Students Pressure Bank Using Facebook
August 29th, 2007
The internet is the power behind yet another consumer protest - this time, students have joined together on Facebook to protest against HSBC’s decision to scrap a 3-year interest free deal on their graduate accounts.
Around 3,500 students have joined the “Stop The Great HSBC Graduate Rip-Off” group to try to get HSBC to reverse their decision.
A HSBC spokesperson has responded saying that graduates will still benefit from a discounted rate (9.9% rather than 18.9%), but this is still a high rate for those leaving university with thousand pounds worth of debt.
Regardless of the outcome, I think it’s great that banks are seeing pressure put on them by their customers in this way. As I’ve mentioned before, the internet really helped to fuel the “reclaiming bank charges” campaign, and we are seeing it bring together more and more people into groups with similar views on poor customer service or unfair products. Ultimately, however, the best way to protest is to use your feet, and find another bank.
Update 3rd September 2007: HSBC have done a U-turn on their decision to scrap interest-free overdrafts.
1 Comment on “Students Pressure Bank Using Facebook”
HSBC U-Turn After Facebook Protest / UK Personal finance blog and money information, tips and links / Money Watch, September 4th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
[...] on from last week’s post on students pressuring HSBC on Facebook, HSBC have decided to do a U-turn on their plans to scrap interest-free overdrafts on their [...]
