My wife has a horrible time with HSBC, and I always get a bit aggitated when I see people recommend them, so I'm glad to see other people sharing their horror stories about them.

Her situation is that she visits family in Canada once a year. They won't make a note of her being out of the country if she calls them beforehand. The fraud people then call her if she needs to use her card at unsociable (for Canada) hours and never leave answerphone messages. When they do get her, they require her to answer security questions without identifying themselves first. If she calls them, the person she speaks to has no way of knowning if anyone has been trying to call her for any reason.

They are, in my opinion, the "Worlds worst Bank"