We are hoping to open a HSBC account once we arrive in Brisbane.
We have heard that all you have to do is walk into their branch and show them the necessary ID for the 100 point check and its all plain sailing(i hope)
We are going to use Hifx now,and then once we have the account number for the new HSBC one over there,we just phone Hifx back up and arrange the transfer.
If anybody knows any different i would be glad to hear.

Cheers

Darren

Darren
When we validated we went to open a bank account with HSBC. We did not bother in the end as to open an account you have to make an appointment days in advance. We went to Suncorp and they were so helpful and opened the account straight away:)

It does say on my forms that if you have arrived in Australia in the last 6 weeks you can open an account with just your passport as ID (as that meets the 100 points required). We have also used Halewood to exchange our money on a forward contract but have yet to use them to do the transfer but thats how I'm assuming it works too.

Regards

Sam:)

We were going to do it all in the UK and recieved all the forms from London but to gain the points we had to change our Debit card names from initials to our our full names(we are with the Halifax)to gain extra points , and also an introductary letter.
I wrote a letter to the halifax and they are dealing with it but don`t know how long it could take(3 weeks so far).And with time ticking away we didn`t want to take the risk of running out of time to open the account and us being in oz and our new HSBC cards arriving at our uk address.
:scared:
We are taking a bit of cash with us just in case we can`t open it straight away.

Darren

Hi Darren. We opened an HSBC account on our validation trip a couple of weeks ago. We thought we could just walk in off the street,but had to make an appt. for the next day. Apart from that, everything else was plain sailing. My partner, who was the one whose visa we validated just had to show his passport for the 100 points, but me, being the aussie, but having been back in the country for less than 6 weeks, had to show passport, drivers licence, medicare card to get the 100 points. The other little set back we had was getting the $2000 to them. was going to do a transfer onthe internet from my westpac account. off we go to an internet cafe. can't do it as there was only a $500 daily limit on my account, and it would take 5 days to get authorisation to increase the limit. My own fault, probably should have checked this out beforehand. so off to the bank to get them to make the transfer for me. they were going to charge $30, so in the end just drew the cash out and took it back to the HSBC branch and handed it over the counter. what a pillaver! But the account is all set up now, and we got all the cards, etc through the post today

Thanx for the info
Could you tell me how long it took to get your cards from the day you walked into the bank or from the day you put in $2000?
Just so we know how much cash to get us by

Cheers:)

Aren't HSBC the ones who have got rid of hundreds of jobs in the UK by shifting their call centres to India? If so then if thats how they treat their staff then how they gonna treat your money?

Just worked it out. opened the account in person on the 22nd June. received all the cards, etc today. so about 3 weeks. Bearing in mind, that as we were using my mum's address, they all went to her first and she forwarded them on.

That's basically what we did, although we did phone and make an appointment first - that's the best way. The whole thing took ten minutes. Don't forget your passport and you'll need a local address which need not be the one you will be using permanently.

Just thought id share my story.....
We opened it in the uk,(nitemare)but because we opened it 5 weekd b4 we went ,we were told we simply had to go to the perth branch and pick up r cards:D
Well what a farse..we gor there and was told that cards ad been sent to enlgalnd,so they arranged for them to be sent to us here.........Ha ha what a joke,we got a letter to go down and pick them up ..only to be told they wernt there yet !!!!(we live 40 mins from city)They are slow....dont seem to know what customer service is ,even if it hit them in the face,so we walked over the road and opened wi ANZ......I was so pleased to to transfer my dollar to them and they dint seem happi at all,any how,we got our anz cards 2 weeks b4 hsbc cards....Need i say more....thats just our story....Also,u can only transfer 10,000 dollors at a time and u get stung wi charges:scared:
natasha

Sorry to hear that.It sounds like you got the bad apple out of a good bunch.
Also there was a poll on here some time ago for people to vote for their favorite bank to open in Australia and HSBC came out top.

Well that matbe true,but we also get a better interest rate with the bank we r with now,and if it came top or not,i want whats best for my money and hsbc certanly int that !!!!Bad apple or not..ha ha
It s not the best 1 here ,theres so many to choose from,the best thing is to shop around and c which 1 suits u best,some banks charge for withdrawels and some dont!! depends what suits u.,we wanted a helpful bank,that valued us ,and gave out the best interest on our money.
Just my opinion:D

Re: Another HSBC thread!
 

Hi There

A KYC is a Know Your Customer form they are normally requested by the bank you are trying to set up with from the bank you were with.

I am trying to get an hsbc mortgage here in the US with the HSBC who I had been with for 24 years in the UK and the one thing holding it up is getting the KYC out of the UK.

Hope this helps

Re: Another HSBC thread!
 

We just walked into a Sydney HSBC within a couple of days of being here and opened an account there and then - no messing about with appointments and just the passport for the 100 points as within 6 weeks of arrival.

HSBC were a pain in the preverbial after that, all sorts of little things that weren't done or explained properly. All sorted now though.
Debit cards etc. took a couple of weeks to arrive so it was a pain having to carry cash all the time and convince the cashiers to let us have our own money without charging us for not using the ATM (but we don't have our cards yet...)

However, if you want debit cards straight away try St George, even if you don't intend to stay with them. Again, popped into a branch, opened an account, but this time we walked out with usable debit cards (pity about the pathetic $1000/day limit when you're trying to start a new life but better than nothing to get you going). Think it took another week to get the Visa Debit cards where you can actually get to spend all of your own money :)

We also found it useful to have more than one bank account as you have at least some history when it comes to applying for a mortgage.
1st broker we used was useless, wanted us to lie on forms :eek: and said the banks wouldn't touch us 'cos of our lack of earnings history (in Oz) and other factors and maybe two of the 50 or so lenders would consider us for a 60% mortgage.
So we completely ignored her advice and applied (honestly) to both St George and HSBC and were offered mortgages from both. In fact, going to sign up for one of those huge debt things tomorrow :scared:

Re: Another HSBC thread!
 

We visited the CBD branch of HSBC the day after we arrived in Sydney. We took our passports, driving licences and bank statements from back home and the account was opened there and then. They gave me an ATM / EFTPOS card on the spot as part of our welcome pack. Our cheque book, wife's ATM card and security devices all arrived within a week of us transferring over the $2000 to formally open the account.

The only gripe I have with the whole process is that every time I visit the branch the ATM is out of service, and I have to queue to withdraw over the counter. They do waive the fee though.