Changing your name with HSBC

How do I change my name with HSBC?#

In a branch. HSBC's help page for a change of name or title says to visit your nearest branch, and its branch finder shows where they are. Its page on gender and titles puts it more plainly still: to change your name, you visit a branch with your documents. The name page does not ask you to book an appointment.

There is no other route for a new name. HSBC's guide to banking from home lists what the Mobile Banking app and Online Banking can each do, and changing your name is marked as available in neither, although changing your address or contact details is. HSBC publishes no change of name form and no address to post documents to.

What do I take to the branch?#

Two things: proof of the change, and proof of your previous or other name, for which HSBC gives your driving licence, passport or birth certificate as examples. The proof of the change depends on the reason for it.

The last row is the one for a deed poll, and it covers every change the others do not: a new surname, a new first name, a middle name or a new spelling. HSBC asks only that the deed poll be witnessed. It does not ask for an enrolled one, and it sets no separate rule for a first name. The deed polls we draft have space for two witnesses.

HSBC's page does not say whether it will take a certified copy, so take the original documents with you.

Nor does it describe a child's name change separately. HSBC's page on ID checks says that when documents for a child under 18 are checked in a branch, the child must be there, and a parent or guardian too if the child is under 16. Changing a child's name covers the deed poll itself.

Why your old name matters, and what to do first#

HSBC wants to see your previous name as well as the document that changed it. Barclays, by contrast, wants government photo ID already in the new name for a new first name. At HSBC, your passport or driving licence in the old name can serve as that proof, so go before you send either away to be changed, or take your birth certificate if they are already away.

That order suits the rest of the list. HM Passport Office asks for your deed poll and one document showing you already use the new name, and the guidance its staff work from includes a bank statement issued within the last 12 months. DVLA, when your evidence is a deed poll, asks for one document showing the new name, such as a UK bank statement issued in the last 12 months, or your new passport number. Once HSBC holds your new name, a statement from it can be that document. Changing your name with HM Passport Office and with DVLA set out each step.

Changing your title#

You do not need to show HSBC anything for most title changes. The exceptions, from its help page:

GOV.UK says a deed poll cannot be used to change a title, giving Sir and Lady among its examples, so a deed poll does not help with the third row. Can a deed poll change my title? explains why.

For a gender-neutral title, HSBC offers Mx or M. It needs no proof if you are not changing your name at the same time, asks you to contact it directly, and says it will update all your accounts within about 7 working days, though some products, such as insurance or investments, may take longer. Updating the gender HSBC holds for you is a separate step: it is done in a branch, needs no documents, and HSBC recommends booking an appointment to avoid a wait.

Cards, mortgages and your other HSBC products#

HSBC's pages do not say how long a change of name takes, when cards or a chequebook in the new name follow, or whether your PIN changes. Ask at the branch, and mention every HSBC product you hold: its name page does not list credit cards, loans, savings or mortgages separately, and says nothing about joint accounts.

• A mortgage. HSBC's mortgage questions and answers do not mention a change of name either, so raise the mortgage at the branch. The name on the register of title to your home is a separate matter for HM Land Registry.
• A new address as well. That part needs no branch. HSBC's address page says you can change it in the app, in Online Banking, in a branch or, if you do not bank online, by phone, and that credit cards, mortgages and some investment accounts can take up to 7 days to follow.

For every other bank, changing your name with your bank compares how they work.