or if the arranged overdraft is insucient to cover the overdrawn
amount, debit interest may be charged on your account.
Debit interest is calculated daily on the closing debit balance and debited
from your account on a monthly basis. The rate used to calculate debit
interest is known as the base lending rate (which can be found on our
website), and will apply on a daily basis while your account is overdrawn until
the date on which the account is brought back to a zero or credit balance.
Arranged overdrafts (no longer oered)
We no longer oer new arranged overdraft facilities. This means that you
cannot acquire a new arranged overdraft This is where an overdraft has
previously been established before making any transactions that takes your
account overdrawn, or over your current arranged overdraft limit. We’ll
confirm your overdraft limit in writing. There’s no fixed period but we’ll review
it each year.
23. FEES AND CHARGES
This clause applies to all products and services.
You’ll find all our standard fees and charges, for example for certain types of
accounts, for making payments and providing services in Part B: Fees and
Charges of the booklet or on our website or by contacting us. Fees relating to
specific products can be found in the relevant product terms. All fees and charges
are shown in Australian dollars unless otherwise stated.
Any fees, charges or other amounts payable in a foreign currency will be
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
converted to the relevant currency of the account using the HSBC Daily Exchange
Rate before they’re taken from your account. However, for International Transfers
made via mobile banking, any fees or charges will instead be converted to the
relevant currency using the HSBC Real Time Exchange Rate.
We will not refund any fees where a payment has been rejected and returned to
you.
24. INTEREST
For transaction and savings accounts, interest is calculated daily on the closing
balance of your account, and for most accounts (see the Transaction and Savings
Account Terms) paid or, where you have an overdraft, collected monthly.
If you have a credit card or loan, your product terms will tell you how we calculate
interest on those products. See relevant product terms for more details.
When you open your account, we’ll tell you the interest rate that applies. This
may be fixed or variable. Dierent rates may apply depending on the amount
in your account and more than one rate may apply at the same time. We can
change these rates and amounts in line with our requirements outlined under
clause 46 (‘Changes to your Agreement’) of this booklet. Current rates are
available by visiting us in branch, on our website or by calling us.
For transaction and savings accounts, we will pay you interest up to the day prior
to you closing your account.
Interest is paid or charged in the currency of the account. If the interest rate falls
below zero, then we may:
• charge you interest where normally we would have paid this into your account
or
• pay you interest where normally we would have collected this from you or
• charge you a fee, where normally we would have paid interest into your
account.
How we calculate interest for Transaction and Savings accounts and
Home Loan accounts on Non-Business Days
When you open an account on a non-Business Day, we will treat your account
as though it has been opened on the next Business Day. This means that any
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
balances deposited, or payments received into the account on the non-Business
Day will not earn interest (or reduce the amount of interest that you may owe us)
until the next Business Day.
Generally, transactions that occur and payments made or received after business
hours of the last Business Day of the week will be treated as though they have
occurred on the first Business Day of the following week. For the purposes of
calculating the interest earned (or, where you have an overdraft or home loan,
interest payable to us), we will use your end of day balance on the last Business
Day of the week as the end of day balance for each day until the first Business
Day of the following week.
The interest calculations on foreign currency deposit accounts are
dependent on the currency.
The interest on foreign currency deposits is calculated on a 360 or 365 day basis.
This is referred to as the day-count convention.
This means that for a
• 360-day count, interest is calculated daily using a 360-day year
• 365-day count, interest is calculated daily using a 365-day year
The day count conventions for the dierent currencies are shown below.
Day Count Currencies
360 • USD
• EUR
• CAD
• JPY
• CYN
365 • GBP
• HKD
• SGD
• NZD
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
25. STATEMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION WE’LL GIVE YOU
This clause applies to all products.
Statements
If your account is a transaction or savings account, we’ll give you:
• statements at least every 6 months or if you ask, on a monthly or quarterly
basis and
• a summary of any interest earned on your transaction or savings accounts
every 12 months.
We may not give you a statement if there has been no activity on your account
during the statement period. You can ask us for additional statements.
If your account is a credit card or loan account, we will give you statements in
accordance with the product terms.
We’ll send your statements:
• electronically by email or to your online banking service or
• by post if you have not given us consent to send electronic statements or
• for credit card or loan statements, in the method we describe in the relevant
product booklet.
You can also check your past statements using the online banking service. The
period we keep these statements accessible on the online banking service will
vary between products, but at a minimum will be 6 years.
We recommend you keep all transaction receipts and verify that these match
your account statement. This includes checking the identity of the payment
recipient, the amount, and the date. Sometimes, the date will not align because
the payment was made to a merchant overseas with a dierent time zone, or the
merchant took a few days to process your payment.
You must let us know as soon as possible using the contact details in this booklet
if you think there are any unusual or incorrect transactions on your accounts. See
clause 6 (‘What should you do if you suspect an incorrect payment, unauthorised
payment or mistaken internet payment from your account’). If you don’t do so
within 6 years of the transaction, you may lose your right to take court action
to recover the money – other time limits, which may be shorter than 6 years,
may also apply to your rights to take action (other than court action) as set out
in your agreement (for example, chargebacks). We may need to carry out an
investigation and ask you to provide supporting documentation.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Transaction receipts
Following a transaction, we will take reasonable steps to oer you a transaction
receipt containing the transaction amount, date, type, account, reference code
and if reasonable, the time and equipment used to make the transaction, and
the merchant legal name and reference number. We are not required to give
a transaction receipt if it is unreasonable or impractical for us to give you one,
for direct debits, phone banking or where these details are clearly visible on a
statement.
Phone banking receipts
Following a phone banking transaction, we will take reasonable steps to oer you
information about it, including the reference number, the transaction amount,
transaction type, and the nature of the account being debited or credited.
Requesting other information
You may request copies of other documents we hold, such as
• your agreement
• any mortgage or security
• statements of account and
• notices we’ve given you before we exercise our rights up to 2 years after the
end of your agreement.
We will provide these within 30 days of your request. We may charge a
reasonable fee for providing this other information.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Third Parties
26. CAN SOMEONE ELSE OPERATE YOUR ACCOUNT FOR YOU?
This clause applies to all products and services.
An attorney, depending on powers conferred on a power of attorney, has power to
open and operate an account on behalf of a principal who would be the customer
the account is held under. The attorney is able to accept documents such as pre-
contractual disclosure documents on behalf of the customer.
You can allow another person to operate your account if they’re over the age of
18. If you want to do this, you’ll have to provide us with a valid power of attorney
or appoint them as an authorised signatory. We will require you to complete our
documents. You can also authorise another person to access and use the online
banking service for your accounts.
If you’re not able to operate your account for any reason (such as mental incapacity),
another person may be appointed to act for you, but we’ll need to have the
supporting legal document before we can allow that person to use your account.
Your agreement will apply to the actions of any person that is allowed or appointed
to operate your account as though they were your actions. This means you’ll be
responsible in accordance with your agreement for their actions even if their actions
make you break the agreement.
You must ensure that they are specifically authorised to operate your account in the
way you intend. In some cases, we may have to make further checks before we are
able to proceed. You must also immediately tell us if you cancel their authorisation
by submitting a cancellation request form found on our website. You will be
responsible in accordance with your agreement for all transactions made by the
authorised signatory and anyone acting under a power of attorney until you cancel
their authorisation. We’ll refuse to accept instructions under a power of attorney or
other authorising document if we know, or reasonably believe, that a person’s legal
authority to act for you has ended.
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27. JOINT ACCOUNTS
This clause applies to any products where we allow more than one account
holder – see your product terms.
Operating authority
If we allow the account to have more than one account holder, you can choose
how to operate this:
(a) each of you can operate and close the account on your own and we won’t
check with the other(s) before carrying out any instruction from one of you,
including any request for an overdraft. If we agree to provide an overdraft,
you’ll each be responsible for repaying it or
(b) all account holders are required to operate and close the account together.
If you’re a joint account holder you must select (a) if you want to use the online
banking service, Visa Debit cards and phone banking (if these are available for
your account). If you have a joint account and select (b), you’ll only be able to
make transactions and operate the account in our branches.
You can choose to change how you operate the account from (a) to (b) by telling
us in writing, provided that the account does not belong to a company or trust.
If you choose to change how you operate the account from (a) to (b), access to
the online banking service, phone banking and the Visa Debit Card linked to the
account will be cancelled. Any pending Visa Debit Card transactions made prior
to the change from (a) to (b) will still be processed. However, if you’re asking us
to discharge a mortgage, then we’ll require all of you plus any guarantor to sign
our discharge form.
In both cases, you and each account holder are individually responsible for the
account and we can recover or take action against you and each account holder.
Disputes between joint account holders
After one of you tells us there’s a dispute between the joint account holders, we
will change the operating authority to require "two-to-sign" for transaction and
savings account(s) (i.e. we will require each of the account holders to operate
the account together including to authorise any money to be withdrawn from the
account in the future).
If you have joint mortgage account(s), any available balance will be restricted for
redraw until we receive further instructions from all account holders.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
There is no impact to deposits made or direct credits into the joint account(s).
We may also take other actions that are reasonably necessary to protect one or
more joint account holders or us.
Death of a joint account holder
If we’ve been given ocial evidence that one of you has died, ownership of the
account reverts to the surviving account holder, unless your product terms say
otherwise.
Where you have a transaction account, the surviving account holder can continue
to use the joint account, however the words ‘Estate of the Late’ will need to
appear before the name of the deceased account holder until the deceased’s
estate is finalised and any other sole accounts of the deceased held with us are
closed. We may also need you to re-supply your tax file number if you wish to
have the joint transaction account name changed into your name after these
things take place.
28. TRUST ACCOUNTS
You must tell us if you open an account or borrow for a trust as a trustee. You
must provide us with the trust’s name, the legal document creating the trust, and
confirm that you can validly enter into the agreement with us. Your agreement
terms will bind you personally and as a trustee in your duties to the trust.
If you become aware that the structure of the trust or your position of being a
trustee changes, or the trust is or is likely to be wound up, you must inform us
immediately. A trust may nominate authorised persons to access and use online
and mobile banking services and may also set specific limits on the account.
You must tell us immediately if any of this changes. We will also apply daily
transaction limits applicable to your account type. Each trustee is individually
responsible for the account and you accept that we can recover and taken action
against any trustee or all of you in the capacity of a trustee, or in your personal
capacity if you have acted outside your authority as trustee.
29. USING A THIRD-PARTY PROVIDER
If you choose to use a TPP, the terms of your agreement will still apply. We’ll
give the TPP access to account information and you’ll be able to make the same
payments through the TPP that you would be able to make if you were dealing
with us on the internet.
Although you must not, generally, give your security details to anyone else, you
may give them to a TPP if it’s necessary to allow them to provide their services
to you. We may refuse to allow a TPP to access your account if we’re concerned
that the TPP is acting on an unauthorised or fraudulent basis. We’ll tell you if
we do this (unless we believe doing so would compromise our reasonable fraud
prevention or security measures or would otherwise be unlawful).
You must check from the information provided to you by the TPP that they are
authorised. If you give your security details to an unauthorised third party, we’ll
assume it’s you that is authorising us to give access to information about your
accounts and you’ll be responsible for any payments made as a result. If we’re
aware that an unauthorised third party is using your security details, we’ll block
access to your accounts to protect your account.
If you think a payment made through a TPP was unauthorised or incorrect you
must call us as soon as you can.
If we use a TPP to help us provide services to you, these other TPPs may also
impose account/channel limits, which we will inform you of.
If a TPP can’t be used, we’ll try and make your payment in another reasonable
way, which will take longer. You should always allow sucient time for payments
from your account to be received by the person you’re paying if they can’t be
made using a TPP.
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Third-Party provider (TPP)
A TPP is a third-party service provider that’s authorised by or registered with
the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority or otherwise permitted by
law to access information and make payments on online banking payment
accounts operated by other providers (such as banks, building societies
and credit card issuers) and has your permission to do this. We may, acting
reasonably, require you or the TPP to complete additional forms or provide
additional information (for example, to verify their identity or authority).
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PART B: BANKING SERVICES FEES AND CHARGES
. IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT OUR FEES AND CHARGES
This clause applies to all our products and services. It describes general fees and
charges. Other product specific fees and charges may apply, depending on the
type of account or loan you have with us. Please refer to the relevant product
terms.
All fees and charges contained in this Part B are current as at the date on the
front of this booklet. We regularly review our rates and we may change these -
see clause 46 (‘Changes to your agreement').
All fees and charges shown are in Australian dollars (AUD) unless otherwise
stated and include Goods and Services Tax (GST), where applicable. You may be
charged GST in addition to the fees or charges that you’re required to pay where
they’re expressed to be GST exclusive.
Our fees and charges are for the provision of our services. These may include the
cost of what is charged to us by other financial institutions, banks and service
providers who charge us, for example for returning payments that you attempt to
make from your account via the payment systems that they own.
We’ll also provide information on fees and charges on request.
31. CHARGES WE CAN’T CONTROL FOR PAYMENTS AND ATMS
This clause applies to all products and services.
Overseas payments
When you make an overseas payment, you may incur third party charges that we
can’t control but that are passed on to you. For example:
• The person you are paying may be required to pay additional charges
depending on the conditions set by the payment system, bank receiving the
payment or banks involved in the processing and clearance of the payment.
• Overseas banks involved in the processing and clearance of International
Transfers are referred to as intermediary or correspondent banks. These banks
generally charge fees for processing and clearing an International Transfer and
these fees vary between correspondent banks and countries/regions. Making a
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
payment to some receiving countries may involve more than one correspondent
bank for clearance of funds.
See clause 35 (‘Sending money’) for more details on these fees.
ATM Fees
HSBC ATMs in Australia are free to use but other ATM owners/operators may
charge you a fee for using their machines. The fee will usually be disclosed on
screen when you use the ATM.
If you’re using an ATM overseas, you may be charged a fee. Please refer to your
product terms, letter of oer or credit card schedule for details of these fees. The
ATM owner/operator may also charge you a fee for using their machines. The fee
will usually be disclosed on screen when you use the ATM.
32. COLLECTING FEES AND CHARGES
We’ll debit your account for:
• all fees and charges that apply (including our reasonable enforcement expenses)
and
• any applicable government fees, charges, taxes and duties on receipts or
withdrawals in relation to the account or account documentation (this includes
stamp duty where it is applicable).
We’ll normally debit our fees on the first Business Day of each calendar month,
but we’ll debit some fees and charges at the time the event occurs or soon after
e.g. at the time a cheque is dishonoured. We’ll also debit any fees and charges
that apply when you ask us to close the account.
If we decide not to charge a fee or a charge that we’re entitled to charge, we don’t
waive that fee or the right to charge that fee in the future.
33. INTEREST RATES
This clause applies to all products.
Information on the interest rates applicable to your loan or credit card account is in
your applicable product terms, letter of oer or credit card schedule.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
Information on interest rates applicable to your transaction or savings account, are
on our website.
We’ll tell you about interest rate changes in accordance with clause 46 (‘Changes
to your agreement’) of this booklet.
Details of the current interest rate(s) applicable to your account type(s) is available:
• on our website at hsbc.com.au on the web page for the product and
• by calling 1300 308 008 (or from overseas +61 2 9005 8220) and
• from any of our HSBC branches on request.
34. RECEIVING MONEY
This clause applies to accounts that allow you to receive payments into the
account – see product terms.
Receiving money Fees or charges
International Transfer from a bank to
your HSBC account in:
• AUD
• a foreign currency or a currency
dierent to your account
$10
Transfer from a local bank to your
HSBC account in a foreign currency
$10
Real Time Gross Settlement Transfer
(RTGS) from a local bank to your
HSBC account in AUD
$10
Foreign currency cheques/drafts
issued by a bank and paid into your
HSBC account in:
• AUD
• the same foreign currency
• a dierent foreign currency
$10
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35. SENDING MONEY
This clause applies to accounts that allow you to make payments from the account
– see your product terms.
Receiving Bank fees
Some receiving banks may charge a fee for receiving an international payment, and
this charge is usually deducted from the payment amount before final payment to
the beneficiary.
Correspondent bank fees and charges
There are fees when making International Transfers. Correspondent (or
intermediary) bank fees are in addition to the International Transfer fee you pay
HSBC. You may have the option to pay a Correspondent Bank Cover Fee to HSBC,
which is a fee that applies to your transfer to cover any intermediary/correspondent
bank charges depending on where the payment has been made. Some local
country clearing systems may not recognise that you have paid to cover any
correspondent bank fees, and additional fees may pass on to your beneficiary. In
these situations, we can attempt to recover these fees for your beneficiary. Note the
Correspondent Bank Cover Fee does not cover any fees that may be charged by the
receiving bank.
Types of transfers
Local Transfers are payments sent to or received from a domestic account in
AUD.
International Transfers are payments sent to or received from an
international account, or a domestic account if the funds are transferred in
a foreign currency. International Transfers made using mobile banking are
“Global Money Transfers”. International Transfers (including Global Money
Transfers) do not include Global Transfers.
Global Transfers are Online Banking transfers between a HSBC customer’s
account held with HSBC in any country or region, and one of their HSBC
accounts held in another country or region. Please refer to our HSBC Online
Banking Terms for more details.
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For International Transfers made via branch or online banking
1. You can choose to pay a Correspondent Bank Cover Fee of AUD30, and we will
cover the intermediary/correspondent bank charges.
2. If you do not wish to pay the Correspondent Bank Cover Fee, you can have the
intermediary/correspondent bank fees charged to the recipient. This means
the amount the payee receives will be less than the amount you send as any
intermediary/correspondent bank fees will be automatically deducted.
For International Transfers made via mobile banking
Correspondent/intermediary bank charges may not apply for some International
Transfers. This is dependent on the receiving country or region, and the currency
of payment. If correspondent/intermediary bank charges do not apply, no
Correspondent Bank Cover Fee will be charged.
Fees or charges
Sending money Fees or charges
Branch Online Mobile
Banking
International Transfers – HSBC Transfer
Fees:
• All International Transfers
$20 Nil Nil
Local Transfers – HSBC Transfer Fees:
• Payment in AUD via Real Time Gross
Settlement (RTGS)
1
• Payment in AUD from AUD account
(not via RTGS)
• Payment in AUD from foreign
currency account (not via RTGS)
• Payment in foreign currency from
AUD or foreign currency account
$20
N/A
Nil
Nil
N/A
N/A
Nil
Nil
Nil
Sending money Fees or charges
Branch Online Mobile
Banking
For the following payments, a
Correspondent Bank Cover Fee
may apply to cover all intermediary/
correspondent bank charges:
International Transfers
• International Transfers
Local Transfers
• Payment in AUD (via RTGS)
• Payment in foreign currency from
AUD or foreign currency account
Optional
$30 + any
applicable
HSBC
Transfer
Fees
above.
$30
Correspondent
Bank Cover
Fee
3
The intermediary/correspondent and receiving bank may also impose additional
charges – see clause 31 (‘Charges we can’t control for payments and ATMs’) for
further details.
1
Payments via RTGS are not available via online and mobile banking.
2
Local Transfers in foreign currency are not available via online banking.
3
This fee will be shown in the mobile banking app payment journey the
instances where applicable.
HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
69
Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) is the method used to transfer money on
the same day among financial institutions within Australia.
Optional
$30 + any
applicable
HSBC
Transfer
Fees
above.
N/A
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Global Transfers Fees or charges
• From your AUD account with us
• From your foreign currency account
with us to an HSBC Group member
(Global Transfers are only available
through our online banking service
to customers of participating HSBC
Group member jurisdictions)
$8 per transaction
(Nil for HSBC Australia Premier and
Global Advance customers)
This amount can vary, depending on
what currency the transfer is made in:
AED 26 CAD 7 CNY 43
CHF 8 DKK 40 EUR 5
GBP 5 HKD 54 JPY 659
MXN 86 NOK 42 NZD 10
SAR 26 SEK 51 SGD 10
THB 231 USD 7 ZAR 52
(Nil for HSBC Australia Premier and
Global Advance customers)
36. FOREIGN CURRENCY NOTES
This clause applies if we buy or sell you foreign currency notes, or take deposits or
withdrawals of foreign currency notes. The following charges apply:
Service Fees or charges
Foreign Currency Notes (Buy/Sell) $10
Foreign Currency Notes Deposits or
Withdrawals
$10
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37. CHEQUES
This clause applies to your products that allow payments to be made by cheque
or deposited into your account by cheque.
Service Fees or charges
Bank cheque (excluding term deposit
customers upon maturity)
$8
Replacement bank cheque (cancelling
and re-issuing a cheque)
$18
Repurchase bank cheque (cancelling a
cheque only)
$10
Stop payment request
$8
Dishonour fee for cheques written by you
$5
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38. INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTION FEES OR CHARGES FOR
HOME SMART, HOME EQUITY, OFFSET SAVINGS AND HOME
LOAN TRANSACTION (NON OFFSET) ACCOUNTS
Description Fees or charges
Overseas
ATM
For cash withdrawals $4.50 (per withdrawal)
(Other ATM owners/operators
may charge an ATM operator
fee for withdrawals or balance
enquiries at their ATMs)
Overseas
Transaction
Charges
Payable when you make a
transaction or withdrawal on your
account in a currency other than
Australian dollars, or you make
a transaction or withdrawal on
your account in any currency,
including AUD that is processed/
billed by either the merchant or
its financial institution/payment
processor outside of Australia.)
Your transaction will be converted
into your account currency.
We have no control over when
a merchant will process a
transaction or whether they will
do so in local or foreign currency.
You should check this with the
merchant. For more information
on this see clauses 18 (‘Payments
from your Account’) and 54
(‘Risks Associated with Foreign
Currency Accounts’) of this
booklet.
3% of the total value of each
transaction
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39. PERSONAL CREDIT LINE
For customers with existing personal credit lines only. This product is no longer
oered to new customers.
Description Fees or charges
Monthly
access fee
For giving you credit
$5
Overdrawn
fee
If you make withdrawals which take
your account below a balance of zero $20
Overseas
ATM
For cash withdrawals $4.50 (per withdrawal)
(Other ATM owners/
operators may charge
an ATM operator fee for
withdrawals or balance
enquiries at their ATMs)
Overseas
Transaction
Charges
Payable when you make a transaction
or withdrawal on your account in a
currency other than Australian dollars,
or you make a transaction or withdrawal
on your account in any currency,
including AUD that is processed/ billed
by either the merchant or its financial
institution/payment processor outside of
Australia.)
Your transaction will be converted into
your account currency.
We have no control over when a
merchant will process a transaction
or whether they will do so in local or
foreign currency. You should check
this with the merchant. For more
information on this see clauses 18
(‘Payments from your Account’) and
54 (‘Risks Associated with Foreign
Currency Accounts’) of this booklet.
3% of the total value of
each transaction
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
40. BANK GUARANTEE
This product is no longer oered for sale.
41. OTHER SERVICES
This clause applies to all products that include the services below – see product
terms.
Service Description Fees or charges
Periodical
payments
Dishonour fee
$5
Direct debits Dishonour fee (inward and
outward)
$5
(This fee is charged when the
money is returned to us for
any reason)
Transactions
through
National
Australia
Bank
branches
Deposit fee
$4.17
Cheque cashing fee
1.5% of amount of cheque
(minimum of $10)
Company
search fee
$30 plus costs
Audit or
balance
certificate
Individual or Company
$25
Closed
accounts
Account balance paid by bank
cheque
$8
(Doesn’t apply to term
deposits on maturity)
Account balance paid by
International Transfer
$20
Service Description Fees or charges
Emergency
encashment
HSBC Premier customers Nil
(interest may be payable
together with any conversion
fees on top of this)
All other customers (maximum
of USD 500)
Nil
(interest may be payable
together with any conversion
fees on top of this)
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PART C: OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS
. COMBINING ACCOUNTS AND SETTING-OFF
This clause applies to all products.
If you have money in one of your accounts, we may combine it with another of your
accounts, or set it o against any amount you owe us which is due for payment
but has not been paid or if you are in default under your agreement with us for that
other account, so that it reduces or repays the amount you owe us. We’ll only do
this if we think it is reasonably necessary to protect our legitimate interests, taking
into account your circumstances (including making sure that you will still have
enough money to meet essential living expenses) and any regulatory requirements.
If the amount set o is less than the amount you owe us, you’ll still be liable to us
for the shortfall. Amounts owed to us and due for payment include amounts owed
under a personal loan, credit card, home loan or overdraft.
We will not combine any loan account that is regulated under the National Credit
Code while we are actively considering hardship notification in relation to that loan
the loan is under a hardship arrangement or if doing so would breach the Code of
Operation: Recovery of Debts.
We can use our set-o right, where you have accounts which are only in your name
as well as joint accounts you hold with another person as shown below:
Money in account for: Set-o against money owed by:
You only You
You only You and the other person
You and the other person You and the other person
You and the other person The other person
You and the other person You
We can use money you have in your account even if there is a court decision
against you or you are fined (including interest arising after the date of the final
decision or fine), unless the court instructs us otherwise, or we are otherwise
prevented by laws applicable to us. If you have money in a currency other than
Australian dollars, we may convert this amount to Australian dollars using the
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
HSBC exchange rate at the time we use our account combination or set-o right.
Occasionally we receive legal instructions or notices to hold a customer’s money
for someone else, or to pay it to someone else. If this happens, we won’t use our
right of set-o against the money we’ve been told to hold for someone else.
We’ll write to you as soon as possible after we combine your accounts or set-o
any amounts.
43. PRIVACY AND CREDIT INFORMATION
This clause applies to all products and services.
Your privacy is important to us. Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use,
disclose, transfer, and store your information and sets out your rights to access
your personal information. Our Credit Information Management Policy explains
how we collect, use, disclose, transfer and store your credit information. These
policies may be updated from time to time and will apply if you continue using
your account or our services. You can find them on our website or request a copy
in branch or by calling us.
44. HOW DO WE COMMUNICATE?
This clause applies to all products and services.
How do we contact each other?
For us to contact you
If we need to tell you anything about our products or services, we may advertise
this in a nationally circulating newspaper, tell you on our website, or use the
most recent address, email address, phone and mobile numbers you’ve given
us. If a law or industry code says we have to contact you in a certain way, then
we’ll contact you that way. If not, we’ll choose the most appropriate method to
contact you based on what we need to tell you.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
For us to contact you
With your consent, we’ll often contact you electronically. You’re free to contact
us at any time to change your preference. For example, we may contact you
through mobile banking, SMS, using the secure e-message facility for online
banking, or publish documents or rates on our website. If we need to contact
you about any actual or suspected fraud or security threats, we’ll use the fastest
and most secure way of contacting you (for example, we may try to send an
SMS message rather than phone). We may also contact you to discuss your
financial situation if it appears you may be in financial diculty. We will usually
only give you paper documents if we are required by law, or you ask us to.
We’ll only use the contact details you’ve last given us, so you must tell
us if these details change. If you do not, you may miss out on important
communications.
We recommend you check your emails regularly and keep copies of important
documents.
If you need us to communicate to you in another format such as large print,
braille or audio, please tell us.
We may record phone numbers you call us from and may use them if we need
to contact you urgently.
We’ll always use English to communicate with you.
We’ll never send you a communication asking you to enter your password or
login details.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
For you to contact us
Calls on the numbers below are free or the cost of a local call from a landline. If
you call from a mobile phone, or from outside of Australia, your call provider may
impose additional fees.
To help us continually improve our services and for security reasons we may
monitor and record your phone calls with us.
By phone (24/7) From Australia From anywhere else
• Transaction and
savings accounts,
home loans and
deceased estates
• Lost, stolen or
misused cards, PINs,
secure keys, bank
cheques, personal
cheques or cheque
books, or where there
has been a breach
of security in relation
to these or to query
a transaction on your
account statement
• Phone banking
• Textphone
Personal Banking:
1300 308 008
HSBC Premier and
Home Loans:
1300 301 168
Credit Cards:
132 152
Hearing or speech
impaired?
If you are d/Deaf, hard of
hearing or have a speech
communication diculty
you can contact HSBC
Australia through the
National Relay Service
(NRS) provide 1300 308
008. More information
about the NRS and their
services can be found at
https://www.accesshub.
gov.au/.
Please note, you will
need to be an Australian
resident and have
registered with NRS
prior to using the
service. International
call charges will apply if
you are calling NRS from
overseas.
Personal Banking:
+61 2 9005 8220 (or by
visiting any HSBC Group
branch)
HSBC Premier and
Home Loans:
+61 2 9005 8192 from
overseas (or by visiting
any HSBC Group
branch)
Credit Cards:
+61 2 9005 8511 from
overseas (or by visiting
any HSBC Group
branch)
TTY users:
Call NRS on +61 3 4313
7692 (if calling from
overseas) and ask for
1300 308 008 or
Voice Relay user:
Call +61 3 4313 7690
(if calling from overseas)
and ask for
1300 308 008.
International call
charges will apply if you
are calling NRS from
overseas.
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HSBC Personal Banking Booklet
For you to contact us
• Voice Relay user:
Call 1300 555 727 (if
in Australia) and ask
for 1300 308 008.
• You will need to be an
Australian resident and
have registered with
NRS prior to using the
service.
• Online banking
• Mobile banking
1300 306 543 +61 2 9005 8421
• By post Our head oce: HSBC Bank Australia Limited,
Level 36, Tower 1, International Towers Sydney,
100 Barangaroo Ave, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia.
For Privacy Policy and Credit Information
Management Policy related matters, home loans,
personal loans, credit cards, online or mobile
banking queries, or to opt out of direct marketing:
HSBC Bank Australia Limited, GPO Box 5302,
Sydney NSW 2001
For customer complaints: Customer Relations
Team, HSBC Bank Australia Limited, Level
36, Tower 1, International Towers Sydney, 100
Barangaroo Ave, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
• By email Email us using the contact form available on our
website. We usually respond within 2 Business
Days so if your query is urgent then please call us.
If you are experiencing hardship
You should contact us as soon as possible if you are experiencing financial
diculty. The sooner you contact us the sooner we can help. If your credit is
regulated under the National Credit Code, you have a right to apply for hardship
relief. For more information about financial hardship, please see
hsbc.com.au/help/money-worries
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For you to give notice to us
Where our agreement with you allows you to, or says you must, give us notice
of something, we may agree with you that you can send us an email and that
will count as notice. If we don’t, you must give us notice by post to the address
set out in your oer letter (where applicable) or to your registered branch.
Service of legal documents
Please note: Service of legal documents will not be accepted via email or fax. All
statutory notices and legal documents (for example, subpoenas, writs, garnishee
orders, notices to produce and all other court process) to be served to HSBC
Bank Australia Limited are to be mailed or delivered to our registered oce
address directly below.
Third-Party Requests Manager
HSBC Bank Australia Limited
Level 36, Tower 1, International Towers Sydney
100 Barangaroo Ave, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
If you drop it at our oces, we will treat it as received that same day. If you post it
to us using ordinary post, we will treat it as the earlier of the day we receive it and
5 Business Days after posting.
If you’re a company, communications from you must be signed by a director or
any other person you’ve told us has authority to sign (and given us their specimen
signature).
Deceased estates
Please contact us as soon as you can if a customer passes away. We will tell you
what we need to put arrangements in place for the executor, administrator or next
of kin to manage the customer’s accounts.
It is important that you notify us as soon as possible so that we can:
• stop or refund any fees or charges for products and services that can no longer
be provided, or will not be provided to the deceased’s estate
• restrict or cancel any payment devices to prevent misuse and
• restrict access to any accounts pending further instructions from the
deceased estate.
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45. INFORMATION WE NEED FROM YOU AND WHEN WE CAN
DISCLOSE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU
This clause applies to all products and services.
If we make a reasonable request for information, you must give it to us as soon as
possible. If you don’t give it to us, or we believe we may breach a law or regulation
without the requested information:
• you might not be able to keep banking with us or
• we might try to get the information from another source or
• we might refuse, suspend or delay a transaction – see clause 16 (‘Blocking
payments, payment devices, services and accounts’) or
• we might freeze, block or close your accounts or payment devices, or capture
your payment device - see clause 16 (‘Blocking payments, payment devices,
services and accounts and temporary transaction limits’).
You must make sure the information you give us is accurate and up to date and
tell us when anything material changes.
We’ll use and/or share your information as explained in our Privacy Policy. For
example, if we believe you may have tax obligations in other countries, we may
have to collect and disclose information about you (such as personal tax or
financial information) directly to Australian Taxation Oce or other international tax
regulatory authorities.
Changes to Your Agreement
Our agreements may last a long time and the products and services we provide
may change as your needs, and our business change. Here we explain how we can
make changes.
46. CHANGES WE CAN MAKE AFTER GIVING NOTICE
This clause applies to all products and services excluding home loans.
The changes we can make, our reasons for making the changes, and when and
how we will tell you about the changes are set out in the table below.
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Changes we
can make
Our reasons for making the
changes
When and how we will tell
you about the changes
Interest rates
Changes
to interest
rates that are
favourable to
you
We can make changes to
any interest rates (other than
where they are fixed for the
duration of the relevant fixed
period) that are favourable to
you for any reason.
We will tell you as soon as
reasonably possible and no
later than the change takes
eect.
If the change relates to a
credit card or personal loan,
we will tell you by writing
to you or by publishing the
change in a notice.
For any other products or
services, we will tell you
about the change by writing
to you or by publishing
the change nationally in
newspapers.
Changes to
interest rates
that are not
favourable to
you
We can, acting reasonably,
make changes to any interest
rates (other than where they
are fixed for the duration of
the relevant fixed period) for
any of the following reasons:
• to respond proportionately
to changes in any applicable
laws, regulatory requirements
or guidance, industry
guidance or codes of practice
• to respond proportionately
to any changes in the Reserve
Bank of Australia’s cash rate,
other relevant market rates or
indices or tax rates that are
relevant to your agreement
We will tell you as soon as
reasonably possible and no
later than the change takes
eect.
If the change relates to a
credit card or personal loan
we'll tell you by writing to
you or by publishing the
change in a notice. If we
publish the change, we’ll also
give you particulars of the
change before or when the
next statement of account is
sent to you after the change
takes eect.
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Changes we
can make
Our reasons for making the
changes
When and how we will tell
you about the changes
Changes to
interest rates
that are not
favourable to
you
• to proportionately reflect
legitimate higher or lower
costs in providing the account
(including our funding costs)
• to respond to changes
in the way we manage
your account as a result
of changes to technology
or processes, the features,
facilities or services we oer
under your agreement, our
technology, our systems or
the way that we manage our
business and
• where it is otherwise
reasonably necessary to
protect our legitimate
interests.
However, we will not make
changes to any interest rates
where we have told you that
it will not change (see your
product terms).
For any other products or
services, we will tell you
about the change by writing
to you or by publishing
the change nationally in
newspapers.
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Changes we
can make
Our reasons for making the
changes
When and how we will tell
you about the changes
Fees and charges
Changes
to fees and
charges that are
favourable to
you
We can make changes to
fees and charges that are
favourable to you for any
reason.
We will tell you as soon as
reasonably possible and no
later than the change takes
eect.
If the change relates to a
credit card or personal loan,
we’ll tell you by writing to
you or by publishing the
change in a notice, we’ll also
give you particulars of the
change on or before your
next statement of account is
sent to you after the change
takes eect.
For any other products
or services, we’ll tell you
by writing to you or by
publishing the change
nationally in newspapers.
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Changes we
can make
Our reasons for making the
changes
When and how we will tell
you about the changes
Changes to fees
and charges
(including by
introducing
a new fee or
charge) that are
not favourable
to you
We can, acting reasonably,
make changes to any fees
and charges (including
by introducing a new fee
or charge) that are not
favourable to you for any of
the following reasons:
• to respond proportionately
with any changes in any
applicable laws, regulatory
requirements or guidance,
industry guidance or codes of
practice
• to proportionately give
eect to any decisions or
recommendations made by a
court, regulator, ombudsman
or similar organisation that
we have to follow (e.g.
the Australian Financial
Complaints Authority)
• to proportionately reflect
our legitimate higher costs
in providing the account
(including our funding costs)
We will tell you as soon as
reasonably possible and
at least 30 days before the
change takes eect.
If the change relates to a
credit card or personal loan,
we’ll tell you by writing to
you or by publishing in a
notice. We’ll also give you
particulars of the change on
or before your next statement
of account is sent to you after
the change takes eect.
For any other products
or services, we’ll tell you
by writing to you or by
publishing the change
nationally in newspapers.
However:
• where a change is to
introduce or increase a
government charge that
you pay directly or indirectly
under your agreement
with us, we will tell you
reasonably promptly after
the government notifies us
and we do not need to tell
you if the government has
publicised these changes and
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Changes we
can make
Our reasons for making the
changes
When and how we will tell
you about the changes
Changes to fees
and charges
(including by
introducing
a new fee or
charge) that are
not favourable
to you
• to respond to changes to
the services we oer, our
technology, our systems or
the way that we manage our
business
• to respond to changes in the
benefits we provide to you
and
• where it is otherwise
reasonably necessary to
protect our legitimate
interests.
However, we will not make
changes to any fees or
charges where we have told
you that it will not change
(see your product terms).
• we will always give you
notice in writing if we
introduce or increase the fees
and charges for performing
transactions covered by the
ePayments Code or issuing
new or replacement security
details / devices. Transactions
covered by the ePayments
Code are payment, fund
transfer and cash withdrawal
transactions that are:
(a) initiated using electronic
equipment, and
(b) not intended to be
authenticated by
comparing a manual
signature with a specimen
signature.
Other changes
Other changes
that are
favourable to
you
We can make other changes
(that are not otherwise
covered in this table) that
are favourable to you for any
reason.
We will tell you as soon as
reasonably possible and no
later than the change takes
eect.
We will give you notice in
writing where we:
• are required to do so by an
applicable law or code
• are making changes that
are specific to our agreement
with you and that are not
generally applicable to other
customers or
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Changes we
can make
Our reasons for making the
changes
When and how we will tell
you about the changes
Other changes
that are
favourable to
you
• otherwise reasonably
believe that the change is
of a kind that should be
communicated to you in
writing.
Otherwise, we will give you
notice by writing to you or
by publishing the notice
nationally in newspapers.
If the change relates to a
credit card or personal loan
and we tell you about it
nationally in newspapers,
we’ll also give you particulars
of the change on or before
your next statement of
account is sent to you after
the change takes eect.
Other changes
that are not
favourable to
you
We can, acting reasonably,
make other changes (that are
not otherwise covered in this
table) that are not favourable
to you for any of the following
reasons:
• to respond proportionately
with any changes in any
applicable laws, regulatory
requirements or guidance,
industry guidance or codes of
practice
We will tell you as soon as
reasonably possible and
at least 30 days before the
change takes eect.
We will give you notice in
writing.
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Changes we
can make
Our reasons for making the
changes
When and how we will tell
you about the changes
Other changes
that are not
favourable to
you
• to proportionately give
eect to any decisions or
recommendations made by a
court, regulator, ombudsman
or similar organisation that
we have to follow (e.g.
the Australian Financial
Complaints Authority)
• to proportionally reflect
our legitimate higher costs
in providing the account
(including our funding costs)
• to respond to changes
to the product features,
services or facilities we
oer (including where we
replace or introduce a new
feature, service or facility), our
technology or our systems,
or other legitimate changes
in the way that we manage
our the account we provide to
you
• to respond to changes
to our arrangements with
relevant third parties for
benefits provided to you
under your agreement with
us and
• where it is otherwise
reasonably necessary to
protect our legitimate
interests.
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What are your rights when we tell you about a change?
If you don’t want to be bound by a change, tell us before the end of the notice
period. You can close your account related to that agreement without charge,
unless you have a home loan that currently has a fixed interest rate – then you may
have to pay us break costs. For more information, please refer to our facts sheet on
break costs given to you.
47. HOW WE CAN TRANSFER ACCOUNTS
This clause applies to all products.
Transferring to a more suitable account
As we review our products and services, if
• you no longer meet the conditions for an account (for example, if you stop
paying any monthly charges for the account, or the account balance or your
salary reduces) or
• we are withdrawing a type of account,
we may transfer you to a more suitable account in accordance with applicable
laws. We’ll give you at least 30 days’ notice that we’re going to transfer you to
another account we think is appropriate for you. You can close your existing
account during the notice period if you don’t want us to make the transfer and we
won’t charge you any closure fees. If there’s a fee for the new account, you can
close the new account within 30 days of the transfer with no charge.
Transferring your account between Personal Banking and HSBC Premier
When you open an account, we will categorise you as a Personal Banking or
HSBC Premier customer based on whether you meet certain eligibility criteria
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Sometimes a third party will provide you with a service that is connected
with an HSBC product or service. We are not responsible if that third party
changes their own service terms. The notice period they give you, and the
communication method they use to tell you will be set out in their terms and
conditions for the service or benefit.
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(these can be found on our website). Each of these will have separate benefits
and features (provided by us or third parties). We’ll change your category
depending on how you meet the eligibility criteria. This will also change the
benefits and features for your account. We will give you 30 days’ notice. For
example, we may downgrade you from HSBC Premier to Personal Banking if you
don’t meet the current HSBC Premier requirements at that time. You can tell us if
you no longer want a certain type of account.
48. WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU STOP USING YOUR ACCOUNT?
This clause only applies to transaction and savings accounts but it does not apply
to a transaction and savings account that is linked to a home loan.
If you haven’t transacted on your account for 24 months, we will classify your
account as ‘inactive’.
If your account has a zero balance or is overdrawn, and you have not used it for
at least 3 months, we may close your account without notice.
If you haven’t made a transaction on your account for 7 years, it is treated by
the law as unclaimed monies. We may close the account and send balances of
AUD$500 or more to the Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC).
This does not apply to accounts in a currency other than AUD.
If your account is inactive, statements will only be provided every 6 months.
Closing your account
49. HOW CAN YOU CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT OR END THIS
AGREEMENT?
This clause applies to all products excluding credit card and personal loan products.
If you contact us in branch, by phone or by post to tell us you want to close your
account, we’ll close your account or stop providing you with a service usually
without charge, but you’ll still have to pay any charges you’ve incurred by using the
account (such as payment charges) and ensure you repay all amounts you owe us.
The terms of your agreement continue to apply for so long as you have an account
or product with us and until all monies you owe us have been fully repaid.
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50. HOW CAN WE CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT OR END THIS
AGREEMENT?
This clause applies to all products excluding credit card, home loan and personal
loan products.
Immediately and without notice
In addition to any other reasons set out in your agreement, we can close your
account immediately and without notice if any of the following occur such that
it causes us a material and immediate risk such that, acting reasonably, we
consider it necessary to close your account immediately:
• you’ve seriously or persistently broken your agreement or you are, or we
reasonably suspect you may be, using or obtaining, or allowing someone else
to use or obtain, an account, service or money illegally, fraudulently, or
without our permission or
• you engage in behavior that is illegal or
• in our opinion your behaviour is unreasonable or improper (please refer to our
Unreasonable Behaviour Policy), for example you act in a threatening,
harassing or violent manner towards sta or someone else or engage in
conduct including through the use of our online banking services, which in
our opinion is harassing, oensive, threatening, intimidating, abusive or
caused or encourages physical or mental harm to another person or promotes
violence against any person or
• in our opinion you have used our products to perpetrate financial abuse on
another person or
• you weren’t entitled to open your account or the service, or are no longer
entitled to have the account or the service or
• we discover, or reasonably suspect, that you’re using the account for a
purpose not covered by your agreement, for example using your account for
business reasons where we haven’t allowed you to or
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Some products, such as a fixed interest loan, may incur break costs if you
terminate early – see your product terms.
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• you use your account in a way that does or could increase the risk to our
business which is outside of our policies. We consider these risks to include
those which are legal, regulatory, compliance or reputational in nature or
• you haven’t provided us with adequate information that we’ve requested in
relation to your liability for tax or to enable us to comply with laws and
regulations and related internal policies and procedures or
• we reasonably consider that you have placed us in a position where we might
break a law, regulation, code, court order or other duty, requirement or
obligation imposed on us (including by a third party) or we may be exposed to
action or censure from any government, regulator or law enforcement agency
or
• we suspect you have committed a financial crime, or might break a law,
regulation, code, court order or other duty, requirement or obligation and
we may be exposed to action or censure from any government, regulator or
law enforcement agency. Financial crime includes money laundering, terrorist
financing, bribery, corruption, fraud, tax evasion or economic sanctions or
• there has been, or we suspect, a breach of security or misuse of your account,
security details or a payment device or
• you have provided us with materially false information or
• you are involved, or we reasonably believe that you are involved, in criminal
activity of any kind whether or not linked to your account or your relationship
with us.
By giving you at least 21 days’ notice
Except for the above reasons and any other reasons set out in your agreement,
we may close your account if it is reasonably necessary to do so to protect our
legitimate interests by giving you at least 21 days’ notice. We’ll tell you why
we’re ending the agreement, unless it would be unlawful for us to do so.
What happens next?
We may use our combination and set-o rights (see clause 42 (‘Combining
accounts and setting-o’)) to reduce the amount of money you owe us. This
includes:
• any card payments that have been authorised but not yet charged to the
account and
• any charges and interest which haven’t yet been applied to your account.
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If we close your account or end the relationship between us, after exercising
our right of combination and set-o, we will pay any remaining money in
the account to you. If your money is held in a foreign currency account, we
may convert such amounts into Australian Dollars using the prevailing HSBC
exchange rate that is applicable at the time, irrespective of the currency in
which such monies are held.
Before we pay what is left to you, if you still owe us money and don’t pay this
when we ask, we may take legal action against you to recover these amounts
where it is reasonably necessary to do so to protect our legitimate interests. If
you do not owe any further money, we will pay you the amount of any credit
balance. You’re responsible for cancelling payments into and out of your
account. You must destroy your card and where you were issued a cheque
book linked to your account, any unused cheques.
The terms of our agreement continue to apply for so long as you have an
account or product with us and if applicable, until all monies you owe us have
been fully repaid.
51. HELP WE CAN OFFER IF YOU WANT TO SWITCH TO ANOTHER
BANK ACCOUNT
This clause only applies to transaction and savings accounts.
If you give us the details we need, we’ll transfer the money in your transaction or
savings account (less any amounts you owe us) to your new account and give you
the information we have about standing orders, other recurring payments and any
direct debits within 5 Business Days so you can transfer them to your new account.
We won’t charge you for this.
Other useful information
52. TRANSFERRING YOUR AGREEMENT AND THE SECURITY
This clause applies to all products.
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Can we transfer your agreement? Can you transfer your
agreement?
Yes.
Acting reasonably, we can transfer or
assign some or all of our rights under
any of the agreements between you and
us, and in relation to your accounts, to
someone else where we have a legitimate
business interest in doing so.
We can novate some or all of our
obligations under any of the agreements
between you and us, and in relation to
your accounts, but only to someone we
reasonably consider capable of performing
them equally as well as us and who is
authorised or recognised by our regulator
as holding the relevant licensed to
continue providing you with your product.
This won’t reduce any of your rights in
relation to your accounts.
If we choose to do this:
• it will be at no charge to you and we will
give you 30 days’ prior notice before
doing so and
• where any of our agreements says ‘we’,
‘us’, ‘our’ or ‘HSBC Australia’ this will
now mean the person we’ve transferred
to but only to the extent that rights
have been given to them. You’ll have to
continue do everything you currently
have to do but to the person we transfer
to instead of us e.g. you’ll have to pay
them instead of us and
• the person we’ve transferred to can still
rely on anything done or received before
the transfer.
No. You can’t transfer any of your
rights or novate:
• any of your obligations in relation
to our agreement or your
account, or
• the ownership of your account,
to any other person.
This is because we need to know
exactly who we are dealing with
including so that we can comply
with anti-money laundering
laws, so that our products are
suitable for them and for when
we securitise any loan you have
with us (where applicable). Our
agreement with you is based on
our assessment on you and so we
can’t allow your product or service
to be transferred to someone else.
However, you can appoint
attorneys and use TPPs agreement
– see clauses 26 (‘Can someone
else operate your account for
you?’) and 29 (‘Using a third-party
provider').
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Novate
When we say ‘novate’, we
mean that someone else
can perform our obligations
under the agreement
between us and you.
We may also delegate some or all of our powers to someone else. Anything done
by our delegate or their representatives will be treated as if done by us.
53. TAX
This clause applies to all products.
You’re responsible for obtaining your own tax, legal and accounting advice and
must be aware of (in Australia and if applicable, overseas):
• any tax you may need to pay in relation to any money in your account and any
rewards and benefits you receive in relation to any accounts or cards and
• any tax obligations you may have (such as filing requirements).
Where we are required to, we will collect or deduct tax from your payments or
accounts. You’re also required to pay us any GST or other tax we incur on your
behalf in connection with any of our agreements with you. If you are not an
Australian tax resident, we must deduct non-resident withholding tax from any
interest payments to you. If you are an Australian tax resident but you have not
provided us with your tax details, then we will deduct withholding tax from any
interest payments to you unless an exemption applies. We will also do the same
if you have not provided us with information, we have requested about a person
connected to you such as a guarantor, director, trustee, ocer etc. The amount of
this withholding tax and further information can be found at www.ato.gov.au
Occasionally, we may also have to deduct withholding tax if you have a foreign
tax obligation. We will pay this to the relevant foreign tax authority in accordance
with the HSBC Group tax and reporting obligations.
We are not responsible for any of your tax or related obligations (such as reporting
or filing). You should seek independent professional advice if you are unsure about
them.
54. RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH FOREIGN CURRENCY ACCOUNTS
This clause applies to transaction and savings accounts that hold foreign currency.
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General Foreign currency risks
Foreign currency accounts can have risks.
Some examples of this are set out below but other risks may also exist:
• Past performance of a currency is not necessarily an indication of its future
performance.
• Due to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, a rate of exchange when you hold
a balance in a foreign currency may be dierent from the rate of exchange when
carrying out the actual currency transfer.
We recommend that you obtain independent financial, legal and taxation advice
before you enter into currency transfers or transactions involving foreign currencies.
Tax Considerations
We pay interest in full if you’re an Australian resident for tax purposes and you’ve
provided:
• your tax file number or
• your ABN (if you have one) or
• you satisfy us that you have an exemption from doing so.
Foreign taxation considerations
Transactions (in particular withdrawals) in relation to foreign currencies may give
rise to taxable gains or losses. The treatment of these transactions for taxation
purposes will depend on your individual circumstances and you should seek
appropriate tax advice.
55. OUR RIGHTS
This clause applies to all products.
If we decide not to enforce any of our terms or our rights in our agreements when
we’re entitled to, we don’t waive our right to take that action (even in similar
circumstances). For example, if we don’t charge a fee when we normally would, we
are entitled to charge this to you at a later date or ensure that we charge it going
forward.
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56. RECOVERING COSTS AND EXPENSES FROM YOU
This clause applies to all products.
We may take steps to recover any money you owe us (such as appointing an
agent or through legal proceedings). We may even pass on to you any reasonable
costs we incur in doing so.
We’re also entitled to claim costs from you that we have reasonably incurred when
defending our position in a dispute between you and a third party where we’re not
at fault or done anything wrong. An example of this would be where we’ve been
given a subpoena in a dispute you’re having with someone else.
57. COMMISSIONS
This clause applies to all products.
We may pay commissions to third parties, when your account is opened, if an
entity introduced you to us. Details of the commission, if known, will be set out in
the letter of oer or credit card schedule if you have a credit product. If you have a
transaction account or savings account, we may pay commission to a comparison
rate website, but the amount is unascertainable.
We may also receive a service fee from a retailer when we run oers, for example
where we oer promotional interest free transactions on credit cards. These
amounts are unascertainable and vary depending on the oer. We may also
receive payments from Visa or Mastercard schemes. These amounts are also
unascertainable and may vary.
58. TRANSACTION QUERIES
This clause applies to all products.
Please check your statements closely. If you have a transaction query, please
contact us as soon as possible by:
• calling us on 1300 308 008. If you are calling from overseas dial:
+ 61 2 9005 8220 (you may be charged by the phone provider) or
• visiting hsbc.com.au/help/contact/ or
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• visiting any of our branches.
59. COMPLAINTS, DISPUTED TRANSACTIONS AND
INVESTIGATIONS
This clause applies to all products.
If you contact us to make a complaint, dispute a transaction or ask us to investigate
a payment that you think might be mistaken or unauthorised, we will follow the
process in this table.
Complaints If you are dissatisfied with any of our products, services, sta
or the handling of another complaint then you may raise a
complaint with us. If you do, we aim to acknowledge your
complaint within 1 Business Day of receiving it
Our Investigation
We aim to resolve most issues within 5 Business Days of
receiving your complaint. Some matters are more complex
and can take a little longer. If that is the case, we’ll keep you
informed of our progress.
If we’re unable to resolve your complaint within 30 days of
receiving it, we’ll write to you and inform you of the reasons for
the delay.
If we need more time to investigate and resolve your complaint,
we’ll explain why and provide an expected date for the outcome.
We’ll keep you informed of our progress and provide you with
the contact details of our external dispute resolution provider, the
Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), who you may
wish to contact to have your complaint reviewed if you think the
matter hasn’t been resolved or dealt with satisfactorily. Clause
60 (‘Results of our Investigations’) below sets out further details
about this process.
Complaints about financial hardship and debt collection
If your complaint is related to financial hardship or debt
collection decisions made by us, we will handle your complaint
in accordance with applicable laws.
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Complaints Please see clause 44 (’How do we communicate?’) of this
booklet for further details about how you may contact us if you
are encountering financial diculty.
Disputed
Transactions
Card Transactions Resolve Directly with Merchant
If you use a card (including via a digital wallet) to make a
purchase, and you have been charged more than what you
agreed to pay or didn’t authorise the purchase, you should try to
resolve the dispute with the merchant.
If you’re unsuccessful, you can ask us to make a ‘chargeback’
request to the merchant’s bank for you under the relevant card
scheme rules. We can’t always claim a chargeback (e.g. if your
complaint relates to a special promotion).
Chargeback Requests
In some cases, a chargeback right may exist. This means that
we may be able to claim a refund from the merchant on your
behalf. However, there are time limits for making a chargeback
request, and dierent time limits apply depending on the type of
transaction and the card scheme of your card (i.e. if it is a Visa or
a Mastercard). We do not control these time limits.
It is in your interest to report any disputed transaction to us as
soon as possible so that we may reasonably investigate it.
If you do not notify us promptly, the ability to dispute a
transaction may be lost, and you may be held liable for the loss.
We’ll investigate your claim and may ask you to provide
information which we reasonably need to raise a chargeback
request.
If you notify us in time, and the scheme rules governing your
transaction states that you are entitled to raise a chargeback, we
will process the credit to your account for the amount initially
debited for the transaction.
However, the merchant also has rights to have the transaction
further investigated and you will be re-debited if they provide
adequate evidence. Not all chargeback requests are successful.
We’ll either refund the payment or inform you of the reason for
refusing the refund.
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Disputed
Transactions
Your card obligations pending our investigation
Whilst we investigate your disputed transaction, we may
suspend your obligation to pay any amount which is the subject
of the dispute or any credit or other interest charges related to
that amount until your dispute has been resolved. However, you
will need to continue making at least your monthly minimum
payments on your account. Your obligation to pay the disputed
transaction amount and/or charges will be reinstated if the
outcome of the dispute is not found in your favour.
No chargeback rights
Where no chargeback right exists and the card transaction is
done electronically, we will handle the dispute in accordance
with the ePayments Code.
Mistaken
Internet
Payments
For the timings and processes that will apply to a mistaken
internet payment, please refer to clause 6 (‘What should you
do if you suspect an incorrect payment payment, unauthorised
payment or mistaken internet payment from your account?’) for
more details.
Electronic
transactions
that are
not card
transactions
We will handle disputes relating to electronic transactions that
are not card transactions in accordance with the ePayments
Code.
However, for card transactions where we are unable to
exercise chargeback rights, we will also handle their disputes in
accordance with the ePayments Code.
60. RESULTS OF OUR INVESTIGATIONS
This clause applies to all products.
When we complete our investigation of your complaint, disputed transaction or
mistaken / unauthorised payment (“Enquiry”), we will inform you of:
• our conclusions and
• the reasons for our conclusions and
• if applicable, the areas of the ePayments Code that apply to our conclusions and
• any further action you can take in respect of your Enquiry, where relevant.
We will adjust your account accordingly (including any interest and charges) and
notify you in writing of the amount of the adjustment, where we determine you are
not responsible for a transaction. We’ll refund the payment as soon as we are able
to.
If your complaint hasn’t been resolved or dealt with satisfactorily, you may wish to
contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (“AFCA”). The AFCA Scheme
is a free service established to provide you with an independent mechanism to
resolve specific complaints.
AFCA can be contacted by:
• phone 1800 931 678
• email at [email protected]
• online at www.afca.org.au or
• mail at GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001.
61. WHAT COUNTRY’S COURTS AND LAWS APPLY TO THIS
AGREEMENT AND OUR DEALINGS
This clause applies to all products.
Products Laws and courts that apply
For all products
other than a home
loan
The laws of New South Wales, Australia will apply.
You and we agree to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of
courts exercising jurisdiction in New South Wales.
For home loans See your Home Loan Terms for information about
which laws and courts applies to that agreement.
If you aren’t an Australian resident, you may be required to appoint an agent for
service of process in Australia. If you have an oset savings account or a Home
Loan Transaction (Non Oset) Account, we’ll serve documents by certified or
registered airmail postage prepaid to you at your address or to any appointed
process agent.
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PART D: NATIONAL CREDIT CODE INFORMATION STATEMENT
IMPORTANT: If you have a credit card, home loan or personal loan that is regulated
under the National Credit Code, we are required to provide you with the following
information statement. This information is for your benefit and you should ensure
you take the time to read it.
Form 5—Information statement
paragraph 16(1)(b) of the Code
regulation 70 of the Regulations
Things you should know about your proposed credit contract
This statement tells you about some of the rights and obligations of yourself and your
credit provider. It does not state the terms and conditions of your contract.
If you have any concerns about your contract, contact the credit provider and, if you
still have concerns, the AFCA scheme, or get legal advice.
The contract
. HOW CAN I GET DETAILS OF MY PROPOSED CREDIT CONTRACT?
Your credit provider must give you a pre-contractual statement containing certain
information about your contract. The pre-contractual statement, and this document,
must be given to you before—
• your contract is entered into or
• you make an oer to enter into the contract
whichever happens first.
. HOW CAN I GET A COPY OF THE FINAL CONTRACT?
If the contract document is to be signed by you and returned to your credit
provider, you must be given a copy to keep. Also, the credit provider must give
you a copy of the final contract within 14 days after it is made. This rule does
not, however, apply if the credit provider has previously given you a copy of the
contract document to keep.
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If you want another copy of your contract, write to your credit provider and ask
for one. Your credit provider may charge you a fee. Your credit provider has to
give you a copy—
• within 14 days of your written request if the original contract came into
existence 1 year or less before your request or
• otherwise within 30 days of your written request.
. CAN I TERMINATE THE CONTRACT?
Yes. You can terminate the contract by writing to the credit provider so long as—
• you have not obtained any credit under the contract or
• a card or other means of obtaining credit given to you by your credit provider
has not been used to acquire goods or services for which credit is to be
provided under the contract.
However, you will still have to pay any fees or charges incurred before you
terminated the contract.
. CAN I PAY MY CREDIT CONTRACT OUT EARLY?
Yes. Pay your credit provider the amount required to pay out your credit contract
on the day you wish to end your contract.
. HOW CAN I FIND OUT THE PAY OUT FIGURE?
You can write to your credit provider at any time and ask for a statement of the
payout figure as at any date you specify. You can also ask for details of how the
amount is made up.
Your credit provider must give you the statement within 7 days after you give your
request to the credit provider. You may be charged a fee for the statement.
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. WILL I PAY LESS INTEREST IF I PAY OUT MY CONTRACT EARLY?
Yes. The interest you can be charged depends on the actual time money is owing.
However, you may have to pay an early termination charge (if your contract
permits your credit provider to charge one) and other fees.
. CAN MY CONTRACT BE CHANGED BY MY CREDIT PROVIDER?
Yes, but only if your contract says so.
. WILL I BE TOLD IN ADVANCE IF MY CREDIT PROVIDER IS
GOING TO MAKE A CHANGE IN THE CONTRACT?
That depends on the type of change. For example—
• you get at least same day notice for a change to an annual percentage rate.
That notice may be a written notice to you or a notice published by your credit
provider.
• you get 20 days advance written notice for—
• a change in the way in which interest is calculated or
• a change in credit fees and charges or
• any other changes by your credit provider
except where the change reduces what you have to pay or the change happens
automatically under the contract.
. IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO IF I THINK THAT MY CONTRACT
IS UNJUST?
Yes. You should first talk to your credit provider. Discuss the matter and see if you
can come to some arrangement.
If that is not successful, you may contact the AFCA scheme. The AFCA scheme
is a free service established to provide you with an independent mechanism to
resolve specific complaints. The AFCA scheme can be contacted at 1800 931
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678, [email protected], www.afca.org.au or GPO Box 3 MELBOURNE VIC 3001.
Alternatively, you can go to court. You may wish to get legal advice, for example
from your community legal centre or Legal Aid.
You can also contact ASIC, the regulator, for information on 1300 300 630 or
through ASIC’s website at www.asic.gov.au
Insurance
. DO I HAVE TO TAKE OUT INSURANCE?
Your credit provider can insist you take out or pay the cost of types of insurance
specifically allowed by law. These are compulsory third party personal injury
insurance, mortgage indemnity insurance or insurance over property covered by
any mortgage. Otherwise, you can decide if you want to take out insurance or
not. If you take out insurance, the credit provider cannot insist that you use any
particular insurance company.
. WILL I GET DETAILS OF MY INSURANCE COVER?
Yes, if you have taken out insurance over mortgaged property or consumer credit
insurance and the premium is financed by your credit provider. In that case the
insurer must give you a copy of the policy within 14 days after the insurer has
accepted the insurance proposal.
Also, if you acquire an interest in any such insurance policy which is taken out by
your credit provider then, within 14 days of that happening, your credit provider
must ensure you have a written notice of the particulars of that insurance.
You can always ask the insurer for details of your insurance contract. If you ask
in writing, your insurer must give you a statement containing all the provisions of
the contract.
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. IF THE INSURER DOES NOT ACCEPT MY PROPOSAL, WILL I BE
TOLD?
Yes, if the insurance was to be financed by the credit contract. The insurer will
inform you if the proposal is rejected.
. IN THAT CASE, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PREMIUMS?
Your credit provider must give you a refund or credit unless the insurance is to be
arranged with another insurer.
. WHAT HAPPENS IF MY CREDIT CONTRACT ENDS BEFORE
ANY INSURANCE CONTRACT OVER MORTGAGED PROPERTY?
You can end the insurance contract and get a proportionate rebate of any
premium from the insurer.
Mortgages
. IF MY CONTRACT SAYS I HAVE TO GIVE A MORTGAGE, WHAT
DOES THIS MEAN?
A mortgage means that you give your credit provider certain rights over any
property you mortgage. If you default under your contract, you can lose that
property and you might still owe money to the credit provider.
. SHOULD I GET A COPY OF MY MORTGAGE?
Yes. It can be part of your credit contract or, if it is a separate document, you will
be given a copy of the mortgage within 14 days after your mortgage is entered
into.
However, you need not be given a copy if the credit provider has previously given
you a copy of the mortgage document to keep.
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. IS THERE ANYTHING THAT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DO WITH
THE PROPERTY I HAVE MORTGAGED?
The law says you cannot assign or dispose of the property unless you have your
credit provider’s, or the court’s, permission. You must also look after the property.
Read the mortgage document as well. It will usually have other terms and
conditions about what you can or cannot do with the property.
. WHAT CAN I DO IF I FIND THAT I CANNOT AFFORD MY
REPAYMENTS AND THERE IS A MORTGAGE OVER PROPERTY?
See the answers to questions 22 and 23.
Otherwise you may —
• if the mortgaged property is goods — give the property back to your credit
provider, together with a letter saying you want the credit provider to sell the
property for you
• sell the property, but only if your credit provider gives permission first
OR
• give the property to someone who may then take over the repayments, but only
if your credit provider gives permission first.
If your credit provider won’t give permission, you can contact the AFCA scheme
for help.
If you have a guarantor, talk to the guarantor who may be able to help you.
You should understand that you may owe money to your credit provider even
after the mortgaged property is sold.
. CAN MY CREDIT PROVIDER TAKE OR SELL THE MORTGAGED
PROPERTY?
Yes, if you have not carried out all of your obligations under your contract.
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. IF MY CREDIT PROVIDER WRITES ASKING ME WHERE THE
MORTGAGED GOODS ARE, DO I HAVE TO SAY WHERE THEY ARE?
Yes. You have 7 days after receiving your credit provider’s request to tell your
credit provider. If you do not have the goods you must give your credit provider all
the information you have so they can be traced.
. WHEN CAN MY CREDIT PROVIDER OR ITS AGENT COME INTO
A RESIDENCE TO TAKE POSSESSION OF MORTGAGED GOODS?
Your credit provider can only do so if it has the court’s approval or the written
consent of the occupier which is given after the occupier is informed in writing of
the relevant section in the National Credit Code.
General
. WHAT DO I DO IF I CANNOT MAKE A REPAYMENT?
Get in touch with your credit provider immediately. Discuss the matter and see if
you can come to some arrangement. You can ask your credit provider to change
your contract in a number of ways—
• to extend the term of your contract and reduce payments or
• to extend the term of your contract and delay payments for a set time or
• to delay payments for a set time.
. WHAT IF MY CREDIT PROVIDER AND I CANNOT AGREE ON A
SUITABLE ARRANGEMENT?
If the credit provider refuses your request to change the repayments, you can ask
the credit provider to review this decision if you think it is wrong.
If the credit provider still refuses your request you can complain to the AFCA
scheme. Further details about this scheme are set out below in question 25.
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. CAN MY CREDIT PROVIDER TAKE ACTION AGAINST ME?
Yes, if you are in default under your contract. But the law says that you cannot be
unduly harassed or threatened for repayments. If you think you are being unduly
harassed or threatened, contact the AFCA scheme or ASIC, or get legal advice.
. DO I HAVE ANY OTHER RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS?
Yes. The law will give you other rights and obligations. You should also read your
contract carefully.
If you have any complaints about your credit contract, or want more information,
contact your credit provider. You must attempt to resolve your complaint with
your credit provider before contacting the AFCA Scheme. If you have a complaint
which remains unresolved after speaking to your credit provider, you can contact
the AFCA Scheme or get legal advice.
The AFCA Scheme is a free service established to provide you with an
independent mechanism to resolve specific complaints. The AFCA Scheme can
be contacted:
• By phone on 1800 931 678 or
• Website at afca.org.au or
• By email at [email protected] or
• By mailing to GPO Box 3 Melbourne VIC 3001
Please keep this information statement. You may want some information from it
at a later date.
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Issued by
HSBC Bank Australia Limited
ABN 48 006 434 162
AFSL/Australian Credit Licence 232595
GPO Box 5302 Sydney NSW 2001
T: 1300 308 008
W: hsbc.com.au
HBAAGEN163-NOC-R13-0724
