Consumer complaint received 2016-07-20
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC.
State: NY
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Other bank product/service
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
In XXXX XXXX, after numerous customer service issues with HSBC, I visited the branch and told them I wanted to close all my [ and my son 's ] bank accounts. I did not surrender my safe deposit box at that time because it was paid through XXXX XXXX. It took months and much aggravation for HSBC to actually close our accounts. Then when pursuing a refinance in the fall of XXXX, it was discovered that HSBC never filed a satisfaction of mortgage for a HELOC that they admitted was paid off in XXXX. After hours and hours on the phone, email and at the branch, the only way I got the satisfaction of mortgage was filing a complaint with the CFPB. Only then did HSBC respond. I am now compelled to file another complaint. 

During this time, I was XXXX, with obvious XXXX limitations and severe pain. I was scheduled for XXXX on Monday XXXX XXXX, XXXX. On Saturday XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I went to the HSBC branch located on XXXX XXXX, XXXX NY XXXX to review the contents of my safe deposit box and remove whatever documentation my sons might need in the event something went wrong with my surgery. I was directed to XXXX of the tellers [ a woman ]. After looking up my account, she advised me that I was not allowed to have that box with HSBC because I had closed my bank accounts. She advised me that I had XXXX choices : open up a bank account or surrender the box. I told her that I did not want to open an HSBC bank account. She then told me that I had to surrender the box that day because if I did not, HSBC could break into my box to empty it at any time. So, I emptied my safe deposit box and surrendered the keys to the teller.I complied with every direction she gave me. I then had to go to the XXXX branch across the street to see if they had a safe deposit box. Fortunately, they had XXXX available. On XXXX XXXX, I received an HSBC bill deceptively backdated to XXXX XXXX, XXXX, demanding payment for rental for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for the safe deposit box which I no longer had! At my first opportunity I called the HSBC XXXX branch on XXXX XXXX about the erroneous bill. I was told that " for some reason '' the box was still open on the system but they would " look into it '' and call me back.The HSBC rep did NOT deny that the box was surrendered. I did n't receive a call back. Instead, I got another notice more than a month later billing me again and calling it " past due. '' This time I called the central customer service number. In a call on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, customer service advised me that the notes showed that the box had been closed by me as I had stated but that it was remaining open on the system because the XXXX branch employee forgot to have me sign a cancellation agreement on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. He told me to fix this I just had to go back to the XXXX branch and sign that form. Today I went to the branch to sign the form and I was told that I could not sign the form. Instead, for the first time, they falsely claimed to have " no records '' of the box being surrendered and that they did n't have the keys! I asked them to investigate, that I would get them the exact date of the surrender so that they could identify the employee who handled the surrender. They had no explanation for why customer service advised me that the box was surrendered and only the form needed to be signed. I called the XXXX branch back to give the exact date of surrender to branch Manager XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX did not answer my questions about any investigation she conducted and refused to take any responsibility whatsoever. Instead, she told me that the only thing I could do was to take more hours of my work day to come back to the branch when they break open the box. I told her I can not do that because I need to work. She was completely rude, nasty, dismissive, laughed at me and hung up.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief