Premier Bank Account

If you'd like to open an HSBC Premier Account, you must fulfil all the following:

• You're 18 years or older
• You can provide us with certified proof of your identity and address and 1 month's bank statements from your current bank (translated into English if appropriate)
• You're a UK resident for the purposes of lending, savings, travel insurance benefits, Cancer Bereavement Cover and preferential rates - this is subject to status and meeting HSBC's proof of UK address requirement

New customers qualifying via savings or investments, or individual annual income, have six months to meet the criteria.

Existing customers must meet the criteria prior to being upgraded to Premier.

For eligibility purposes, HSBC in the UK excludes M&S, first direct and HSBC Expat, and includes Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man for CIIOM.

For the income criteria, in the case of a joint account, at least one of the parties must have an individual annual income of at least £100,000.

You're eligible for cover if you're:

• Under 70 years of age when your trip starts - but when you reach 70 you'll no longer be covered by HSBC Premier Travel Insurance
• Resident in the UK, (not including Channel Islands or Isle of Man)
• Registered with a doctor in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man and liable to pay local taxes?
• Going to start and finish your trip in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man?

Other things to consider:

Are there any dependent children aged under 18 at the start of the trip, or under 23 if they are in full-time education and live with you outside term time? If so they'll only be covered when travelling with the account holder or their domestic partner, or whilst travelling abroad on their own to visit and stay with close relatives for the duration of the trip.

You'll need to call the HSBC Medical Risk Assessment Helpline on 0800 051 7457 before booking your trip if you or any insured person in the last 12 months have:

• Been prescribed medication
• Received or are awaiting medical treatment, tests or investigations
• Been referred to a specialist or admitted to hospital for any condition not listed on the accepted conditions list in the 'Your Health' section in the policy booklet

You should also tell us before you travel if there's been any changes to your health, or you've been referred to a consultant or specialist, or admitted to hospital.

There's no cover for undiagnosed symptoms or any claim where you knew at the time of opening your HSBC Premier Bank Account, or booking your trip (whichever is later), that you or your travelling companion may be unable to travel or may need to come home early, for example for an illness of a close relative or travel companion.

Pre-existing conditions aren't covered at any time under the policy unless listed within the accepted conditions list or have been disclosed to and accepted in writing by the HSBC Medical Risk Assessment Helpline.

You must also declare any serious illness, injury or disease suffered by anyone whose health may cause you to cancel or abandon your travel plans, such as a close relative or travelling companion.

Pre-existing medical conditions aren't covered at any time under the policy unless they've been disclosed to and accepted in writing by the HSBC Medical Risk Assessment Helpline.

An arranged overdraft lets you borrow money (up to an agreed limit) if there’s no money left in your account. Useful if you're hit with an unexpected bill.

If a payment would take you over your arranged limit (or if you don’t have one), we may let you borrow using an unarranged overdraft. It's possible that payments you try to make using an unarranged overdraft may be declined. However, we'll always try to allow essential payments if we can.

You can apply for an arranged overdraft when you open your account (if you apply online), or at any time later. You can ask to increase, remove or reduce your limit at any time in online or mobile banking, by phone or in branch. Your new limit can't be less than what you owe.

We report account activity, including overdraft usage to credit reference agencies. An unarranged overdraft lasting more than 30 days could have a negative impact on your credit rating.

Overdrafts are designed for short-term borrowing only and are subject to status.

If we’ve got your mobile number we’ll send you an SMS text alert if you’ve gone overdrawn, or we know you’re about to. These alerts help you manage your overdraft usage to avoid being charged interest.

You can opt out of overdraft text alerts by phone or in branch – but note you’ll be opting out of alerts for all your current accounts with us. If you opt out or we don’t have an up-to-date number for you, you may end up paying interest you could have avoided.

The first £500 is interest-free. Anything you borrow above that, but within your arranged or unarranged overdraft limit, will be charged interest at 39.9% EAR (variable).[@ear-explanation]

The monthly cap on unarranged overdraft charges for the HSBC Premier Account is £20. Further details can be found online at our Overdrafts page.

Representative example: 0% EAR (variable) on the first £500, 39.9% EAR (variable) on anything above that, giving a representative annual percentage rate (APR) of 21.8% APR (variable).[@apr-explanation] Based on an arranged overdraft of £1,200.

How does our overdraft compare? The representative APR shows the cost of borrowing over a year, so you can use it to compare the cost of our overdraft against other overdrafts and ways of borrowing.

To find out more, visit our Overdrafts page, where you can find out if you’re eligible for an arranged overdraft and use our overdraft cost calculator.

You may not be eligible for some account features if you remain resident outside the UK.

Apply for a sole account online

If you live outside the UK and you're interested in applying for a joint account, check the options available to you via our international services page.