HSBC Premier changes
 

Hi

Not to be an advert, but the issue of banking between the US and UK comes up and I've often recommended HSBC's Premier service as a good way to link US and UK bank accounts and transfer funds between the two (instant and no fee). Unfortunately to get Premier status you needed to have $100k USD in your account balances with HSBC which put it out of reach of some people.

However, HSBC just sent me a note that they are changing the rules. Now you need only have $75,000 balance (or) having recurring monthly direct deposits of $5,000 each month (i.e. a payroll deposit) (or) a $500k mortgage with HSBC. These changes might put Premier status in reach of more people an option to help them with the UK-US banking needs (once you are considered Premier in one country, your other HSBC accounts are also considered 'Premier'). I was able to open a UK Premier account by having my US Premier account manager vouch for me with HSBC London, which was also a nice benefit.

Anyway, not trying to spam but thought this might be of interest.

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

Thanks for the update. I too am a Premier customer, but have always shied away from using their FX. Have you ever done a comparison the rates you receive at HSBC compared to Transferwise/online broker? (i appreciate that the latter comes with more risk than the money remaining in the same bank). For the record, i have found them to be no better or worse than other banks. The Premier credit card does come with some nice benefits though

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

I'm actually interested in this so I contacted them to check, they confirmed the changes, but they don't go into affect until June 3rd.

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

A few years ago I did a comparison between HSBC and xe trade GBP/USD (before I knew of Transferwise), HSBC was worse. No surprise. Can't remember the actual figures.

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

Irrespective of exchange rates, I'm guessing that having an HSBC premier account while based in the US would help in the opening of a UK account and establishing some sort of UK credit rating for someone who moves back after spending most of their working life in the US? And I'm also guessing that it would have to be the premier account and not the regular one?

I have a US-based Barclaycard credit card, but not sure that that would do me any good at all in the UK.

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

I became an HSBC Premier client in Canada in about 2006 and have since opened similar accounts in the UK and in France. I routinely use Global View to move money around between these accounts and have Mastercards for two of them and a debit card in France, all based on my Canadian credit history. Apart from the threshold investment needed to qualify, I don't understand why more expats don't use them.

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

I don't have a lot of money, but if monthly paycheck deposits would now meet the standard that might work. I'm currently with Citibank, which does me no good at all.

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

I regularly move money from the US to UK and often compare the rates by opening 2 windows in my browser and looking at much each will deposit into my UK HSBC account and Transferwise is always better.

I do like the Premier Credit Cards and have both a UK and a US card. I also like the worldwide travel insurance that is free to Premier customers up to age 70 provided that the journey starts and ends in the UK. (I'm resident in the UK, and my wife and I just had a 30 day vacation in the USA).

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

I have the HSBC Advanced account (UK and US) as I could not meet the requirements for the Premier Account, they have just changed the figures for the Advanced too, so might be an option for those without a huge amount of savings. HSBC was very good when I moved to the US and as I have a UK government pension (emergency services pension) it was an ideal situation for me. The exchange rates might be slightly lower than FX but the convenience I have of being able to transfer money quickly without fees outweighs that for me. I then write checks to my USAA joint account again free of charge.

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

We set up a HSBC Premier account before we left the UK. Took quite a bit of time and paperwork but all good. Arrived here, were just getting settled then out of the blue they said they were going to close our accounts. Tried calling and going to the branch but no-one could explain. We set up new accounts with a local bank and moved my OH salary etc. I went to collect the check on the day they said the account would close and they couldn't understand why I was closing. They had changed their minds and not told us. I got the check and we were done.

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

Re: HSBC Premier changes
 

similar thing happened to me. For some strange reason I got letter about closing but OH did not. One of the issues was that we were not using the account for pay checks and there was not enough money coming in. Anyway reason we didn't use them is because even though we started the process while we were in the UK (we were hoping we would arrive with account and debit cards in hand) it took soooo long, ended up opening account with US bank a week or so after arriving.