How do free intl HSBC transfers work?

Getting seriously annoyed at them: In their email, they mentioned that they need to have a phone conversation and will call me.

They called me on friday late afternoon on my Taiwan mobile phone number. However, the connection quality was so bad that I couldn’t understand anything (severely distorted, lots of noise, …) - sounded like someone was trying to do a VOIP call over a 56k-modem or something…

They then sent an email asking me to book a phone appointment which said “NOTE: Appointment times are booked as GMT”. On the booking page, I could select “Taipei” as time zone and booked an appointment for 11:00am today. I received a confirmation message for an appointment which said “11:00 AM (CST)”.

They then sent me two daily reminders which just stated “17 Sep 2024 at 11:00”.

Now it’s past 11:00 - and no one has attempted to call me. If I click on the link in the confirmation, it just says “Please note - this booking has already been completed.”.

man, you have such a bad luck with them. Had my call ytd (I forgot about it, but managed to get some time anyways to chat with the officer out of Bangalore). Quality was decent for most time, only for like 3 mins the connection dropped but we were able to resume.

I should get the account approved by coming Friday, and debit card sent to TW 10 biz days after that.

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Every time this thread pops up, I think:

You move money
From one country to another
And don’t pay for it

Sorry

that’s it. getting free intl transfers, nothing else. It’s in the title also

I do this all the time.

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Just got the approval notice now. Very fast

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becoming a bit of a shitshow now. I tried to register for the log in on their mobile app following their instructions, but it seems they made a mistake and inserted my date of birth wrong, so I can’t pass the identity check either online or over the phone (spent 30 mins ytd on the phone with them and they just rejected me as “you are not you sir”)…

Sent thence a formal complaint according to the FCA published procedure, they are investigating now, might resort to go all the way up to the Financial Ombudsman for the UK. Love to stir some shit!

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How quickly the tables can turn! For my application, they actually called me again yesterday some hours after the appointment (no word of excuse or anything though…). This time, the connection quality was perfectly clear.

Anyway, some hours after the phone call, I already received the welcome email and could register for online banking (for the UK app, they also require a passport picture again…). After logging in, I applied for a foreign currency account (EUR) online which was set up promptly. Next, I will try to transfer some EUR to said account using a SEPA transfer.

And I received an email from the “specialist support with non-UK resident clients” who want to introduce themselves and discuss with me how to “support my banking experience in the UK”. Not a fan of those kind of calls - but it feels like the UK branch definitely puts more focus on building a relationship with their customers than the Jersey or the TW branch.

Love the spirit, but personally, I am just happy if things work out without the need to do that :sweat_smile:

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I have a good dive buddy from the UK. HE has bought gear for me.
He is also HSBC Premier and I can send him Sterling fee free as well as I added him to my payee list.

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I can’t even get there. after I put my sort and account numbers and my DOB it just shows error. Tried on the website, but I need a telephone banking number, which ofc I can’t get as my DOB doesn’t match their record (I really wonder what the hell they put in).

Quite disappointed as I work in a regulated entity too (we are regulated in the UK too by the FCA) and I know how careful we need to be to be compliant. this is a stupid mistake which shouldn’t happen given how many checks and countersignatures we have to go through to sign-off each account application for approval.

You didn’t switch up month and day by any chance, did you? :sweat_smile:

I wonder How I can input then the 28th month haha

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Well, they did f’d up my DOB, they gave me 30yrs more😂 they just called me apologising and telling me they amended.

Speechless on how they signed off that…

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They were active in getting your retirement account setup lol
Anyway your DOB being out by thirty years was just a rounding error. lol

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Of course. Each brand has to work according to the country law. Therefore is a must to have 2 accounts globally: 1 in your motherland and 1 in Taiwan.

Your statement is wrong. I do not have a HSBC account in my “motherland” I have one HSBC Premier account in Hong Kong where I have never been a resident and one in Taiwan where I am a resident. There is no requirement to have had an account in your “motherland”

Many countries allow non residents to open banks accounts in those countries.

Thats why I meant. Motherland is the country where you have nationality.

Hmmm…

motherland

noun [ U ]

us /ˈmʌð.ɚ.lænd/ uk /ˈmʌð.ə.lænd/

the country in which you were born, or the country with which you feel most connected

Well I do not have nationality in Hong Kong.

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Your statement is so wrong on so many levels, and also I don’t see the point of it and how you posted it.

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