2007 April 13 archive at Progressive Wednesday

Archive for April 13th, 2007

A bank concerned about a different kind of “green”

April 13th, 2007 by Eric

I use HSBC bank to do all of my personal banking. When I looked around they had all the features, free checking, free Internet banking, no minimum monthly balance, that most of the big banks boast. Plus they really gave us a great rate on our mortgage and their headquarters are right here in Buffalo.

But as I walked in to my local branch today I noticed a pamphlet sitting on the counter. This one advertised perks that I have never seen from any bank, earth friendly bank accounts. HSBC is offering a free Green Living Kit to any one who opens up a new personal account and makes three online bill payments before July 25. The kit includes:

A Carbonfree^TM compact fluorescent light bulb to save energy.
15% off coupon from thebulb.com.
ChicoBag, a reusable shopping bag.
One free issue of The GreenGuide^TM from National Geographic - the go-to source for green living.
One year free subscription to The GreenGuide^TM
10% off coupon to shop at Lime.com - the online home of green living.
20% off coupon for Organic Bouquet.
TerraPass certificate for 1,000 lbs of greenhouse gas reductions to offset your environmental impact by funding clean energy and efficiency projects.

That would be the same TerraPass we told you about this Wednesday.

HSBC is even donating $15-$30 for every product purchased up to one million smackers to environmental charities. The charities include:

We spend enough time telling you about the evils of corporations and asking you to hold them accountable. But sometimes they actually do good things. So if you have an HSBC near you, stop in and check it out. Then consider making the switch. Making true progressive policies work for you is just as important as changing the policies that aren’t.