I hate checking accounts, so I only have one checking account. I lived in 4 different countries, and currently, I am in the US; I realized that HSBC is the only account I need wherever I go. I opened my account when I started working at Amazon as it was suggested. I became Premier customer as I could deposit at least 5k a month from my paycheck. Being premier in one country made me and my family premier in basically anywhere. I opened a premier in my home country where I can send fee-free money. I have different premier credit cards in multiple countries that I travel frequently. All ATMs are free anywhere. Really good mortgage rate, saving rate. The US credit card is trash but the international features of HSBC are great for expats. If you send money internationally and want privileged banking and no BS from banks like Chase, check it out. Tc: 500k
Lol wat, so many better options in the US
Better in terms of what? Tell me and I am open to change
I have a premier account in the US but found that having an other premier account in my home country is not useful especially for bank to bank transfer. Western Union and remitly offer closer to mid market rates, not sure if that has changed.
I don't get it. I have an account in Europe part of Global transfer. Transfer is free and instant. I have an account somewhere else, I make wire and it is also free
And the exchange rate you get?
Fidelity can send money to any country for free if you have asset with them. HSBC has trash interest rate and credit card systems.
Mind expanding this please? Send money how?
It’s not free. You get shitty exchange rates
Absolute agree, HSBC Premier rocks. Been using it for over 3 years.
Navy fed is actually the best bank period
Why Navy Fed? I was considering them for something.
Once you’re a member lowest APR for loans, credit cards, mortgage, etc. Atm refund Best customer service 24/7 Branches world wide if necessary I guess that’s it lol, basically doesn’t suck
Where is HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp) headquartered at?
London, England
Thier UI was ugly and unusable a few years ago
+1, premier status rocks. have UK and AU accounts, will open a US one soon before I move over. such a nice convenience. @op for your broker, id highly suggest IBKR. IB + HSBC is an amazing combo. schwab is nice but struggles with currencies other than USD.
I have tried different checking accounts with over 10 different banks and have worked in US and UK. I had $400k equivalent TC being paid in GBP which I had to convert to USD each month. I have lived in 21 countries while traveling full-time in the last 3 years. I have a liquid NW of 1.5M invested in stocks (3.5M including wife). I have earned 3 million credit card points and redeemed it for $90,000 in the last 3 years. This is the optimal setup to do everything — US HSBC premier checking account to receive pay in the US (I’ve had it since 2020). The free wire transfers are one of its best feature. I wire all my paycheck to my stock broker account (Interactive Brokers) the moment I get paid. There is no reason to leave any cash in HSBC. I usually have $0.01 the day after my paycheck UK HSBC premier when I worked in UK. You get premier status in UK or other countries if you have premier in US (need to send $5000 of my pay to US account to avoid $50 monthly fee. UK HSBC premier has no monthly fee.) I wire the GBP paycheck to interactive brokers and do a forex trade to convert it to USD and invest it. Charles Schwab’s Debit card is the best for use at ATMs. Fidelity cash management debit card as backup. These are the best debit cards in the world. You can use them in any atms anywhere in the world in any currency and even if the ATM operator charges you a $50 fee to use that atm, Schwab/Fidelity will reimburse you. You get the visa real-time exchange rate which is within 0.1% of the true spot rate. For converting GBP to USD or vice versa the one and only optimal route is to transfer from HSBC to Interactive Brokers, then do a forex trade and then withdraw it to your HSBC account in the other currency (then send to whoever or wherever you want) Also I have tried brokerage accounts with over 10 different brokers including Schwab, vanguard, TD, Fidelity, Robinhood, Webull, Tastyworks, etc. and Interactive Brokers is the best for trading and investing (Fidelity is good too). To pay for stuff the best way is to use US credit cards without foreign transaction fees even if you are in other countries in other currencies because you earn more cashback and points that any other countries credit cards. Never use debit cards for anything other than ATMs. They don’t have the protections that US credit cards do. Given the choice to pay in US dollars or the local currency when swiping your US credit card, always choose to pay in local currency to avoid getting ripped off 5-10% with Dynamic Currency Conversion. Set up your credit cards with autopay to automatically withdraw from your interactive brokers account. If there isn’t sufficient cash balance it will get paid on margin. Interactive brokers have the lowest margin rates and some of the best interest rates on uninvested cash. Savings accounts are useless. You can leave the cash in IBKR and it will sweep to FDIC insured bank accounts and give you superior interest rates to most HY savings accounts. You can pay your credit card bills directly from IBKR or invest the cash instantly without any restrictions that savings accounts have. Don’t be fooled by banks and services telling you they offer no fees international money transfer nonsense. They give you shitty exchange rates and make money off you that way. Interactive brokers is the single best way to exchange to the 20 or so currencies that it supports (including Euro, GBP, etc). It’s what even a lot of real forex traders use. For other unsupported currencies transfer wise, western union, etc. would be better. I should probably write a more detailed article about all this. Adding how to optimize credit cards and points would take a whole another article
Great entry, thank you for your time
Thanks for the great writeup! I never thought of using my IB account to do FX conversions. I actually have a need to do that now so I’m glad you posted this info!
What’s the maintenance fee? I had one, but the fees made me close it. But now it may make sense, because my country’s banks give me a pain in the neck to open one there.
I you can at least deposit 5k a month, everything is free
Mmm, do you also have an associated HYSA? And what’s the fee anyway, if I don’t put 5k?