CORKER

Has anyone else been told this by their local HSBC
"they would only recommend us to the HSBC in Aus. for the opening of an account if we banked with them in England for the the next 12 months.."??

What's that all about......

Greg, Michele and Bella

Or just get your existing bank to do you a reference for any other bank you choose to open an account for you!!!! Tell HSBC to shove it

geary11

yes you do that have also bank account with them but 1 pound overdrawn oops how many time have they rang me .......

tracey.d

I have an account here with HSBC. Went into the bank recently so asked about opening an account ibn Oz. They were so awkward about it decided not to bother.

Also agree that they ring you whenever you dare to go a little overdrawn. They ring me so often these days I'm thinking of inviting them to my leaving party .

I for one will be quite happy to change banks when I go. At which time HSBC will nosdoubt be tripping over themselves to get me to open an account over there once they see a bit of money going into my account from the sale of the house


Tracey

Bed Of Roses

try this link

http://www.flickyourbank.com.au/index.aspx

your credit histrory and "good banking" cont count for much in Aus.

watch out for all them charges.

geary11

i know it's bloody ridiculous! i feel like their one of the FAMILY!! LOL

Nicstids

I wouldn't bother talking to your local HSBC - we spoke to their International Banking Centre in London and they sent us the necessary paperwork to open our Aus account. At no point were we asked whether we had an HSBC account here in the UK - in fact we've only got First Direct accounts (who are brilliant by the way)

jonjon

Ok we went to our local HSBC and spoke to one of the Girls who was having a blond day and was totally unhelpful.

However because I have an account with them I went back to take this up and spoke to some one else in the branch who new what they were talking about and were very helpful and supportive.

We have not set it up yet as it is to early for us but will properly use them when the time is right

The moral of this story is who ever you go with if you get to speak to the right person you will get the right information if not you are stuffed as many employees just don’t understand what you are asking.

The Manager at my local Royal Bank of Scotland branch did not know how to raise an international bankers draft with a named bank Australian bank to draw off for god sake.

HSBC 10 Mins

What can I say

vivi

We were with HSBC in the UK and opened an Oz account. A bit of paperwork, they were really confused doing it but all was sorted. However very few branches in QLD (ONLY3) and sometimes card is not accepted. On a poitive note, we walked into Bank of Queensland with passport etc, 10 mins later had an account. They never even asked for any money!
VivI

Centurion

I think in hindsight I would not have bothered with opening an account before we left. The account we opened with the Commonwealth is now dormant and about to be closed since the charges are outrageous.

We opened accounts with National Bank once here and you phone them up, open it up on the phone and pop down to a branch to show your ID. 3 days later bank cards arrived in the post, internet banking up and running the same day they were opened and they even give you your pin number in the branch and sort out everything there and then.

Best part is that providing you have a balance of $3000 then the bankings free. Branches everywhere so cant complain.

Moral of the story is that I would think if you need to open an account from the UK until you arrive - in hindsight I wouldnt have bothered and just opened one the day of arriving.

geary11

So,the moral of the story is don't go to hsbc!!

geary11

so how do we transfer our money then,and to wot bank!

Elaine M

Just wanted to provide a balance: I opened an Aus HSBC account whilst still in the UK, had a slight hitch with the local staff forgetting to stamp some of the paperwork but no other problems. I didn't bank with HSBC in the UK. I wanted an account open in advance to transfer my house proceeds into.

On arrival in Adelaide I went into the one and only HSBC branch and picked up my card, PIN number etc and was able to start drawing out money immediately. I've had no problems using the card (although I believe some people have) and pay no charges as I have a fair balance in there.

The drawback is that there are very few branches but I pay all my bills online, and when I needed large sums to pay for furniture etc when I first came I either went down to the branch in the city or went to the post office and took out $1,000 a day till I had enough cash in hand (you pay charges if you use non-HSBC ATMs more than 5 times in a month).

In short once my HSBC account was set up it's been absolutely fine for me.

Elaine M

Perthforme

I use hsbc here they took nearly 3 weeks to send the paper work through for aussie account .
Can't be bothered now as it took so long to arrive so will prob just open an acc on arrival , my mate in Sydney says i should use westpac .

Swerv-o

I'll agree with this - I opened an HSBC AU account from the UK with no hastles whatsoever. They even send me monthly accounts and statements from AU to UK, and all of the relevant PDS updates etc.

It pays to deal simply with the International Banking Centre in London, as the local branches have very few people who actually know how or what to do. If you open from the UK, then HSBC waive the requirment to have a reference or introduction from your current bank, which was lucky, as Barclays wouldn't provide me with one, but they certainly don't want to see your banking history for the year.

Once opened, you can access all the normal services, such as telephone banking and intenet banking, and they also send you an AU$ cheque book. This has been really useful for sending off monies for professional registration and quals assessments purposes, as you don't need to have separate International money orders drawn up for each one you send.

HSBC also have the fewest charges for operating an account when compared to other AU banks.

Hope this helps.

S