Wealth Blog | HSBC customer confusion continues
Check your HSBC ATM card - chances are it says UnionPay on the back, where is used to have Cirrus and Plus. I suspect the unlucky folks at the World's Local Bank who have to implement the new UnionPay chip card clearing system wish the whole thing would just vanish.
Thus one just refuses to go away. All because HSBC binned the global Cirrus and Plus ATM clearing systems for the cheaper (for them) Chiba-based UnionPay system. UnionPay may one day become as widely accepted as the other two, but the signs are that this may take some time. Check your HSBC ATM card - chances are it says UnionPay on the back, where is used to have Cirrus and Plus. I suspect the unlucky folks at the World's Local Bank who have to implement the new UnionPay chip card clearing system wish the whole thing would just vanish.
It all started when, according to HSBC's latest email missive to ATM cardholders; they undertook to replace magnetic strip ATM cards with ATM chip cards, to "strengthen security controls for ATM services, as mandated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority".
This is one of those wonderful statements that sound infallible, until you think about it. If the HKMA really did this, how come the other banks don't seem obliged to follow suit? Citibank has not contacted me to bring me the same news. Or sent me a new card. But then neither did HSBC until this column and the Post's print version started to record the experiences of exasperated HSBC cardholders, who suddenly found themselves cashless overseas when their ATM cards were rejected.
This new email makes it all sound hunky dory. Sure, your new UnionPay HSBC ATM card will work in many countries, in HSBC and Hang Seng Bank machines. It fails to mention any other banks - many of which accepted the old Cirrus and Plus cards. So good news, you can use your new UnionPay card in two banks in several countries - but not Argentina, Brazil, France, Greece, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama or Turkey. That's correct, as it stands, you can't withdraw your own money from an HSBC machine in Paris.
HSBC remains upbeat about all this, pointing out that if you still want to use the numerous Cirrus and Plus machines, you can do so, by linking your HSBC credit card, which is still Cirrus compatible, with your new chip card. Fine in theory, but there's no mention that you will probably be charged for this withdrawal as a credit card cash advance. That happened to a reader who followed the helpful advice of HSBC Hong Kong before she set off to Holland.
Your card's in the mail