dlake02

Hello

As part of my temporary move, my HR dept got a waiver from HSBC Premier so that I didn't need to hold the minimum balance ($100k !) to qualify for US and UK Premier.

Now, the bank has been totally awful in the US - the UK bank is stuck in the mid-1980s and as soon as we go back I'll be back to Smile as quickly as I can. It wasn't even until the end of 2012 that they brought in the ability to use Post Office counters for paying in and out as you can with virtually every other bank, and they were the last to introduce Faster Payments. GRRR.

In the US, they have virtually NO branches; those they have only open 9-5 Mon-Fri so hardly convenient to anyone at work, never on Saturdays, like asking for the holy grail if you suggest Sunday mornings, useless call centre in the Philippines, no interest on current account, derisory amount on savings, cheques that take DAYS to clear, no electronic payments unless you pay through the nose, etc, etc. Oh - and the -$12k error they've made twice on my account.

But, I find the Global View useful - the ability to move cash around in a few seconds as opposed to the days that other systems seem to entail, to see balances on all accounts on my iPhone, no ATM charges anywhere, etc, is useful.

However, due to a "review of business," they've decided that if I can't keep an average per month of $100k across my "relationship," I will now be charged $50/month. Now, if it was an excellent service I would have no qualms about keeping it and paying, but frankly, HSBC here seem to offer the kind of service that UK banks did in the 1960s.

But I can't find ANY US bank offering anything close to a typical EU high-street/on-line bank. I've tried the local credit union, and yes, it is free for day-to-day banking, but even they don't seem to have the equivalent of standing orders and Faster Payments through BACS and CHARGE for incoming electronic transfers !!!!

So, who to use ? Ideally, I'd like a bank with a good US and UK presense, online 24/7, the ability to pay in locally, no charge for any ATM, a decent rate of interest on my savings and SOMETHING on my current account and happy to deal with someone that is US resident this year but will be EU resident next.

lansbury

Welcome to US banking. Banks here don't operate like a UK bank and as most people using them don't seem to have a problem with it, I guess they are not going to change anytime soon. In other words what you are looking for doesn't exist in mainstream US banking.

Duncan Roberts

Or US banking as a whole.

Pulaski

Not sure what you mean by "a decent rate of interest" on savings, but interest rates are extremely low throughout the industrialised world, and as near to zero as makes no difference on bank deposits. When 15 year mortgages are below 3%, and commercial loans barely any higher, banks have no room to pay interest and make any money on loans and deposits.

md95065

Welcome to the US ...

Business hours for actual physical bank locations are pretty much irrelevant to me since there is nobody in any of the branches which any more authority than a supermarket checkout clerk so there really isn't much point in going there.

I use a combination of Bank of America and Charles Schwab - neither is as good as I would like them to be but at least there are BofA ATMs everywhere in California and Schwab Bank has a rebate scheme to refund ATM charges to you.

lansbury

I was going to say that, but thought if I did someone who say their one branch small town bank was ok.

dlake02

Santander IoM give me 1.97% at the moment 90-days notice (or 90-days interest penalty) and that is NOT for a sum anywhere near as much as $100k. www.thisismoney.co.uk show around 1.50-1.80% on the kind of amount HSBC are talking about is the going rate.

HSBC UK comparable rate is 0.10%. HSBC US is 0.01 % !

I'm suspecting that if I do find another bank, they're not going to give me a "moving kit" and move all my payments ?

But, HSBC is the best I can find to my needs at the moment - I just baulk at the idea of paying $600/year for something that I'm used to being free !

Michael

Barclays currently pays 0.90% and Capital One 360 pays 0.75% on no minimum savings accounts.

http://www.bankaholic.com/money-mark...130526212141:s

Probably Santander Bank can't get cheaper money like UK and US banks but that likely means that Santander probably has higher mortgage interest rates in the riskier Spanish market. If you feel that UK deposit insurance will cover your deposit, then everything will be fine.

If you want high interest rates, purchase solid large banks preferred shares (Barclays, BA, HSBC, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, etc.) which currently yield about 6% but you could lose it all if they default plus the price of the shares fluctuate depending on market demand and the shares could be called. They also have the advantage of being qualified dividends (usually taxed at long term capital gains rate).

http://www.quantumonline.com/

Duncan Roberts

You need to drastically lower your expectations. It's still extremely common for "electronic" payments sent from a bank to actually be a paper check that gets mailed by the bank. Some banks charge when you use a debit card, most banks will charge for a check book, online banking is billed as a selling point rather than a given, interest on a basic account is usually not offered, bank run savings accounts will claim to be a fantastic rate if you also have a checking account but will probably be well under 0.5% and there is pretty much a fee for anything they think they can get away with. The whole US banking system is horribly behind the rest of the world and if you expect it to be anything like what you are used to you will get very, very angry.

Pulaski

Economics 102: reward is proportional to risk.

Spanish banks are collectively shaky, under capitalised. Historically troubled banks jack up their interest rates on deposits as collapse approaches, trying desperately to maintain liquidity by attracting deposits, they always have and they always will. BCCI paid excessive interest rates in the late 1980's to suck in deposits - functionally it was running as a Ponzi scheme. Wachovia was paying about 1% over market on deposits in 2007, more than a year before it collapsed in October 2008.

EricK

As has been said, you need to get used to the concept that banks are stuck in a time warp here. No direct debit, electronic online transfers to someone else's account etc. Get used to writing checks all the time.

I am with HSBC and find them to be fine taking into account what's possible with the US banking system. Actually the staff in the branch have been extremely helpful to me on a number of occasions.

Michael

There is direct debit but you have give written authorization to the vendor. Since the authorization does not state the amount to be withdrawn or the frequnecy, the vendor could possibly empty your account and the bank is not liable with authorization. Written authorization is a contract between you and the vendor and not the bank.

As far as electronic transfers to someone else's account, that is a US banking system issue since there are a large number of small banks in the US and no standard for electronic Person to Person transfers. Capital One 360 electronically transfers Person to Person but they somehow have figured out a way to do it. Maybe they don't allow transfers to small banks but I use it, it doesn't seem to care about the bank, and I only have to know the last 4 digits of the account number and Capital One 360 notifies the receiver via email to enter their routing and account number.

Pulaski

Responding several posts above, a LOT has changed in the past couple of years, with cheques no longer being the dominant and painfully slow method of payment and transfer. In fact, contrary to the above assertion that many electronic transfers being effected by cheque, the opposite is now true, with many checks being processed entirely electronically.

Pay with a cheque in Walmart (among many other stores) and they will scan it, and then hand it back! .... Which confused a good many customers when that change was implemented. . Bank of America will allow even personal customers to upload a photograph of a check and have it credited to their account.

While certainly there are more improvements that could be, and will be made, American banking isn't quite as archaic as it was prior to "Check 21". (Google it! ) Direct account to account ACH payments are now possible, but many banks haven't yet implemented the technology.

The thing to remember about the US banking system is that there are still an absurdly large number of banks, about 7,000 I think, of which all but about 100 have less than 500 employees, and the average (mean) is about 100 employees and 2 (two!!!!) branches. Therefore almost all banks do not have the financial or technical resources to implement the latest technology.

Mummy in the foothills

I'm with a local Credit union and savings acct rates are abysmal, same as everywhere .01 on mine at the moment.
But we have no charges and access to online bill pay free, online auto bill pay free and you can do direct debits which seem pointless when you can set the payment yourself on bill pay and leave it to pay out each month.
You do know you aren't in Europe any more right? This is a foreign country.
They have their own set of bizarre rules and customs. It is what it is!

RICH

I have had a BoA account for 10 years. I got a mortgage 3 years ago which happened to be with Suntrust, and they "gave" me a current account on that basis. The assumption was I would transfer all boa business to Suntrust, but I did not.

I simply transfer the mortgage money to the suntrust account each month. This cost a few dollars to do electronically, so for the past year, I have been drawing cash at the boa atm a block from my office, and walking to the suntrust atm across the street, to deposit it. Takes 10 minutes and costs nothing, but is somewhat archaic.