Poorer customers diverted to overseas call centres by bank
One of the UK's leading high street banks had taken a new stance with customers that are on lower incomes or do not have a certain number of products with the bank. HSBC, one of the UK's largest banks, has been diverting the calls of customers that have less than a certain amount going into their account, or who do not hold many of the bank's products or accounts, to overseas call centres to have their calls and queries dealt with. Those with a higher amount going into their account and multiple HSBC products are being dealt with by staff in the UK.
HSBC has around eight and a half million customers, and has now admitted that many of the calls that are made to the bank by customers have been transferred to overseas account because they do not meet a certain criteria set by the bank. Amongst the areas that are being assessed in determining whether the caller is transferred to a call centre abroad or in the UK are the income of the caller, the caller's credit rating, how many products the caller holds, and how the caller manages their accounts. This is all assesses when the caller reveals their account number, and the call is then routed accordingly.
The call centres located abroad are in Malta, India, the Philippines, and Malaysia, and those that do not meet a certain criteria could well find themselves speaking to call centre staff at one of these locations. An HSBC official confirmed the system, stating: 'There is a scoring system. If you are identified as a customer with more complex needs, then you are more likely to be dealt with in the UK. As a general rule, these are the more affluent customers.'
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