Hello.

I am a First Direct Customer and apparently they also offer a service where they setup an HSBC account in Canada for you and link it to your First Direct Account.

I was wondering whether any of you have done that and how well it went?

Thank you!

My friend did that and said it was great but it has to be a Premier Account, not just a normal one, I think. It was last time I looked.

WE were with first direct. WE were told the same but its not that easy unless you are a premier customer. If not it was £100 to set up in advance. Actually we would have spent that if it meant our credit rating came too, it didn't so we didn't. We did open with HSBC here, which has been a big mistake

Gryphea

How come? Do share.

I already have a shared account with my partner at Scotia Bank, so I do not really need one quickly, but we would both prefer also to have seperate accounts for our wages.

They are just a catelogue of shambles in our experince. Cheque books took 6 weeks- yes 6 weeks to arrive which would be OK almost in UK but you need them here. Got charged when we shouldn't have been. took loads of effort to get reimbursed - told us about 8 times they would- not forthcoming etc.

Do a search on HSBC.

Husband regularly loses the will to live. He spent 40min in their once filling in a form- only for it to get lost etc.etc

Gryph

I've seen heaps of bad reportss about HSBC in Calgary, where gryphea is. Besides that, there are fewer branches of HSBC in Calgary than there are of the other high street banks (Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank, Scotiabank, and TD Canada Trust).

Although I've just moved to BC and can't say for sure, I get the impression that there are more HSBC branches out here, relatively speaking, than there are in Alberta. JonboyE, whose employer uses HSBC in the Greater Vancouver Area (a branch in Richmond I think), says they provide absolutely superb service.

You're heading to Ontario, right? I don't know what HSBC in Ontario is like.

When it comes to the high street banks listed above, I've seen praise and criticism for every one of them on this forum. It seems to come down to the luck of the draw. Every bank seems to have bad moments. I haven't tracked this formally, but my gut impression as a regular poster is that Royal Bank has received the fewest criticisms.
x

I was with First Direct in the UK. I even worked for then. But when they told me they couldn't transfer my credit rating across I kinda loss all faith in them and HSBC.

When we first came over we opened an account with Scotia bank they were ok but would only give us a cheque account no visa card. We applied for a visa card one year later and still they turned us down.

My OH then got a different job that needed him to open a TD Canada Trust account so to save paying 2 chequing account we transferred all banking to them.

When we went into the branch to open the account we were immediately asked if we wanted a visa card with them.( This was about a month after Scotia had turned us down). They have been fantastic. I would certainly recommend them and they are open longer hours too.

I just called them and they said the HSBC account manager would have access to the First Direct Credit History once it is transferred. But then again one never knows :P

Thank you, I sent them an email.

[QUOTE=retsujou;6925901]I just called them and they said the HSBC account manager would have access to the First Direct Credit History once it is transferred. But then again one never knows :P
QUOTE]

Yes

But you just called first direct , not HSBC. Having access is slightly different to actually paying any attention to or using the information in a positive way

I spoke to both First Direct and HSBC in the UK.

First Direct said there usual... Oh it will be ok First Direct is part of HSBC.

HSBC on the other hand said.. Unless we had an account in the uk with them (meaning an actual HSBC account) for 5 years they wouldn't not be able to transfer credit rating. After all First direct is just a subsidery of HSBC.

That was nearly 3 years ago so they may have changed since then.

And tbh it's easy enough to build your credit rating up anyway.

sorry to be the bearer of 'good news' but we've have nothing but praise for first direct and HSBC, so far......we've been customers with both for 5 years....

we applied for a canadain bank account a couple of weeks ago, from the comfort of our home, over the phone....within minutes, our 'papers' were emailed to us, we went into our local bank (uk) and got them signed and just tuesday this week, four cheque books arrived, along with cards for debit and credit, all from vancouver by registered post and we've been assured that our credit rating will be transfered to canada when we go....oh! we also had a home visit from our HSBC person on monday, who came to check that all was okay!!!!!

all we did to initiate this, was a phone call......sorry to rub salt in but it obviously can be done!!!!

and as to the £100 pound premier account, batter the eyelids, talk sweetly....worked for us, that's all i'm saying!

The point here is you have been an HSBC customer for 5 years. We haven't as hasn't retsoujou and I also say you aren't here yet and don't have to actually deal with them.

I have nothing but praise for first direct- they have been fablulous

I am impressed about the credit card though.

Are you sure you aren't a premier account holder?

As a customer of First Direct since 1993 (I deserve a long service medal), I had always found them to be the bees knees. I've recommended them countless times and have never had a bad word about them. That is - until we moved to Canada. Any relationship with them is completely ignored by HSBC Canada. FD would have opened an HSBC account here in Canada for me for £100 (as also found by another poster here). I did it myself for nothing!

In preparing my tax affairs while still in the UK, I had to complete a 'Not Ordinarily Resident' form (provided by the bank). First Direct were so anal about the whole thing, it was infuriating. I'd completed it twice, wrongly (according to them), and in the end got so frustrated I spent 45 minutes on the phone to them (the day before I flew out here), getting them to go through it with me line by line, making sure it was exactly as they required. This was two months ago. I had a letter from them yesterday, telling me that the form was incomplete and I'd have to go through it all again - for each of our three accounts! :curse: They can't seem to understand why I live up to my username (here) every time that bl**dy form comes up.

In summary - First Direct were brilliant, but they're starting to let themselves down. Forget it if you're relying on them for much sensible help while overseas, particularly in relation to HSBC Canada. I'm now gravitating towards the free account (for a year) that I've been offered by Scotia Bank.

Edit: Oh - and I've managed to buy a house on a mortgage, and a car on a loan, without having to resort to either HSBC or First Direct.

We are FD customers in the UK, HSBC in Calgary. Found it useful to open HSBC accounts (but we were here in person) before the final move as then we could transfer monies for a nominal £10 per transaction fee.

The real deal comes only if you have a premier account... otherwise you just have to choose what's best for you. For us it was HSBC as the bank was close to our new home... but we also opened a TD savings account (just in case).

Well I had a chat with a very nice Lady from TD. She said that I am not going to have any problems. First of all I have a joint account with a Canadian Bank already, I have a Canadian partner which has a Canadian credit record and she can co-sign for me. Furthermore she explained that it is up to the TD branch manager whether that individuals wants to acknoweldge the UK credit report. Usually she says that is the case, especially when you already have pre-arranged employment here in Canada.

So I will not give FD 100£ in fees, I will simply go and apply for an account when I get there.

Thank you