Hsbc
 

Hi,

As we have received our medical requests I thought it was time to open a bank account in Canada. I had already opened a HSBC account here as I had heard it was easy to transfer across. I called HSBC International and they have just sent through the paperwork. It is like a phone book. They want £100 fee for setting it up, an opening balance of 1500CAD (paid by bankers draft), proof of our reason for wanting to open the account and a list of how many deposits/withdrawals will be made every month.

This all seems a touch excessive to me. Can anyone recommend another bank to deal with that will make settling in NS easier. I really would like it set up now so I am organised.

Thanks

Angela

Re: Hsbc
 

Angela,

I have just done this a few months ago & was told the exact same info re £100 fee BUT then when I spoke to someone else they advised to contact

0207 9917278 International Banking Center - no charge

or just walk into the local branch in Canada

I am yet to open the Canadian Bank A/c as only just swapped stuff here to HSBC so not sure if correct,,, let me know how you get on as I cannot pursue anything until I have that shiny visa....

Michelle

Re: Hsbc
 

Hi
We've transferred all of our stuff to HSBC, and they've set us up with bank accounts, credit cards - the lot. No fees!
I'd go back to them and ask them to rethink!

Re: Hsbc
 

Hi,

We'd banked with HSBC in the UK for about 15 years before we moved to Canada, but they were such a pain with regards to opening an account in Canada from the UK that we gave up and just opened a CIBC account on arrival instead. You can't do it from the UK, though.

Alex

Re: Hsbc
 

I just closed everything in England and had all my money in travellers cheques... i walked into Royal Bank (RBC) and opened the account in Canada and had no issues at all.

Re: Hsbc
 

We considered them, but they wanted us to jump through hoops. In the end we went to our local RBC when we visited and set up an account. No problem getting a credit card with $2000 limit(what we asked for, might have given us more). Offered same choices as anyone else.

The manager and staff have been very helpful and we get offered increases in Credit limits similar to what we had in the UK, after only a year in Canada.

Not saying not to use HSBC, but there are lots of choices.

Re: Hsbc
 

Thanks

Did you go into a branch and organise it?

Re: Hsbc
 

Yep, we organised it via the Milton Keynes branch initially, then we spoke to International, and finally the Kelowna branch.

Re: Hsbc
 

You going to Kelowna too??

Re: Hsbc
 

The problem with HSBC is that once you get to Canada, they are not exactly on every corner. Other banks are far more common.

Plus the fees seem steep, even by canadian standards.


What do people hope to achieve by opening accounts in advance anyway? It doesnt help credit rating at all.

Re: Hsbc
 

We had to have the proceeds of our house sale in the UK in a Canadian bank account for 10 days before the mortgage company would issue the extra funds we needed to buy our house in Canada. There was competition for this place so we needed to complete as quickly as possible and so bought beore we left the UK, so that the house was ours from the day we moved out here.

I guess if you're coming over and renting for a while, then no, there's no rush to open an account.

Re: Hsbc
 

Hi

We opened up a HSBC Premier account a year before moving to Canada and found them to be wonderful. The whole process was painless and hassle free. We had accounts, credit cards with $10k limits and line of credit for $25k pre approved for our arrival. We still to this day dont pay any banking fees and whilst I agree with others that there are not many branches, we can use BMO atms for free. I would ask them to reconsider, remember banking is a highly competitive industry. If they dont want your business there are plenty of others who do!

SAW 04

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I don't think HSBC Premier accounts are available to just anyone. I believe you have to fit certain criteria and are "invited" to open an account.

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We were certainly not invited to apply. We qualified as we deposited a reasonable chunk of equity from our house sale. Our salaries were above average but not huge. They are very flexible regarding the premier criteria.

Re: Hsbc
 

SAW - same as you - deposited house equity and got Premier that way.
Steve 666 - yep, off to Kelowna too. When do you go?

Re: Hsbc
 

Speaking as a Canadian..............

HSBC is so small in Canada, witrh less than 100 local branches, compared to lets say the Royal Bank of Canada, with 2500 branches, that I have to wonder why so many UK Immigrants are so intent on dealing with HSBC?

I can tell you that opening a bank account in Canada is dead easy, provided that you have 3 things..........

A local address in Canada, a social insurance number and legal Immigration status in Canada. Why? Government regulations.

It is possible to start a bank account from off shore, but it is much more complicated than simply walking into a branch in Canada, with the documents in hand. As a previous poster said, having either a bank draft, a letter of credit, or a certified cheque, will suffice to get you started.

Jim Bunting. Toronto.

Re: Hsbc
 

Because they will open a Canadian account from the UK without the three magic ingredients you listed, and are easily accessible in the UK, unlike the usual Canadian suspects. Dunno how long you've been in Canada, but HSBC took over the "Midland Bank" in the UK many years ago IIRC and are very widespread in the UK.


Some people seem to worry about being set up before they get here, and a 10 day wait on a bank draft to clear (a joke in itself, but thats another issue) is a major pain in the rear when you first arrive and need the money to set up a home, buy a car, pay utility deposits etc. You wont even have a SIN number at first in most cases. HSBC may be inconvenient to use once in Canada, but its relatively convenient to set up from the UK at least, so you dont have that headache to add to all the others.

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For the reasons mentioned in my earlier post. Pre approved credit cards, mortgage, line of credit and a transfer of behavioral rating (similar to an internal credit rating) None of which I could have obtained by using a Canadian bank.

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They have 3 branches in all Scotland, their branch locations here are a welcome change for some of us :)

Edit: all this having to provide a void cheque business made me glad I had kickstarted an account long before we got here.

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We too got HSBC in UK to open account in Calgary for us, have had no trouble at all. Was quick and painless and cards and cheque book sent to UK address. We just went into our local branch transferred to Premier No fee and that was it. Branch manager in Calgary has also telephoned to see if all our banking requirements have been met.

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The HSBC website says we need a mortgage of at least £200,000 with them or income of at least £75,000. Or you can pay £20 per month for the privilege of having the account. I guess we will have to wait.

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It's worse than that. You can pay £20 per month IF you earn £75k p.a. but don't have a whopping mortgage/big savings with them.

Re: Hsbc
 

For what it's worth, HSBC Canada customers can use Bank Of Montreal ATM's free of charge.

Don't know whether HSBC took over Bank of Montreal or just that they have reciprocal agreements with each other!

Re: Hsbc
 

Did exactly the same, tried to open a HSBC account assured that it was easy seeing as we already had a HSBC UK account. Told it would cost me £100 and take about 7 weeks - forget it.

Went to Halifax NS last week opened a CIBC account in minutes and also a HSBC one downtown in Holliis St I think it was. Absolutely no problems with either, nica and easy and for good manners I put $100 in each one.

If you can wait till you do a research trip over here, certainly dont give the UK branch £100 of your hard earned just for an "admin fee".