Epicurious

I received a notice from HSBC back in my home country saying that to be eligible for Premier one will have to have an annual personal income (not just savings) of 100,000 GBP. This change will be effective from 31st October 2018.

I'm just wondering if this change in T&Cs is being rolled out worldwide, or just my locality?

simon2017

I was HSBC Premier in Australia before moving to UK. I transferred funds that gave me UK Premier eligibility (which also meant I did not meet Australian Premier deposit thresholds) but I retained my HSBC Australia Premier and was classified internally within HSBC as Worldwide Premier. When moving to Malaysia I deposited funds to meet the Malaysian Premier requirements (no longer meet premier requirements in either UK or Australia) and have retained Premier status in all 3 countries. Malaysia's deposit threshold of RM150k is substantially lower than in UK or Australia. I have not received notice from any of these 3 countries that eligibility requirements are changing. As you've received your notice it may be too late to qualify within Malaysia but might be worth a try. Also if HSBC Malaysia did go down the same path the income level would be far lower that in the UK.

Macsta

What are the actually benefits of Premier status other than a "Wealth Manager" trying to flog you products?

Davita

The best benefit I've noticed is the ability to use their Global Transfer Funds freely between different accounts Internationally.
We also have a Premier Representative who we are personally acquainted with and who solves problems without any charge. i.e. my wife needed a personal account in her name as we share all other accounts...the P.R.M. did this free of all charges.
If they have any financial product they wish to sell, and I don't like it, I simply reject it.

simon2017

Besides the global transfer I find the biggest benefit is that I can have fee free accounts and credit cards in multiple countries. When I travel to the UK I use my UK credit card, while in Malaysia I use the Malaysian credit card.

stepen

Is your home country the UK?
It still says either 50K on deposit or 75K income here:
https://www.hsbc.co.uk/current-accou...r/#eligibility

Sounds strange that they will require both and 100K instead of 75K. You sure the letter doesn't say that the income requirement is increased to 100K, - if you done have 50K deposit/investments?

HSBC Malaysia Premier limit is 200K. I think HSBC operates very independently in each country, so I don't think that there will necessary be any change in MY requirements.

Epicurious

Terribly sorry, everyone. I have misinterpreted the notice, thinking that a deposit of 50K alone is not enough and in addition one needs annual income of 100K. I notice now that the two criteria are either/or. In fact, they're actually reducing the latter sum to 75K income, so making it easier to qualify (for some).

Macsta

I am a Premier account holder with HSBC in both UK and Malaysia and my point is, certainly in the UK, you do not receive any extra interest rate benefit on the account. Sure they offer you free travel insurance which is only applicable if you are UK citizen but my other banks credit cards are cheaper for UK and overseas use than HSBC Premier.

As with most of the banks with two tier account offers, it's usually more froth than coffee.

The Global View and transfer is the real benefit for me but of course I pay through the nose in rate when transferring against alternative transfer options but it is definitely a tangible benefit for me for now.

In MY the Premier account in the past seemed (I may be wrong) to have better FD rates than standard HSBC accounts but that appears to have dissipated and FD rates with local banks are (anecdotally) higher.

I have nothing against HSBC in fact my first account with them was when they were the Midland Bank which some folk on here might remember

InVinoVeritas

Just in case anyone doesn't know it, HSBC gives a much better fx rate in-branch than it does in on-line banking.

stepen

Last time I asked she showed me on the screen what rate I get as a premier customer, and it was the same as I saw myself in internet banking later.
For example it is just now 4.10023 for USD, around 1% below the Google rate (mid rate).
Are they able to offer better than this at the branch ?

eCdD

Before I decided not to do business with HSBC I discussed the rate of the moment a couple of times with my potential account manager. Yes, the rate was OK, around 1% off the midmarket rate. But not as good as Transferwise or my moneychanger who do 0.5 to 0.7 % off.