mwdake

The HSBC Online Savings used to be good deal especially if you needed to stash away an emergency fund or something.

It is one of the few online savings accounts that have an ATM card and you never have to pay for ATM fees as HSBC will reimburse them. The ATM card is good if you travel a lot.
The account used to have a really good rate. Even though savings rates have gone to the floor HSBC is no where near competitive any more compared to other online savings accounts.

e3geek

So how does this credit card transfer thing works? I have an HSBC credit card here in Australia. Can I get a US one when I go there?

ClosedAcc 7654

We started with one of the big banks. Fees etc tend to be higher and drove us away. Moved everything eventually to our local Credit Union. Costs are really low, you get to talk to real people, they are easier to deal with when it comes to loans etc, much easier to get that first US credit card, everything works as far as ATM/cashpoints go abroad (Europe, Asia, Africa), transfers are as easy as any bank,online access is good, honestly can't think of a downside but lots of up.

No ATM fees when in the UK if you use a building society in most cases. No costs to receive money from the UK in our case but fairly typical.

The only thing is knowing what to choose before you arrive but if you can wait a few days to get your bearings that's the way I'd go.

I'm in California? Where will you be?

jaffy23

After a really bad international transfer experience and then 6 months trying to make HSBC USA work for us, I couldn't recommend it. Their customer service people are nice enough but spend most of their time trying to work around a broken system. Adding me on as a joint account holder (after I got my SSN) took about a month of repeated phone calls and emails of scanned passports / SSN cards (as the branch were flummoxed also!). HSBC in Windsor UK were amazing, but the US arm is nothing similar.

Chase works great for us and I appreciate how many branches and ATMs there are, and how they were able to issue us ATM cards in the branch. But really anybody except HSBC. I would have liked to have joined a credit union but I'm too lazy to look up the ATMs each time I travel.

dawnrazor

SF, but I'm still at this stage: so don't want to tempt fate!!

robin1234

Yes, I opened one of those HSBC Online Savings accounts to store medium term savings many years ago, when it was paying 5.5% I think it was. It was easy to open the account, and incredibly easy to operate, associated with my regular checking account at the local S&L. Then they just steadily wound it down to where it now pays 0.2% or something. I more or less emptied mine out earlier this year. I hate the way banks apparently rely on customer inertia, they assume many people will leave money in an account even when the account is no longer a good deal.

tonrob

I used to have one too, but then ditched it when the rate dropped so low. Instead of using a savings account I now move the cash portion of my savings around in order to earn air miles, as the return I get from doing this far outstrips any interest rate I could get from a bank.

sir_eccles

Perhaps this deserves a thread of its own but what is the best thing to do with cash savings right now? I'm not sure I understand what you are doing Tonrob?

tonrob

Much too convoluted to go through here/now, but one example is financial institutions that offer miles for moving cash into them. Can be moved on elsewhere after a given period of time.

FinnDiego

If you're an HSBC Premier customer you can get a local credit card based on your existing relationship - once they eventually find it after losing it twice, sending it to the wrong branch, etc. And here in San Diego the only branch is downtown, open 9-5 on weekdays only.

I'm still with HSBC, largely because when I first moved to the UK they were just about the only bank who understood people move internationally. Opening a bank account in the UK is hard as a newcomer! Since then the transfer process did eventually work for me UK->Canada and Canada->US, got my accounts and credit cards sorted out, but especially in the US there were more than a few hiccups, lost documents etc. All the staff is friendly, good customer service in person or over the phone, they just don't seem to be very well organized in the US.

In summary I'd only recommend HSBC in California if you're a Premier customer and can get a real credit card from them, and even then you may want to open another account with a local bank, especially if you actually need to visit a branch regularly.

mwdake

I wish it was 0.2%!
The rate is now 0.01% up to $9,999, then goes up to 0.02%.
My regular, how many 0's can we put after the decimal, bank has that rate.

ClosedAcc 7654

Hi Dawnrazor. We're in the North Bay' across the Golden Gate. Plenty of credit unions used to international business to choose from. Your biggest sticker shock will be the price of housing here, particularly in the city. Also expect to put on 10lbs a year as there are a billion decent $10 lunch places in SF, including some decent Indian food. SF is a great city to work in - was always where I worked till I got injured and had to call it a day. I do miss my office with Bay views... Them was the days. If it comes to be, dress warm in SF. Microclimates here are bizarre. Temp changes 20c over 10 miles depending where you are. Hope it works out. Snow for a couple of hours about every 20 years. Skiing only 3 hrs drive away. Rain not very often but heavier when it does.

Danoz

Another option is Citi. If you do a Citi to Citi international transfer (first party, so to yourself), then they are free of charge. As a result, if you have a Citi account in the US and one in UK, you can move your funds back and forthr and its only the exchange rate that you deal with. Again, dont know how good local US branch network is, but if you are mostly doing this online, then shouldnt be a problem.

Pulaski

Mostly poor, at best.

Danoz

I am guessing though that it is the international transfer part that is important aspect here. No reason you cannot have a local bank and a Citi. Do a local transfer (guessing this is free within the US) into the Citi account (or HSBC if they offer the same) and then do an online international free transfer. If you are moving funds back and forth regularly, this should save a lot of money in transfer fees. The slight pain might be that you need multiple internet banking log on.