tom169

I banked with Barclays in the UK for about 15 years. In the end they were uncompetitive and just started closing branches so I switched.

Now I just keep a 0% account open with another bank so it's not annoying for tax purposes, but convenient if I return.

LouisB

Uncompetitive in what sense?

tom169

Santander 1-2-3 was yielding more cash back and interest in one month than I'd earned in years with Barclays (including having most of cash in their savings account).

carcajou

Agree with Pulaski.

I banked with HSBC overseas but they are very minor in the US. I currently use JP Morgan Chase but I am very, very, very dissatisfied.

Banks in the US love giving out credit cards and will raise your limit repeatedly without application. I just had one bank repeatedly solicit me to apply for a credit increase, which ignored, and then they just gave me one on their own anyways. All of the banks I have cards from have done that. This is part of what got them in trouble in 2007 and 2008.

Banks do seem to get bought and sold with regularity, at which point you are unaffected and just the name on top of the branch and on your cards changes. I am not actually a Chase customer, I am a customer-in-law, I was a Washington Mutual customer and then they got bought by Chase. Also was a Barnett Bank customer and there have been a series of dizzying acquisitions over the past 15 years that it's hard to remember my customer lineage from them.

LouisB

Ah, was thinking checking and day to day, always best to shop around and move around for savings. Anyway, not that option in US, shame as I'd use for current accounts.

LouisB

Any downsides for going with capital one for checking / current account?

tom169

Santander 1-2-3 is a checking (current) account in the UK.

Owen778

As long as they have branches near where you'll be living, no.

yellowroom

I had an HSBC account, it was opened while I was still in the UK. I got assistance as part of my corporate relocation package - it opened the right doors at HSBC US and I ended up with a checking account, a "savings" account and a credit card with a decent limit ($5000 iirc) - in hand before I left the UK. I think this is unusual based on what other people report here.

My banking needs were receiving salary, paying rent and bills, cashing the odd check and shopping both domestic and international - very bland stuff. I would rate the HSBC service as "adequate" at best - it did its job and got me going, but had I been there longer I would have been opening an account with a bank with local branches. For me, the good bits were:

• They seemed to have good security systems that detected card fraud almost immediately and sent me new cards very quickly
• I could pay in checks via the phone app, rather than relying on the post (no HSBC branches in Virginia)
• The rewards system on the credit card seemed ok, I quite liked getting a couple of hundred $$ cashback every year.
• Online banking seemed efficient enough.

The poor bits revolved mainly on relying on the phone service due to no nearby physical branches. This was frustrating, lengthy and inefficient - as a comparison I once rang both HSBC and firstdirect (my UK bank account) to inform of some travel to a 3rd country. The firstdirect call lasted 4 minutes from the initial call answer to hang-up, the HSBC one took over 40 minutes, a lot of that on hold.

cautiousjon

I found the same experience with Chase.
[LIST][*] There is many local branches near where I live, and where I frequently travel out of state[*] Chase's online banking system works well, as does the mobile application (for depositing checks, for example)[*] Chase's credit card selection is good, with their top tier travel credit cards being some of the best in the industry for the average person (i.e. not someone who could get an AMEX Centurion)[*] There is fast, US-based 24/7 telephone support

May I ask why you are very, very, very dissatisfied with Chase? I have been able to get credit card limit increases from Chase when I have wanted them, and was told that I could easily have my credit limit decreased if I ever wanted to.

Once I opened an account with Credit Karma (to regularly check my FICO score), I noticed that I started getting a huge amount of credit card spam in the post, from the likes of American Express, Capital One, and Discover. However, since freezing my credit reports with the big three credit bureaus and opting out of all the spam, I no longer get any.

jkeller

Have never used credit karma, but I'm thinking they give whats commonly know as a fako score. Fico scores are from Fair-Issacs only.

You can get a free credit report from each of the 3 credit reporting companies once a year. They will offer to include a fico score for a small fee.
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action

hungryhorace

Agreed. I've been here 3 1/2 years now (time flies heh) and I was offered $5k initially in credit, now I get $25k on credit cards. My AMEX has a purchase limit around $80k from the online acceptance test they have.

So give it a couple of years and you'll be just fine.

Giantaxe

And the beat keeps on going regarding Wells Fargo:

"For instance, Bill Bado, a former Wells Fargo banker in Pennsylvania, recounted his call to the ethics hotline about being instructed to open phony bank and credit accounts. Bado even provided a September 2013 email to human resources flagging these concerns. Eight days after sending the email, Bado was terminated -- for tardiness."

Wells Fargo admits to signs of worker retaliation - Jan. 23, 2017

"Managers and employees at the bank’s roughly 6,000 branches across the U.S. typically had at least 24 hours’ warning about annual reviews conducted by risk employees, current and former Wells Fargo employees and executives said. That gave many employees time to cover up improper practices, such as opening accounts or signing customers up for products without their knowledge.

Often, managers would call for all hands on deck at a branch to stay late into the evening—or sometimes all night—to shred documents or forge signatures if they weren’t there, some current and former managers said."

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/...at-wells-fargo

Karlosthecackle

That deal was worth a TON of money and they really weren't happy when CITI/VISA got the business

I've banked with Wells Fargo since i got here. Never had a problem and their online banking/mobile app are both very good as well as having a ton of branches and ATM's. As with others, first day states side i walked into a branch and setup a checking account and secured (had to put down a $1000 as my limit) VISA credit card. was about 10 months and they converted it into a normal one and gave me my $1000 back.

Wintersong

Wondering why nobody has mentioned Visa Debit cards?

Obviously won't help build up a credit score, but if you want to use cards and not cash (esp. e.g. to pay online) but have trouble getting a credit card, or have a ridiculously small credit limit to begin with, a Visa Debit would seem to be a good stop gap measure.