Closing a bank account

[bc-chris]

This past December our mortgage came up for renewal. After talking to a couple of banks, my wife and I decided to switch our mortgage from HSBC to CIBC (we have all our other banking stuff at CIBC and liked the idea of only having to deal with one bank… and they have killer good hours!)

Since our mortgage has now switched to CIBC, we went into HSBC yesterday to close the bank account. The HSBC account was strictly a mortgage account – that’s the only thing we used it for – as a result, we’ve only ever been into HSBC three times over the last 5 years – once to open the account in 2005, once in early December of 2010 to put a big lump-sum payment down on our mortgage and then yesterday to close the account.

I was pretty shocked when we went in yesterday becuz all we had was a statement we got in the mail and told them that we wanted to close the account and withdrawal the remaining money…. about $1000. They took our statement, pulled up our account info, made us sign a form (only one of us had to sign it and the account was a joint account), got us our cash and that was that. What blew my mind was that they didn’t ask for ANY i.d. at all!?! …and it’s not like they knew us… being in that particular branch only twice (we set the account up at a different branch).

Has anyone else experienced that??? I’m trying to recall when I closed down my TD account a few years back – it took forever and I had to produce driver’s license plus other i.d.

I just think it would be waaaaay too easy to snag someone’s bank statement from their mailbox, go to a bank, claim to be them and clean out their account.

[Deegee]

At our Credit Union we request ID if we do not know you and I generally request the staff to allow me to ask what we have done wrong to lose business so we can improve as an organization.

I can't speak for other FIs, but I know we have the capability to electronically store your signature so when you're doing a transaction we can verify it. HSBC may have something similar.

Joint accounts are generally setup one to sign, so it doesn't surprise me only one person was required to sign the account closed. There is no difference between you closing the account tand you both having a debit card and one person draining the account.

[red sky]

They should have ID'd you for sure, especially since you didn't have to enter your pin in or anything. Worked at TD for a few years and that was the standard... so I thought.

[mrkajz44]

Sadly not asking for ID is happening way more these days because of all the jerks that make a huge fuss when anyone asks for ID. I used to work at a bank and the number of times I got yelled at for asking for ID was crazy; like i had some magic power to identify people. Some tellers are now afraid to ask and let things like this happen

[ynwa03]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Sadly not asking for ID is happening way more these days because of all the jerks that make a huge fuss when anyone asks for ID. I used to work at a bank and the number of times I got yelled at for asking for ID was crazy; like i had some magic power to identify people. Some tellers are now afraid to ask and let things like this happen

This.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Everything I've heard about local HSBC branches is usually downright bad. Which is weird as HSBC is strong overseas.

[bc-chris]

HSBC was BRUTAL!!!!!!!!

the lady that got us our original mortgage was amazing - she was great - but after she left it was an entirely different story.

i called the 'local' number for hsbc in kelowna and i got put thru to hongkong... seriously... i could NOT understand the guy i was talking to... eventually he called my local branch (i guess becuz i'm not worthy of having that number myself) and left a message for someone to call me who could speak english!

hsbc made getting our mortgage transferred to cibc a 42 day headache - doing everything in their power to delay and derail the process.... and it sounds like this is the norm for them.

the best locked-in rate that hsbc would give us was 3.5% and that was only if we had $20,000 invested with them. we don't have a nickle 'invested' with cibc and got 3.3%

and they let us close out our account without ANY i.d.

i would never recommend hsbc to anyone.... ever!

[Deegee]

All the FIs can be difficult to get stuff out of.

Heard some stories of ATB and CIBC over the last two years sending their business clients out letters stating their accounts were moving from Prime + 1/2% to Prime + 1% (or an increase of something similar).

One lady brought in her letter moving her from P + 3% to P + 6%.

Point I am getting at is all FIs can be kind of funny, Banks and Credit Unions included. Lots of times the balance sheet of the operation forces the FI to do something they may not want to.

[Sr. Mints]

I kind of feel the same way when retailers don't ask for my ID when I use my credit cards. I've written "ask for ID" instead of signing them, and always have my ID ready.

[Ace]

At about $1000 you probably don't meet their policy. I'm guessing your balance was slightly below $1000 and they don't need ID to process that. The bank probably feels the risk is low.

I know at TD I seem to get asked for ID even when I enter my pin if the transaction is over $1000.

[AMG_G]

I once walked into a CIBC handed them my convenience card then withdrew $5k cash without being asked for ID. I said to the teller I am very scared that I can just come in hand you a card and withdraw money so easily...no pin or picture ID. She said they will ask for ID if they suspect something...great now I feel much better since she is trained in spotting suspicious people. I check my accounts like a hawk because the system is so easily scammed.