I was looking for ways to save on travel card as well occasional international transfers (India). I know there are multiple options. But because my usage in occasional, I want something that won't accumulate any charges either end of the usage spectrum.
How does HSBC compare with others on this. I am thinking of holding money in other currencies when the rate is favorable to use it overseas or transfer from that as needed. I am still going though their "Terms".
I got the HSBC global account a couple years ago, could never even log in to the app on my phone (Galaxy S10), so could never authenticate and login to the website on my computer either. They never fixed it and i ended up closing the account.
You do lose a few % with HSBC exchange rate conversion. Best to use citibank/ING/Macquarie etc with no international transaction fees for purchases.
I used a Citibank debit card when I visited Japan in January. Withdrew from 7-11 ATM's with no fee and the exchange rate was nearly on par with the official rate.
The other thing I like about Citibank is that I can do international transfers without any fee.
HSBC is by far and away the worst bank I have ever had the displeasure of opening an account with. Please stay away from them at all costs.
Their app is unbelievably bad, the online banking is almost as bad (I can't even access statements from one of my accounts for some reason), every time I've been in to a branch it's a ball-ache.
Everything with them just seems much harder than other banks I've dealt with here. Their internet banking in general just seems to be 10 years behind in features and usability.
Seconded.
I am always for getting free money ($100) and the interest rate on the savings account was up there. I also appreciated the 2% cashback, however I would never ever go near HSBC again for anything. Everything about the experience was sketchy but the tipping point was when I needed to transfer money away from HSBC when the bonus period ended. They do not do large sum transfers over the phone (beyond the standard limit) - to do so you need to fill in a form and post it to Sydney for processing. Or find a branch (good luck) and pay $25 for an assisted transfer. I lost about $100 in lost interest slowly transferring money every day after my savings interest dropped to nothing, which was ultimately the quickest way I could get out of there.
I've had accounts with almost every other bank over the years, but have never met such resistance.
they gave a new app and website is actually ok, they are very competetive with home loans.They are honestly OK
Have both the HSBC Global Account and ING and used both while travelling in Europe and US. It was just good to have a backup card for withdrawing cash and no international transaction fees but very limited ATM access for HSBC. Didn't use the other currency feature so can't speak to that.
I've had dealings with HSBC for decades, and always thought they were ok for my purposes.
But, I noticed this in the news recently and was angered that they would take this action to protect their business, at the expense of the impacts on individuals:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/20/global-banks-scr…
I won't be back with them.
If you're concerned about the unethical behaviours of banks you'll love the Royal Commission …
It's likely if you look into any major bank you'll find very bad stuff. And with minor banks there is probably bad stuff, just harder to find perhaps.
It is the nature of the beast unfortunately.
Regarding exchange rates from page 42 of the PDS
International transactions and withdrawals in foreign
currency using the Visa Debit card will be made in
the relevant foreign currency.
Where a currency is not one of the listed currencies
available on the Everyday Global Account or is a
restricted currency (such as Chinese Renminbi
(CNY), Indonesian Rupiah (IDR), Thai Baht (THB)),
the money will be deducted from the AUD account
and will be automatically converted into the local
currency at the Visa exchange rate.
If you are in the US, if you are taking out USD unless you have USD in the USD sub account within HSBC they will convert at Visa rates from your AUD account.
Use the find function in the PDF. Happy to be proven wrong.
I think that’s wrong. The Visa rate only applies to currencies that are not one of the listed currencies available or restricted currencies. USD is one of the listed currencies and therefore the transaction is made at the HSBC rate.
Took 2 years to figure it out?
Only looking into travel cards now given covid for the past two years - thought I’d make that correction in case anyone else is in the same boat and looking into HSBC for travel
transaction is made at the HSBC rate
You know the PDS makes no mention of an HSBC rate. No bank converts against their own rate. They all go with VISA / Mastercard rate and adds a %.
Better luck next time.
@netjock: Not trying to be argumentative - just trying to figure out the right answer here…
Page 43 of your link to the PDS refers to “HSBC Daily Exchange Rate”. I couldn’t find out how that’s calculated but when I compare HSBC Daily Exchange Rates (https://www.hsbc.com.au/calculators/foreign-exchange-rates/) to Visa (https://www.visa.com.au/travel-with-visa/exchange-rate-calcu…) it seems like Visa is better.
Eg as of right now, 1 AUD will get you 0.6673 USD with HSBC vs 0.6776 USD with Visa.
But please correct me if I’m missing something.
@heatedtowelrack: Maybe the following rates are off limits:
Everyday Global Account supported currencies: AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, CNY, HKD, CAD, NZD, JPY and SGD
If you dig deeper VISA rates might be from yesterday they are not dynamic. HSBC rates pretend to be dynamic but it isn't because some markets aren't even open. So you can't really compare Mastercard / VISA rates with right now rates.
I did a test with CNY / HKD with HSBC and another card once (think it was like Revolut) and it wasn't that far off. I'd suggest you take another card and test it out if you are going to any of those countries.
If you happen to be purchasing an item overseas using AUD, I don't recommend HSBC Everyday Global Account. Instead use Citibank, ING Direct, etc. which use the mastercard/visa exchange rate instead of their own.
When I was overseas recently I saved so much money using the ING Direct visa card. I used ATMs that were charging me a ATM fee of $10, which was fortunately covered by ING.