Bob

Okay, so $75K in savings, still, getting into rounding errors at that point.

They were a lot more flexible for people who have had a HSBC account for a long time but it seems they have become a lot more strict for new customers in the last year or so when they changed up the minimum balance requirements.

smarty156

Why would you give them an interest free loan?

fozzyb

If you had $100K why leave it in a current account where it gets a crap rate of interest, just so you get Premier status on the account.

smarty156

You don't have to leave it in the current account. I suggest you do some research before assuming things.

Pulaski

You have just restated my question.

When you deposit money in a bank account you are lending money to the bank. In a savings account the bank is paying you interest on your loan to the bank. If you deposit money in a current/ checking account you are making an interest free loan to the bank. I don't understand when anyone other than bona fide billionaires would leave $100k in a non-interest bearing account.

smarty156

What I was saying was that you DON'T have to leave it in the checking account. Why on earth woukd anyone do that if that was a requirement (it's not)?

fozzyb

To be fair the website does just say

So it doesn't have to be the current account, could be in an ISA or whatever, so earning some interest.

But certainly, other than transiently when buying the house, I've never had £50K in my HSBC account yet they upgraded me to Premier - so they must have some discretion as to when they apply that requirement.

Pulaski

Rather than sniping at people, you could tell us what else HSBC allows you do do with the $100,000, you know, give us some useful information. That's the way we usually try to do things round here.

Bob

Like I mentioned above, they did and do to some extent. They just don't tend to as much these days, certainly for new account holders. There's been a couple of threads over the summer where people have had hit or miss results.

When you've got this kind of cash knocking about though, you're better off going the AmEx route of a global transfer and have this as a distinct last resort back up.

smarty156

Pulaski - there's no sniping involved. Assumptions were being made and I corrected them.
From your earlier posts you didn't seem to be remotely interested in what HSBC has to offer and now yo want me to give you all the information that is freely available on their websites.

Making sniping comments like "why would you give them an interest free loan" wasn't terribly helpful (or accurate) was it?

I have the utmost respect for you and other members on here. Without your help I wouldn't be where I am today. However, it goes both ways. My (very recent) experiences are as valid as yours.

GeoffM

Talking specifically of business bank accounts with HSBC, it's a huge issue when you have to drive 70 miles each way to sign a change of address form since they don't accept it online, they lose it, and you have to go back and do it again. Strangely they didn't need my presence to close the account.

I now use Wells Fargo for both business and personal accounts and they do most stuff online - but their loans department (personal loan / mortgages) is shite.

FinnDiego

Yep, the requirement is $100k (US) or 50kGBP (UK) in savings or investments; in fact they rather would like you to hold other investments too rather than just a savings account, most likely because that makes them more money.

I've been with HSBC since I moved to the UK in 2006, and Premier since moving out of the UK in 2009 and I agree with most of the comments here. They were very useful when moving to the US (and Canada before that) since you could get accounts and credit cards set up immediately, but in the US they seem to make too many routine mistakes and have very few branches on the west coast.

Interestingly HSBC promised me a significantly better mortgage rate than anybody else, but couldn't have closed in time so I went with a local provider for now. May look at refinancing with them in a bit if the difference is still there...

I've been planning to set up a day-to-day account with someone local for the last few years. Maybe one day!

tennesseestud

Got my SSN a few weeks ago, went to bank (have joint acc opened using my A Number) and was given the option of secured credit, but advised without a job even secured credit may be turned down. And you can't just apply for work and get a job as an immigrant just like that when you are in a rural location. Really credit is far from my mind right now, my SSN pulled in criminal records from Kentucky that were not mine, so being turned down for eveything right now.

Pass me those rose glasses. Would love to spin that wheel and get a different SSN.

smarty156

Just to complete my HSBC US experiences, got back to UK today after a week's visit to find letters confirming both my wife and I (on our own separate Premier credit card accounts) have been given credit limits of $6,500 each. Bearing in mind I'm not going to be working or eligible for a SSN I'd say that's pretty good.
Hopefully this information will be of use to others that are eligible for HSBC Premier accounts.

fozzyb

Thanks Smarty156, I think I will need to go give them a call...

Thinking as someone who is considering moving to the US sometime, I wonder if it would allow me to build up some sort of credit history in the US before I move out there. If I get a US HSBC credit card, use it when I go on business trips to the US and for occasional purchases in the UK for a year, would that build a credit history in the US...