Firstdirect sucks

I’ve been moaning about Internet banking Web applications for awhile now. However this aggressively marketed HSBC Firstdirect banking service couldn’t escape the blog treatment.

• It’s free to view your statements on your mobile until 2007! Isn’t that amazing? Amazing that viewing your statements is somehow not as free on the ‘Mobile Web’!
• Requires Windows, IE, and ActiveX. Seriously OLD SKOOL. I wonder if I can still dial up and telnet on their system?
• Their demo of screenshots. No you can’t demo the actual Web application. Not until you’re signed up. By which you can get 100GBP if you don’t like it… (that’s satisfaction guaranteed!) Err, that’s after you’ve pumped 9000GBP through their system in 6 months.

Honestly get a clue HSBC. I was interested in getting an HSBC account, because I heard (unconfirmed) you could do international transfers in their Web banking application. That would save me a ton of hassle, as I currently need to go to my Barclays high street branch to do a transfer to the EU. And pay 20GBP for the privilege of filling forms over and over again.

However that killer “international transfers” feature is missing from the ‘innovative’ firstdirect Web banking feature list. The Internet is global and I want a decent Web banking application!