HSBC bank account - Online
 

Hi all,

I am hoping someone can help me understand the best way to setup an HSBC account, after reading on here it all sounded relatively simple, it's turning out not to be the case!

So...

In the UK I have the following accounts:

First Direct - Salary paid into this
HSBC - Has been downgraded to a current account as I no longer use it

In the US I have:

HSBC Plus account - I set this up in the US a couple of weeks ago to avoid the £100 charge from the UK doing it

When I spoke with both First Direct and HSBC before setting the US account up, they both told me once the US account was setup I would easily be able to transfer money between the accounts and they would all show up in internet banking.

Having spoken to First Direct & HSBC today, I am now being told that nothing can be done with my First Direct account and that if I want this functionality I will need to use my HSBC account. I believe the functionality I am talking about is referred to as "Global View", which allows you to see the balance of all of your HSBC accounts and transfer funds easily.

So, sounds easy enough, just transfer from my First Direct account to my HSBC UK account... The problem here is that unless I am paying at least £500 a month into the UK account (which I will not be as my salary will be going into my HSBC US account), they will just downgrade my HSBC UK account again, thus meaning I lose the "global view" functionality.

So, what is the best way to setup HSBC UK/US accounts to play nicely together? The way this is going I may as well have just setup a BoA or Wells F account etc...

Any input appreciated.

Re: HSBC bank account - Online
 

This is a comon type of question. I often wonder how "easy" people really need international transfers to be. I would focus on getting the right account for you that meets your day to day banking needs in the US. Services such as xe.com can easily be used for those instances in which you need to transfer money. That said, I know nothing about your finances and everyone's needs are different. I just wanted to weigh in with my thoughts given this type of question comes up a lot.

Re: HSBC bank account - Online
 

If you qualify for HSBC Premier in one country, you will be given access to HSBC Premier in all that you hold an account in.

When I was UK-based, I had HSBC Premier UK as my main account, and my US account was effectively dormant. I used Global View to transfer US income to the UK.

Now that I am US-based, I have moved my qualifying account to be the US HSBC Premier account (that involved several meetings with my customer relationship advisor) and I transfer UK rent income to the US using Global View.

There is no point in "asking" HSBC anything. It is more a case of "TELL." Especially in the US, they are hopeless, but only about as hopeless as the rest of the banks here.

To quality for HSBC Premier, you either need one of your accounts at a minimum balance, a minimum paid in each month, or pay the monthly service charge.

I've played around with XE and other transfer systems, but they are incredibly slow and cumbersome - Global View is a point-and-click, instant transfer much like BACS or EuroCHAPS.

Banking here is a nightmare - it's at least 30 years behind the UK which itself is years behind the rest of the world.

Re: HSBC bank account - Online
 

I agree with this...much better to use a currency exchange service to transfer money and just use whatever is the best/convenient bank