What a nice bank HSBC is.

Not only did they spot that someone was stealing my money via a cash point in Malaysia and warn me so that I stopped my card before any more money could be taken, but they also completed the investigation in less than a fortnight and re-imbursed the stolen funds.

After a horrible year, it's reassuring that HSBC are a decent bank and look out for their customers as well as their own interests.

Unlike Lloyds TSB who I used to be with. They reneged on my insurance when I became redundant suddenly in 2000 and took my unemployment benefits straight out of the bank leaving me with no money for food after promising that they wouldn't.

I have been paying back my loan with Lloyds for about 7 years and only recently have I started actually paying back the loan and not just the inerest and charges that they creamed off the top. They behaved like loan sharks only the abuse was psychological rather than sending people round with baseball bats.

And while I'm on the subject, let me warn you about Insure and Go who never paid a penny after I had £1400 worth of snowboarding equiment and clothes stolen when travelling to Livigno in Italy a few years back. Their policy is not to say no, but to drag the claims process on and on until you give up. t felt worse after going through their claims process with them than I actualy did after all my gear (including a brand new £700 Burton snowboard) were stolen. No wonder they are so cheap, they don't pay out when your stuff is stolen.