Banking differences
 

And I thought it would be so simple....

We bank with both HSBC here and in the States, I can't believe just how different the two systems are, and how much harder the American's make it!

Here I would log on to Internet banking, set up a standing order and that's that, payment into their account same day every month until I say so.
Or if a one off payment is needed I would transfer the funds and the recipient would see them in their account within hours due to the faster payments system. No need for anything other than name, account number and sort code, no need for internet banking, can be done over phone or in branch or even on my iphone.

There, go through long winded sign up for 'Bill Pay' which can only be done once we changed the bank address to our USA one.
Find out Landlord's new address by emailing him and realise that for some reason HSBC doesn't recognise him as being able to have electronic payments due to the fact that it wouldn't even entertain the idea of me adding his account and routing number. We do all this on the 10th thinking the same processes would be in place, but give the money 5 days to get into his account, just incase, we'll be good tenants.
WRONG!! Bank issues a check to be sent to Landlord, a check (It'll take me a while to get back into using those old fashioned things) and they don't issue this check until the 13th.
Which ensues snotty email from Landlord asking where is the rent and if it's not in his account by Friday... So I show him the online statement to say it's left and on its way.

Great start to our lease!!
Must remember next month to do all that a little earlier in the month!

16 days until we move!!

Re: Banking differences
 

Sorry to hear you are having a few issues with your payments, not even in the rental and already getting nasty letters from your landlord! classic:rolleyes:

Most payments made through your bank monthly, should just go through in the same way as in the UK, utilities/phone/internet etc. There will be some that don't and will need checks to be sent, just make sure you know which ones and allow extra time. We have been caught out by these too.

Good luck with your move, hope everything else goes smoothly for you :thumbup:

Re: Banking differences
 

Welcome to the US banking system, it will get worse when you actually start using it properly.

Re: Banking differences
 

I don't know HSBC but Citibank allows me to do what you claim to do in the UK. I have a "standing order" to pay each bill XX amount on XX date and that includes "mailing" a check to my landlord on the 27th of each month for the follow month's rent. The landlord will not allow direct transfer into their account. I have no problems at all. And I can change the amount paid at whim.

Re: Banking differences
 

Yep I can do all that, and for next month and the months following that's what will happen, it was the sending of a check I wasn't quite banking on and how long that would take! Banks here don't do sending cheques, unless it's a Bankers Draft and I think even they are becoming a little obsolete.
It's just a little bit different, that's all, I'm used to things being a little more instant, I just assumed it would be similar, must never do that, 'ass' and 'me' and all that!

Re: Banking differences
 

I don't think it is a real check but an e-check that they are sending. I suspect they do it that way if a billing account number is not available since a normal electronic transfer in the US does not have enough information in the packet to fully identify the transaction (eg. no place to put comments).

US normal electronic transactions are also slower than in the UK. This is because electronic transfers are batch transferred at night to the Automated Clearing House (ACH), then on to the receiving bank, and finally back to the originating bank (can take several days to complete the loop). Even though this may seem to be a slow process, it is significantly better, faster, and cheaper than the current system in the euro zone to transfer between countries.

Re: Banking differences
 

You'd think that. I paid my water bill using my banks bill pay system for a couple of months and I always got a note saying it was paid late even though it was scheduled a few days before the due date. Turns out that they printed off a check on the day it was scheduled, mailed it out sometime later via regular USPS from the banks main office and it was getting to the water company late. The banking system here is archaic and still very much paper based regardless of what they say.

Re: Banking differences
 

I actually think the online bank features are much better in the US (We have Bank of America). On a couple of occasions, I've tried to do somethings similar with Lloyds, and all of a sudden the UK online banking (Lloyds, at least) seems extremely limited.

I like the US banks generally have an inbuilt email function where you ask queries about your account. The online bill pay and such like is better and more comprehensive; also (with BOA, anyway), any charges, even if they are pending, show up immediately when you use your card. Plus their ATM's scan any checks you might be paying in, and tall yup the amount without you having to add it all up - good stuff.

Re: Banking differences
 

That sounds like an issue with Lloyds rather than UK banks in general; I use firstdirect in the UK and they have the ability to send messages from within the online system. I had the same experience as the OP when I moved over here - if you want to pay someone who's not a large corporation (eg. landlord), the only way to do it seems to be by cash or cheque - there's no way to perform an electronic transfer. I'm also having to get used to being charged for everything - from using another bank's ATMs, to transferring money from my account to my wife's account.

Re: Banking differences
 

Yep...that is one massively irritating aspect. I remember all the furore in the Uk about unfair ATM charges....shame it didn't follow over here.

Re: Banking differences
 

Not my experience so far, HSBC in the UK has the email system, so do all the credit card sites I use. In fact 99% of what I need to do can be done online and quickly.
No charge for ATM's, even if another bank, you can be charged if using certain independent cash machine but this can be avoided by getting cash back. Infact the lady from HSBC USA made me laugh as she started to explain this 'new' thing they have called 'cash back'. Only been here for about the last 10 years! Also no charge for basic bank accounts full stop. The thing about checks is by the by as no shops accept them and you don't get a new book unless you ask.

Archaic maybe (I say definitely), but as my other half keeps reminding me, slightly more banks and people in America than here to coordinate.

Re: Banking differences
 

One big warning on the banking deal, and this from personal experience.

Back with NatWest in the UK, if I set up a direct debit from my account, I had to sign a waiver to approve it giving the vendor access to make the withdrawal, here in the US if you have the routing number and account number, you're good to go (not necessarily all banks though).

So came the day that $150 disappeared from my checking account to pay for someone else's personal loan.

Now THAT sucks :thumbdown:

Re: Banking differences
 

We found that out when we were buying our house. Had to send $4K final payment to the escrow company before day of closing and the check was still in the post. Sellers Realtor stumped up the money and we paid him bank.

US banks are still in the dark ages.

Re: Banking differences
 

Everything for me is instant with the exception of the landlord. He is the bugger that won't participate in instant cash transferable. I haven't received any notices from them about it being paid late and the bank mails it out on the 27th from Texas to New York if that is any help.

Re: Banking differences
 

Nope, for Citibank it is an actual check check.

Last month the landlord decided it wanted to use another corporate name on the check and mailed it back to me to have the bank reissue the check. That's the only way I know what it was.

Re: Banking differences
 

One of the things that bugs me is that the bank can dip in and out of your bank account. Unlike the UK where no-one has access to your bank account but you unless you give them your written permission. For instance in the US the bank deposited an amount in error in our bank account...30 mins later it had been taken out again (both these actions where done without any communication to me). In the UK they would not have been able to do that without a court order.

Beware of Direct Debits...even when you have cancelled the DD the company can still keep withdrawing the money from your bank account.

Re: Banking differences
 

my bank told me it was like that. I asked a million questions as i just couldnt believe 'electronic payment' just meant a bank employee wrote and posted a cheq instead of me - but they were adamant this was it! I have to say though - it is better no (has improved over last 2 years we been here) and most of utilities I pay by direct pay (similar to dd in uk - but that simply wasnt availalke when we first arrived)

Re: Banking differences
 

Afaik, it depends whether the merchant in question has an account at the bank you are paying from. With B of A, it's pretty easy to deduce which will end up as posted cheques, and which will end up as electronic payments as each payee is annotated with an "earliest delivery" date. Typically these will show the next day's date, except for those that they are sending cheques to. Almost all of my payees fall into the former category.

Re: Banking differences
 

That is strange since the following article indicates that more and more paper checks are converted to electronic checks and a physical transfer is not made. So it seems strange that a bank would issue a paper check.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/cons...dit/cre31.shtm

Re: Banking differences
 

It's stupid, isn't it? I get paid through B of A online banking from one client; she schedules the check online and I get it like a week later.
Sucks for me when she doesn't remember to schedule me a week before I need the money.

Re: Banking differences
 

Banking in the US makes you feel like you've gone back in time to the stone age.

Re: Banking differences
 

I agree. When the selling points of an account are free checks, a debit card, no minimum balance and a crappy rewards program you know it's bad. This was the same bank that when I trialled it out charged me an account switching fee of $25 for switching from one account to the same account. When I questioned it the account manager said, calm as you like, "Oh, it looks like some sort of computer thing, they do that quite a bit. I'll just refund you the $25 and everything will be fine." He seemed genuinely surprised when I said everything was not fine if for no reason they take money from my account. His argument? "But I refunded it so it doesn't matter"

There are good options out there but nothing gives you the full package. My local bank gives me free wire transfers but charges me $25 if I go 1c overdrawn. My ING account gives me interest and a $1000 free overdraft but it won't accept wire transfers.

I was trialling out a bank last year and the sales pitch I got was about how great online banking was and how they were in their 10th year of it, yadda, yadda, yadda. So when I asked how how I signed up for it I was kind of surprised when I found out that I needed to fill in a paper form that included giving them 3 different user names (in case some were taken), a password but NOT an email address. Then, within 10 days, I should receive a letter in the mail telling me when my account was set up and which user name they used. Needless to say after I trialled it out they failed dismally and did not get the job of my primary bank. The final straw was when I wanted to change my PIN but there was no option to do it on the ATM or online and could only be done by calling up. I figured it would be automated but no, it was a person who asked me for my old PIN and what I wanted to change it to. When I said no and it was crazy that she would ask for my PIN she replied (no joke) "Why? It's just a number. I'll tell you mine if you want." 10 minutes later I was in the closest branch closing my account and politely explaining to an account manager and branch manager how I thought their bank was shite and I had no confidence in the security of my account.

These are just some of my banking stories, I have many more illustrating how crap the US system is!

Re: Banking differences
 

To play devil's advocate for a moment, while the PIN story seems crazy to us, that may be a cultural thing. The reason we get so het up about it is because, for years, banks in the UK have been seizing on the fact that a PIN was used to deny claims of fraudulent withdrawals and cover up theft by bank employees. It's been a while since I looked at the US arrangements for such matters, though.

One aspect that jars with me is paying utility bills with a debit or credit card. I can do it for my water bill, just like I did in England. I can do it for my gas bill, through a third party processor, at a cost of $1. If I want to do it for my electricity bill, it's through a different third party processor and it costs $4.

That just makes no sense at all...

Re: Banking differences
 

One other crap thing here is - they do not seem to want to introduce the "chip and pin" system - seems the mentality is that it would be too costly to implement, so they'd rather just reimburse fraud victims. Which is fine for now, but not very forward thinking.

Re: Banking differences
 

I might have to disagree with you here. From a consumer protection PoV, I see that as a good thing.

C&P, as implemented in the UK, is not a fraud reduction technology. It is, however, a very effective risk transfer technology, shifting the financial burden of card fraud from the banks to the merchants and the customers.

But, again, there is a risk of comparing apples with oranges. In US law, somebody whose card is cloned has legal status as a victim (Kyl-Feinstein, iirc). That is not the case in English law, where the bank is the legal victim (and, incidentally, fraud claims are now filtered through the banks before reaching the police, with all of the moral hazard that implies).

Of course, it all depends what one is trying to achieve. :)

Re: Banking differences
 

There is nothing much wrong with US banking

Just remember its still 1954

Re: Banking differences
 

I was stunned at the banking here. Going from a Current/checking account with Cahoot where i got 3% interest and 6% on my savings account. Imagine my surprise when i saw the interest on my savings account here was 0.01%...................it was closed very quickly

Re: Banking differences
 

Cahoots in about 0.50% now...as well

Re: Banking differences
 

WOW what a difference