SockToy

They offered me expat today. I'm kind of unclear on what benefits it has over premier... (Which I already have) and they were kind of unclear too ;p

kodokan

When we were Premier, there was some mention of us opening an account in Singapore; this was apparently some expat-related thing, to do with wanting (at the time) a multi currency account.

We declined - given we already had accounts in Switzerland (we'd just moved from there) and were opening an offshore multi currency one in Jersey, we thought adding a weird Singaporean one for no apparent reason would look VERY suspect to US authorities!

Is it some administrative thing? Is your existing Premier relationship with the UK or US division - maybe they just deciding where/ who your Relationship Manager should be, going forward.

Asg123

My experience of HSBC from a few years ago is that if you have just an ordinary and not a favoured account with them they rip you off and give you a worse exchange rate than other banks where you don't even have an account. So you're wise to make sure that you have a preferred account with them.

By the way for international transfers it's cheapest to use an online broker to send the money to your bank account.

H Bomb

Maybe they mean the expat services offered by Premier?
We were Premier in the UK and when we moved they set everything up for us as Premier in the US. It was a good service.

L1applicant

Interesting, I currently bank with RBS. Which is the best bank and account for a UK citizen moving to the US (paid into UK bank)?

mrken30

The expat account is based in Jersey which has different protection levels. Premier is based in the UK or US depending. I believe this to be the main difference. Also it is virtually impossible to open a UK account without being a UK resident, so the expat account is a compromise for returning expats.

I used to have premier when I lived in the UK, but I do not have enough UK income to keep me at the premier level since moving to the US. They downgraded me to a regular account.

mrken30

I believe this is what they were referring to

https://www.expat.hsbc.com

kodokan

Huh, funny - after living in Switzerland for some years, then being about to move to the US, HSBC were happy to open US accounts in advance for us before our move and, at their suggestion, we also opened a UK checking/ savings account with them at that time.

We'd been with First Direct for many years though, so perhaps that's how they circumnavigated the identity check process.

We also opened a Jersey multi currency account after moving to the US. It was actually the hardest of the lot - it was at the height of the FATCA introduction, and they were very cagey about extending the service to a US person. In the end, they carefully asked 'Are you a US citizen... <no> are you a US Permanent Resident... <no - not at the time>' and then deliberately didn't ask any further questions so they could tick their due diligence box in good faith, then opened the account

Aside: I don't think you need a certain income level to be Premier, I think it's a wealth level. Last I checked, it was £50k or $100k. (Ponder - wonder if that'll ever change due to FX movements..?)

penguinsix

HSBC Premier allows you to open accounts in the UK even if you are not resident. Your US banking officer attests to your identity to an HSBC officer in the UK and they are willing to open a high street account in the UK for you.

I've done it.

HSBC Premier allows linking of your accounts so transfers between my US-UK-Hong Kong accounts are instant and free. I don't move huge amounts so the exchange rate difference between HSBC and the 'best rate humanly possible' is usually only a few £s total in the end so not worth the effort.

That said, you still need to have a "relationship balance" of $100,000 USD in your account for Premier, or pay a hefty monthly fee.