UK HSBC account from US - not primier/offshore

I went into my local US branch of HSBC on Friday to ask them about options for setting up an account in GBP.  I found out that we could just open a UK account from the US and transfer my credit and everything!  It's not a Premier or offshore account -  it is a plain old UK HSBC account and is subject to the same minimum balances and fees as if you'd walked in to HSBC after arriving in the UK and opened an account. 

He gave us a ton of paperwork to fill out and bring back.  We'll be going back in this week.  I'll let you know how it works out.

I did this as well and although I have a UK account # now, it took weeks to process and I am still waiting for more info from them. The international office in NY works pretty slowly it seems. My initial deposit check that I wrote in January just cleared my US account yesterday.

Double check on the credit thing though, as I was told they do not share credit info unless you have a premier account. If I was told wrong, I'd be interested in knowing.

We put a post in about this also it took them a couple of days to put Chris onto my accounts which was great so we have joint accounts now which is great. We just need to put money into it LOL so thats what we do next.

Do you know if there is info on where there branches are in the States we would like to be able to transfer some money into there from Chris's accounts also.

Unfortunately, even if you have a US based HSBC account as well as a UK HSBC account, they will still charge you a fee to transfer money between the accounts.

Is it the $30 wire fee plus a currency exchange fee?  The bank guy didn't know when he gave us the paperwork.

I set up an account with XE.com too.  They don't charge an exchange fee, you just need to get the money to them.  A $30 wire fee is high, but they can also accept EFT.  I'm wondering if I could do an online Bank-to-Bank transfer from HSBC US to XE to avoid the wire fee.

Sonya - Try this website to find a branch:

https://www.banking.us.hsbc.com/HICServlet?cmd_GetUSMap=&accept-language=en-US

Is it the $30 wire fee plus a currency exchange fee? The bank guy didn't know when he gave us the paperwork.

I set up an account with XE.com too. They don't charge an exchange fee, you just need to get the money to them. A $30 wire fee is high, but they can also accept EFT. I'm wondering if I could do an online Bank-to-Bank transfer from HSBC US to XE to avoid the wire fee.

This is exactly what I am looking into.

Courtney - My XE account is all set up - only my first transaction is going to be from HSBC USA to NatWest.  I checked it all out and registered my HSBC USA account as an EFT account for XE.  I called HSBC and they said that there is no fee for outgoing EFTs.  So that sounds great!  I'll let you know how it works.

Also, regarding credit record transfer...HSBC USA can can transfer your credit record for any HSBC credit account (credit cards, loans, mortgages, etc).  They cannot/will not transfer credit records for any accounts held with other financial institutions. 

I specifically asked HSBC if I could somehow transfer my HSBC credit card over to the UK and they flat out told me no.  Any suggestions of who I can talk to in order to make it happen?

They aren't transferring my credit cards - they are transferring the credit limit/credit/payment record for my credit cards.  It should help out a little bit when it comes to getting cards in the UK.

I spoke with the Premier Relationship Manager at my branch.  He called someone and kept asking about "setting up a UK account for a non-Premier customer".  There are a bunch of forms on the HSBC intranet that he printed off, along with a checklist of the paperwork that needed to be completed.  On that list under "Your Account Application Form" were "Customer Security Form" and "Credit Transfer Form".  Sorry I don't know more.

Do any of you have partners/Husband/wife/fiance/e with the HSBC you can be put onto there account and visa cards and check books savings accounts ect.

We where amazed how easy it was to do, it kills 2 birds with one stone provides you with letters with both names and gets you an account more easily.

I t took us a week to get all the stuff through for Chris

Quick update - our paperwork is still in processing since it wasn't filled out quite right.


But we did use XE to transfer money from our HSBC US account to his NatWest account.  We used EFT to get the money out of the HSBC account - it cost nothing.  XE charged us about $15 for the wire fee.  The transfer was complete in 5 days.

Quick update - our paperwork is still in processing since it wasn't filled out quite right.


But we did use XE to transfer money from our HSBC US account to his NatWest account.  We used EFT to get the money out of the HSBC account - it cost nothing.  XE charged us about $15 for the wire fee.  The transfer was complete in 5 days.

BUMMER!  I was hoping XE didnt charge so much for wire transfers!

HSBC charges $30 to send and $15 to receive!

I thought we were getting a bargin.

$15 is nothing!  I use XE as well and found it's the best in terms of charges...compared to bank to bank transfers.  And it's done in a decent amount of time too.

Quick update - our paperwork is still in processing since it wasn't filled out quite right.

What was wrong with it? I went into HSBC in Washington, DC on Wednesday to apply for a UK account and took my application back yesterday. I had a hard time filling in the forms. On the main application they want your employment, house, mortgage details, etc, all in GBP, so I just put in all my US info and converted the amounts. Then there was a form to prove that I'm not resident for tax purposes in the UK. Well, when I move I WILL be, but I'm not right now, so I filled it in as best I could. I don't know if it will all go through OK or not.