HSBC Premier customers

Just wanted to give you guys the benefit of our painfully learned lessons in the ways of Aussie banking, and HSBC Premier in particular.

We had had the chance a few weeks before we flew out to set up the Aussie bank accounts in Perth, but we were told that there wouldn't be much point in doing this, as we didn't have sufficient time to get the bank cards to us before we left. And besides we would just be able to walk in with our passports & UK HSBC premier cards & it would all be set up immediately. We were told that straight away we'd be able to use the internet banking to easier move £ from our UK accounts to $ in our Aussie ones (instantly).

I don't think it is the fault of the HSBC peeps in the UK.. I just thing they are unaware that, in spite of being such a laid back nation, the Aussies do love a bit of complicated paperwork!

After going in to the branch to open our accounts, we had to wait for for about 5 days to get our account numbers. Then we had to wait for the cards to be sent, and these had to go to the branch to be picked up. Once you have these in your hand you have to complete a form & after this has been processed (with a 3 day wait) you can then use the cards.

You have to wait to get a user name thing for internet banking sent to you. They write to tell you to use this with the PIN you'll have been sent (wrong – it's also waiting at the branch, though no-one will tell you this is where it is, and you will wait in vain). Once you have begun the logon process onto the Aussie HSBC Online banking system THEN they will order you a secure ID card to use with the system. This takes 10 days. Once you have that you should be up & running.

In the meantime you will be told that they have to do a normal payment to get money over (as if you are paying a 3rd party) and it takes 4 days. However, you can ask for an 'Emergency Encashment' which means money goes from your UK account to the branch's own holding account. It's usually used to give people money over the counter, but I used it to put cash into my Aussie account & to get bank cheques to pay for car & bond for the house.

We have also been told that, despite having sufficient money in the bank, and Premier status, we can't have an Aussie HSBC credit card until we can show payslips. So make sure your UK ones are not due to expire!

To be fair to HSBC, they have been good with car insurance quotes, though I suspect that this is because commission might be involved

By the time we are finally sorted it will have taken over 3 weeks to get to the point we had expected to get to in a couple of days. Be warned! Or better yet, get your Premier Relationship Manager in the UK to help you to get everything set up from the UK and at least everything will be waiting for you to collect when you arrive.

Hope this helps

J

Thanks for that! Will be emigrating to Perth in October, so very useful!!

OMG, thanks for that I was thinking only the other day about using the HSBC Premier Account, I think I saw an advert a few weeks ago on t.v, looked quite good. Sooo I will have to either think again or make sure things are definatley set up here first. What a great post thanks,

Take Care,

Sam x

Thanks for the post of your experience. we appear to be having a similar dilemma, but not with the aussie banks.......so far...more the uk numpties. I looked into HSBCs 'let us set it all up for you' banking and was met by such a rude bloke on customer services i ended up walking away

We have gone with Westpac. popped in and asked for some info and once discovering there would be no fees we said we'd open accounts. Were seen straight away. 30mins to fill out all the forms including a financial review for their info. 3 accounts set up. 1 current 1 savings for hubby and i and 1 savings for my son. internet set up with me there so i could sort passwords etc and have immediate access. walked out with all info and a welcome letter detailing all our account numbers, direct numbers of staff at our branch so we can call should we need to. very personal service, something ive definately not recieved in the uk.

my only problem now is getting our money out of halifax over here. they wont let me have it:mad:

A further update..

We were told that we could change our pins immediately on the cards, even before they were activated, so we did that & threw away the pin notifications. Better, we thought, than carrying around the pin numbers with the cards for 3 days.

Then... it seems that they didn't activate the cards after all, so that still had to be done (1 week delay) then of course it turns out that the original pins are still the ones to use, and we don't have them. Further 2 weeks to get these posted to us.

Grrrrrr:mad:

We opened our accounts with ANZ before we migrated. Cheque account, savings and internet banking were all in place. All we had to do was turn up at our local Aus branch on arrival and present our passports, show proof of temporary address, give sample signatures and we were away. Our bank cards arrived three days later. Simple!

BTW we transfered our money with Moneycorp and they were great too.

Howard.

Do HSBC Australia make you use Maestro/Switch?

I have yet to find a single place that accepts this type of card so can only use it to withdraw cash in Australia. I've found HSBC to be pretty good in the UK but not a lot of use when in Australia thus I will be transferring my money out of there and into an Aussie bank once I'm allowed to settle in Aust.

Must say that I have had a complete difference experiance with HSBC Premier, the forms were completed over the phone and e-mailed to me to be signed and then I had to just pop into the local branch with ID to be photocopied and sent off to Oz.

Had the cheque books and cards posted to us in the UK and these arrived within 2 week. Now have full internet access between accounts.

Could not fault there service at all, even th guys on the Oz Premier Line are great was able to get the Super Savers account opened up within a week.

Must say that I have had a complete difference experiance with HSBC Premier, the forms were completed over the phone and e-mailed to me to be signed and then I had to just pop into the local branch with ID to be photocopied and sent off to Oz.

 

Had the cheque books and cards posted to us in the UK and these arrived within 2 week. Now have full internet access between accounts.

 

Could not fault there service at all, even th guys on the Oz Premier Line are great was able to get the Super Savers account opened up within a week.

I think you got the key thing, which is to get it all set up before you leave the UK. If I had the time over, that's what I would do. We have now been here for 7 weeks & finally have cards that work!

Before you move over you should always make sure that your UK bank will take instruction over the phone from Australia. On most occasions you will need to put it in writing.

Very good information here - I am moving to melbourne in Jan and have hsbc account(not premier) and I spoke to their international advisors and they said they can open up an account (internet) with cards and saving options but it will cost £150 set up fees + I have to deposit $2000 in the account within the first 3 weeks. My company said I dont have to open one till I get there as they will pay me in my uk account and that its easy to open one when I get there with my papers. My Question is - should I open one now before I leave or wait? on another subject I've been told to get private cover as part of my visa till I get medicare over in OZ, phoned a lot of companies and most of them do only a years cover the only one I found is bupa for 3 months which works out at £250 for the 3months - anyone know any other company I should try? thanks

I am guessing you are on a457 , you get the medicare reciprocal agreement when you get here and apply ,still applies I think as atourist. Private insurance is now required on a 457 ,used to be the sponsors responsibility but there has been a change of policy, private health insurance aint cheap esp for temp visa holders

yeah I'll be on a 457 business visa, my contract is for a year and been told to get private to cover me for the first month or two till I get medicare. I was thinking for getting cover through my travel insurance as its the cheapest but I dont think that will cover me?!