tinaj

Has anyone opened an account with HSBC for use in Australia?

I have filled in the forms etc and now have to sign the agreement and get a referee that has known me for 12 months to sign the Proof of Identity check.

The question is it says the referee must be a resident of Australia unless an International Bank employee does it for you!

Is this correct, how am I going to get an Australian resident to sign it if I live in the UK?

Help!!

Jo Cousins

Hi Tina

I have just yesterday been looking into doing exactly the same as you!! As far as i understood it you can get someone from this country to do it - i.e. your local bank that knows you as - long as they are allowed to deal with cash transactions. You shouldn't have a problem at all if you already bank with the HSBC as they should be able to do it. I think i will have more problems as i bank with Barclays. The only other alternative - which i think is what we are going to do - is to just open the account on arrival in Oz as you can walk into any branch and just open it straight up with just ur passport for id and obviously the money to put into the account. Pls let me know how you get on as I am contemplating whether or not to do it from this end or wait so i would interested to know how you get on.

Good luck!
Jo

tinaj

Thanks Jo,

I just rang them and they told me to take the form to my local branch, with my passport etc and they will be able to fill it in.
We are opening a joint account and my Husband is with Barclays so I expect we will have to go there as well.

I am with Natwest so I hope they will do this. I want to sort the bank out before we get there to minimise our 'to do' list when we arrive.

I will let you know how I get on.

mika24me

Hi

If you are talking about the 100 point check, a branch member at your local HSBC will do this for you.

If ti is the letter of introduction you are looking for, go along to your local branch of your bank (providing you have banked with them for 12 months) and ask them to do it for you. They may charge you for this service, but will provide the necessary letter.

cheers

Mel

tinaj

I mean the S21 Proof of Identity Form. You have to get the bank to fill in your details and check your I.D. against your name.
It says that they must have known you for 12months.

I suppose I have to go to my own branch- even though they don't know me from Adam! I only go there about once a year.

How did you set your account up - or do you already bank with HSBC?

mika24me

I got an application pack from the internation accounts place in London. I previously banked only with RBS, but the local HSBC were very helpful when I started the application for the HSBC Australia account.

tintin

HSBC were a complete waste of time when I went to see them (I am a Lloyds customer).

I phoned the Commonwealth in London, they sent the forms and the account was confirmed as 'open' within 3 working days. Non of this faffing trying to prove who you are by getting someone you dont know in the international division of your own bank to write you a letter!

I am not saying that I will stick with the Commonwealth when I get out to Oz, but at least from a migrants perspective, they are pretty good at getting you there... although there are bound to be better deals to be had when you arrive.

Dinky

I'm with you. Currently using Commonwealth to get money into Australia and then transfering to ING Direct for a high interest savings account. Spoke with HSBC and the said just walk into any Syndey Branch and do it on the spot. Sounds far less stressful.

N.B. Commonwealth do charge $5.00 per month but the interest in ING (4.75%) makes it worthwhile v UK

Dinky

mika24me

I agree that the Commonwealth account looked much easier to set up whilst still in the UK. I decided to go for HSBC becuase I am a Scot and hate to pay out money for nothing, for any length of time. So it had to be the free HSBC account for me.

Mel

Jolyn

We've just set up the HSBC Online Savings account - it's great! - a current account paying 4.1% interest.

The Commonwealth account is rubbish - charges everywhere. I had one for years in Oz.

As you spotted - an international bank employee can sign the ID. We took it to our local bank manager. Hardly knew us from a bar of soap but signed it anyway and certified the photocopied ID. Having had a relationship with the bank is what counts, not the manager personally. Plus took choccies for the staff and said thanks for all the years of good service...true or not...

One tip - open the account whilst still in UK giving UK address and ask to have cards and chequebook sent out here. Use covering letter explaining you're moving to Oz and telling them you have lots of money to transfer to Oz. The account will be opened based at their central branch in NSW and stay there even if you change your postal address to another state. So no debits tax if you have the chequebook option - unlike some other states.

HSBC emailed us the account numbers within 2 days of receiving the ID. We then sent the $2000 opening deposit by TT from our bank here. The cards & chequebook arrived about a week later, PIN numbers after that.

I've ordered a statement on the HSBC account. Just waiting for that to arrive to open ING account - 4.75% - not a current account, just for transferring into to get higher interest.

Any questions/advice just ask if we can help.

Marlo

Thanks for that Jo, you have soooooo much useful information, we`re with HSBC and have been undecided whether to stay with them or not, now we will.

Thanks again

Loraine

Vanou

Try opening your account on the net. So much easier. http://hsbc.com.au/

The local HSBC branch we went to for information had no idea what we were talking about, telling us it would take about 3 months to open the account and we would get charged.

Came back home, looked up their site online and filled in their online form to open an online savings accounts. Took us about 15mn in all. Received an answer a few minutes later, with a confirmation number and a link to download the necessary forms.

Made an appointment with our actual banker and went to see her with the forms and the identity proofs. Once everything was explained, she had no trouble filling in and signing everything for us.

Send it all by mail to Sydney (the adress they gave us) and received our account number by email a few days later, then our complete pack with pin number by mail about 2-3 weeks later.

Everytime we asked them a question online we've had a very quick and useful answer and are quite happy with them for now.

parrot

I've just opened an online savings account with HSBC in Oz. I am with them anyway, not that I think it makes much difference. Got the application forms sent from their International office in Docklands, took them into a local HSBC, they signed all the forms and photocopies of docs to reach the 100 point check system. My local bank wrote a letter of recommendation, sent it back to International office in Docklands who forwarded it on to Melbourne branch we had chosen and had a letter back about a week later saying the account was open. Two weeks after that the cheque book and ATM card arrived and the pin number a few days after that.
For an initial bit of faff at the beginning it is a good account with hardly any fees and if you have an HSBC account in the UK and fill in the fax form it saves time if you want to transfer money between accounts. They can do it on the day rather than about three days.
Parrot

Jolyn

Definitely open the account on the web (www.hsbc.com.au) and print out the forms you need. It's very straightforward. The local HSBC will have no idea (addition by husband: and is probably staffed by witless cretins - what a rude man he is!). Use the local HSBC (if that's who you bank with) to sign the ID form only.

Our UK high street bank is Natwest and they signed the form fine - employee of any bank is OK. They couldn't care less that you're moving to a different bank when you leave the country.

We also have a Cahoot online account in the UK which we use as our main account. Very similar to the HSBC account in Oz. Cahoot don't have branches though so not much use for form signing! HSBC do have a few branches in Oz if you ever need anything that can't be done online or by phone.

tinaj

Thanks for all your replies,

I did open the account online, which was very simple. We just need to get the identity form signed.

I have contacted my bank and they said they will fill it in no problem, so I should go along tomorrow.


We are opening a joint account - do we need to get identity proofs for both of us then?


Our tip to save money is to open a joint account from this end, which is easy. When you arrive open another account in each name. You will have a joint account and a single account each. Then you can use 15 free non- HSBC ATM withdrawals each month instead of the 5 for having 1 account.
Always looking for ways to save money!! You can easily transfer money via the net banking so it won't affect your accounts.

The drawback is you will have to keep 3 lots of $2000 in the accounts, but the interest is quite good.