InVinoVeritas

HSBC has been tightening up a lot (not hard to guess why either). Despite having been a customer of HSBC Premier for 25 years I recently got a detailed questionnaire which required a copy of my lease and recent utility bill as proof of address with both countersigned by a qualified accountant. They also wanted to know where any future funds would be coming from and the original source of these funds. I think they will eventually get around all the customers. If they don't like the answers then they will close the account.

Fenella

Amazing - they screw up and their customers suffer for it

Scuba Tyke

Hello BB (or should I say Papaya? I really miss that forum, this one is good, but doesn't have the same feel to it, less banter probably).

Our plans are to move to PD in 2 to 3 years time when I retire. We already have a house and really enjoy the time we spend there. Tetley freeflow was certainly a bonus, but I haven't seen it since!

I have made an attempt to contact more PD people via this forum a while ago, but didn't get any bites. Maybe I'll try again when we eventually move for good.

ST

Kjarkata

It is taking very long by HSBC to open an account in Malaysia from overseas. I had to postpone by travel twisce which has also cost me for changing the airline tickets
If I travel to Malaysia, woul it be possible for me to open a bank account for MM2H fixed deposit without address in Malaysia ( I have overseas address).

Would appreciate guidenance and any ones experience in this respect.

NeonHippy

Hi there, we were in Penang in January this year and had no trouble opening an HSBC account using our UK address. The important thing is to have your MM2H conditional letter with you to act as an introducer. It possibly also helped that we wanted to open a premier account (although we were already customers in the UK we were not at that point premier customers). Assuming you are going down the fixed deposit route you are 3/4 of the way to being a premier customer.

Beauregard

Hi Fenella!

My wife and I are dual citizens in Canada and the UK. We opened a "Premier" bank account with HSBC in Canada and thereafter opened a "Premier" account in the UK before we moved there with no issues. We did not have a residence address in the UK at the time.

After living in the UK for 6 years, we decided to move to Malaysia and opened a "Premier" account with HSBC Malaysia before we moved, with no residence address in Malaysia.

It was easier to open the HSBC UK account than the HSBC Malaysia account. The procedures were faster and simpler with HSBC UK and they gave both my wife and I our own UK HSBC Mastercard accounts based on our Canadian credit reports. Obtaining an HSBC Malaysia credit card was a bit more problematic, so we did not bother to apply. HSBC Malaysia wanted a 50,000 ringgit deposit against the credit card account! I have never been asked to put up a deposit to obtain a credit card before in my life and demanding such a large deposit seems absurd, in my humble opinion.

HSBC Malaysia did give us both a debit card on our joint account in ringgit, which we use just like a credit card when we shop. In fact, in many shops here, the transaction only goes through if the clerk enters it as a credit card transaction rather than a debit card transaction! Most peculiar. Our debit cards originally had a 2,000 ringgit spending limit per purchase (which was a bit low for us while we were buying appliances and furniture) but we went to the HSBC branch in Ipoh, Malaysia and they upped the limit to 3,000 ringgit upon our request with no fuss whatsoever.

The HSBC Premier accounts are meant to have a minimum amount on deposit to be free of service charges. I believe that minimum is $50,000 Canadian, £50,000 Sterling and 200,000 Malaysian ringgit; but those amounts may have changed since we opened our accounts. In any event, we have often dropped well below 50,000 in both the Canadian and UK Premier accounts and neither HSBC in Canada nor the UK has ever revoked our Premier status and charged us fees.

HSBC only asks that one have Premier status in one country to have Premier status in all of one's accounts worldwide, so failing all else, we could easily maintain Premier status in Malaysia; since our 150,000 ringgit deposits for our MM2H visa would count towards the 200,000 ringgit total required for Premier status.

We find HSBC to be a very good bank with which to deal and if one has an account with HSBC in more than one country, it is very simple to move money between countries online. Their exchange rates are very good as well. I usually reckon that if one pays no more than 3% on a currency exchange transaction, one is receiving a reasonably good deal. The exchange to ringgit usually costs us about 1.5% or 2%, so that is pretty much a bargain in my opinion.

I hope the above information helps and is not too late to be of use to you.

Cheers!

InVinoVeritas

Thank you for a very complete summary of HSBC Premier banking - I use them and am very happy with them.

I would just add a couple of things:-

1. The credit card problem is not specific to HSBC but is down to Malaysian financial controls. The status of an account which has any credit facilities is very different, therefore best avoided.

2. The limits on the debit card for cash withdrawal and merchant POS are a bit bizarre. For cash my limit is much higher than it is for POS.

3. It's nice to get an immediate SMS every time an electronic debit is made on your account, with a number to call if you need assistance (this is the major reason I have a dual sim phone so that I always get these messages).

++IVV

Fenella

Thanks Beauregard and InVinoVeritas. We moved from The Netherlands, so no HSBC account. We're currently in Indonesia but will be in KL in a couple of weeks. We'll go to HSBC and see if they'll let us open an account anyway. Fingers crossed !