HSBC Advanced account - £6 under threshold

Arsonist · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:22

G'day all.

Quick money / banking related question for you all.

I'm looking to switch my current account and open a new savings account as mine are currently offering me 0.2%.

HSBC are currently offering £175 for switching to their advanced current account, and a linked 1 year 5% fixed savings account. Brilliant. However this account requires you to pay in (earn) £1750 a month. After NI, tax and 10% pensions, I bring home £1744 a month, so £6 shy of this figure.

Can the great GD (short of decreasing my pensions to 9%) think of any way I can increase my earnings to meet the threshold? I asked the bank and they said month transfers from another account (e.g. my partner transferring me £50 a month for bills) wouldn't count as it couldn't be a 'third party account'. So the 'paid in' amount can come from 2 locations, but must be an organisation 'paying' me and not an individual's personal account transferring me money.

Tl;dr: I need to increase my earnings by £6 a month to qualify for a certain bank account. How?
Cheers all!

Edit. I just got a pay rise this month already so can't do that for another few months minimum!

Mason- · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:24

Pay rise? Reduce your pension contributions?

If the £1750 needs to come from a single source, have your wage paid into your partners account and get them to send you £1750 a month as your pay (requires a lot of trust).

h4rm0ny · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:27

Arsonist said:
G'day all.

Quick money / banking related question for you all.

I'm looking to switch my current account and open a new savings account as mine are currently offering me 0.2%.

HSBC are currently offering £175 for switching to their advanced current account, and a linked 1 year 5% fixed savings account. Brilliant. However this account requires you to pay in (earn) £1750 a month. After NI, tax and 10% pensions, I bring home £1744 a month, so £6 shy of this figure.

Can the great GD (short of decreasing my pensions to 9%) think of any way I can increase my earnings to meet the threshold? I asked the bank and they said month transfers from another account (e.g. my partner transferring me £50 a month for bills) wouldn't count as it couldn't be a 'third party account'.

Tl;dr: I need to increase my earnings by £6 a month to qualify for a certain bank account. How?
Cheers all!

Go to your boss, ask for a pay rise. That would be my advice. Failing that, paper round to bump up the income.

Russinating · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:29

Pay rise. Or can you buy back holiday and ask for it to spread over 12 months?

peterwalkley · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:31

Wait a couple of months: the tax bands usually all change come April ... hold off until then as either you will automagically qualify, or the changes will stuff you and you fall even further away from the threshold.

josh_sheffield · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:44

I think you might struggle with this. Maybe just wait until after April when you should qualify with the increase in personal allowance. Or, and a little unethical, apply saying you meet the criteria. I have a premier account and I applied over the phone, I was only asked to prove income at a much later date when I was in branch for something else. I believe they only periodically review eligibility.

h4rm0ny · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:47

Russinating said:
Pay rise. Or can you buy back holiday and ask for it to spread over 12 months?

Buy back holiday is a good idea. You'd only need to give up one day.

Martynt74 · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:47

Open a second account. Then transfer £10 out and then £10 back in again

Mason- · 18 Feb 2019 at 17:55

peterwalkley said:
Wait a couple of months: the tax bands usually all change come April ... hold off until then as either you will automagically qualify, or the changes will stuff you and you fall even further away from the threshold.

This is a good shout, personal allowance is increasing. That should get you over the threshold.

pinkpound · 18 Feb 2019 at 18:10

Marvt74 said:
Open a second account. Then transfer £10 out and then £10 back in again

This . Worked for me on an account that wanted "x" amount paid in to qualify

Rroff · 18 Feb 2019 at 18:22

Arsonist said:
I'm looking to switch my current account and open a new savings account as mine are currently offering me 0.2%

It is pretty dismal

I had some decent length bonus rates on my savings which carried me for awhile but now they've all expired and its like 0.28% and the interest has gone from reasonable to might as well not bother.

tamzzy · 18 Feb 2019 at 18:25

I have an HSBC advance account - but it's not my primary account.

1) they'll run a credit check before the account is opened - just FYI
2) it doesn't matter where the money comes from (mine isn't from pay), as long as it's not an account within HSBC (or first direct i think as well, as they're linked)
3) you can have another account with another bank, and do a double transfer to hit the £1750 monthly minimum

4) the linked £250 5% regular saver is good. i suggest opening a first direct account too, as they have a £300 5% regular saver - MS bank (£250) and nationwide (£250) do too - if you can save that much monthly

Steeps · 18 Feb 2019 at 18:33

Could you put money in a Paypal account then pay it out back to your main account £10 at a time each month? Paypal isn't a personal account.

Freakbro · 18 Feb 2019 at 19:27

Just transfer in £6 from a different bank account, job done

SaintJimmy · 18 Feb 2019 at 19:27

As previously mentioned, wait until April. The tax allowance increase will net you just over £10 a month.