HSBC vs. CITIBANK

I currently have an account with Land Bank which was forced upon me by my former employer. The branch service was fine but the limitations on using my atm card outside of Taiwan inconvenient.

I’m looking to open a new account.

My requirements are simple: I want no yearly fee, I want to be able to access my money abroad, and I want to be able to conduct banking online. A credit card upon opening the account would be a bonus.

I’m kind of stuck on either hsbc or citibank. Does anyone have any experience with either of these banks? Or others? I’m leaning towards Citibank simply because they have a branch in Hsinchu.

Thanks.

HSBC will take a deposit of NT$150,000 before letting you open an account. That’s what they told me.

After I got up off the floor from laughing so hard, I asked them if they were serious. They said yes. I asked them how much interest they paid on the 150 grand. They said 0.00000000000000000001% a millenium or something similar. I asked them if they would give me a credit card. They said no, because I am a stinking foreigner and they are the world’s local bank, and I just wasn’t local enough.

At that point I left. I have no idea what HSBC are doing here (well actually I do, they’re making millions off an interest spread of about 20 percentage points - which is humungous) but you can open an offshore account with them for less and get a credit card and all that way. Internet banking of course.

I am told my Chinatrust account lets me access my money abroad and I have a credit card with them. They do internet banking. But I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them…

Foreign banks here a still local banks by law, and have a local bank attitude. Just because it says HSBC or Citibank above the door doesn’t mean you won’t encounter xenophobia and that irritating “meiyou banfa” smile.

Remember, no bank here wants to do business with foreigners. It’s just that some realise blackballing us is more trouble than it’s worth. Hence AMEX tolerate us.

[quote=“hexuan”]
I am told my Chinatrust account lets me access my money abroad and I have a credit card with them. They do internet banking. But I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them…
[/quote] LMAOOOOOOOO. Okay now that I"M of the floor laughing, Chinatrust has as(s)inine rules. I couldn’t access my money from abroad when my ARC exprired. Nor did they help me much while I was in China last summer, until I acted the Angry Foriegner part. :s :unamused:

Citibank here is a joke. I have an account in the States, and have found having that account when I travel a lifesaver,as well as convient. But when I live in Kaoshiung and wanted to open an account, the woman ,at the front desk mind you, looked down her nose at me and said loudly I needed to have over a 100,000 nt just to open an account. So, while Citibank in HK and the other countries I’ve used in has been beautiful and lived up to their customer standards, Taiwan does what it does best-changed the rules or created hurdles for moi…Keep shopping until you find what works for you…Best of luck

We hate HSBC after they contracted an appraiser in connection with the mortgage we’d applied for with them (this is in th States, and we HAD to use HSBC to get a certain 2nd mortgage program). The appraiser turned off the heat in the house for some idiotic reason (yeah, right, don’t put that switch back into its original position when you flip it in a strange house and nothing seems to happen!). The bank not only refused to take responsibility for delaying our closing a month (so far!), or for any liability, but they also refused to extend our rate lock to cover delay THEY had caused. It’s not even so much what they did (it was definitely an accident) but the attitude they took when they were told what had happened. Anyway, although we have since obtained alternative financing with another bank, we tell everyone not to use HSBC if at all possible. :raspberry:

One good thing about Chinatrust is that they have ATM machines, EVERYWHERE. They are in almost every 7-11, and no fees to use them.

One major concern for foreigners in Taiwan is beign able to use ATMs overseas to access your account.

I’ve used my Huanan account to do this. When opening it, they asked me if I wanted this option. If they don’t ask you, ask them.

Brian

The minimum deposit shouldn’t be a problem for me. I have about a years salary to deposit which I will use to live on while I find work (hopefully I can find something in Taiwan within that time frame).

It seems that basically few people have anything positive to say about banking in Taiwan. Should I be considering other options? What about an offshore account like Hexuan mentioned? Any disadvantages to that?

[quote=“kelake”]The minimum deposit shouldn’t be a problem for me. I have about a years salary to deposit which I will use to live on while I find work (hopefully I can find something in Taiwan within that time frame).

It seems that basically few people have anything positive to say about banking in Taiwan. Should I be considering other options? What about an offshore account like Hexuan mentioned? Any disadvantages to that?[/quote]

Yea, i would keep my money out of taiwan if it was possible…

I am astounded that banks request people make a gift of NT$100,000 to them in order to open an account and offers 0.00001% (which the bank uses of course to back credit cards at 20%) but I am more astounded at people who do it.

It’s also funny when the NT$30,000 a month receptionists look down their noses at you because you don’t want to make a gift of three thousand US dollars to a bank for zero return. They are sort of saying to you “you’re poor and stupid”.

I would choose an offshore account, but your money won’t be working for you, it’ll just be sitting in the bank doing nothing (well, depreciating, if it’s US dollars), same as putting it in an HSBC or Shittybank account here.

[quote=“Bu Lai En”]One major concern for foreigners in Taiwan is beign able to use ATMs overseas to access your account.[/quote]My Changhua Bank ATM card is fine in the UK. (I didn’t have to ask the bank to set up this service – it was on anyway).

Also, I only deposited a few thousand NT to set up the account. That was a few years ago so I don’t know for sure that it’s the same now, though I’d imagine so.

The ironic thing is that the older banks like Changhua (CHB) and HuaNan which are ridiculed by some as old and stodgy are very friendly with their overseas ATM capabilities whereas the newer banks like ChinaTrust fail. :unamused:

My friend with Fubon hasn’t had a problem. As always YMMV.

hsbc and citibank DON’T deduct 20% withholding tax from interest payments, like other banks here do.

I used to try to get the IRS here to take into account the money I paid in interest every year as part of my taxes already paid. But some years they didn’t even bother, just handed back the tax papers…

But that extra 20% can make quite a difference over the years.

Something to consider.

And if you’re in any doubt, check you bank book to see whether your bank deducts withholding or not…

Kenneth

I believe the amount required to open an account may depend on the type of account (and the bank itself of course), in particular if you need a multi-currency account there are different conditions to be fullfilled than for a standard (TWD only) account.

Note: if you open a multi-currency account then HSBC has AFAIK better terms, you “only” need to keep 150k in you account to wave the monthly fee while it is 250k at Citibank. As well fees for overseas wire-transfers appear to be cheaper at HSBC.
Beware the hidden fee that Citibank’s branch offices take when wiring foreign currencies: e.g. when sending USD to Europe (into a USD account) the money will be routed via New York (Citibank’s “home-currency branch” for USD) and they take their share. From what I understood HSBC will do the same but the percentage they take is less.

All of the above is based on the information I collected a few months back and may or may not be valid anymore, so please inform yourself at the respective banks.

Citibank does make this deduction for my accounts.

Multi-currency accounts seem to be a mythical product/service based on the inquiries I and a friend have made. Or, perhaps it’s because I/we don’t understand Taiwan’s version of a multi-currency account is, which is probably true.

I can’t follow you - what is mythical about it?

My banks have always deducted 20%, but this is also claimed at the end of the year as income and I recieve most of it back in my tax refund.

a little offtopic but may be some one is intrested.

i today called up both HSBC and citibank to inquire if i could get a credit card without a gurantor . to my surprise they both said yes and have sent me the document by mail.

is it possible or i am being given 2 days of joy only to learn that i need to get my friend sign the document with me.?

anything hidden , any experiences to share?

I have used a “debit card” from Chang hua Bank while overseas (applied for with local guarantor), with no problems. Of course, it debited my account immediately, but worked without a hitch.

Some Taiwanese banks will give credit cards to foreigners if you have a local guarantor. A number of my colleagues have these.

As evey teenager in Hsimenting (Xi-men-ding) in Taipei has a wallet full of them, there is no other real explanation other than discrimination against the yang-gui-zi. Let’s be honest, there are plenty of non-Taiwanese folks I wouldn’t lend a cent to either, but if a local person is willing to pay up if you abscond (ie your guarantor), there just doesn’t seem any basis for them to deny you a card.

My personal experience was that I also wanted a credit card with an international bank, which at this stage I will not name. I was, in fact, “recruited” by the bank through a friend. I was told that with my stable government job, good salary etc, as well as a guarantor with a good salary, I would be a shoo-in for their platinum card.

Then my application was denied. When I enquired as to why, I was told that I was a part-time worker. The fact is that I am a 40-hour a week, salaried employee (not hourly pay). I asked if they had contacted my employer to find out this information. Of course, they hadn’t. Eventually they admitted that in the bank’s view of things, anyone who has to sign a new yearly contract with their employer (something which, technically, all ARC-holders have to do, even if your school / company hasn’t made you do this ina while), is considered a part-time worker and therefore not elligible. They were willing to give me a gold card (was I to be thankful for small mercies), but it did not confer the same rights and privileges as a platinum card (eg. frequent flyer mile points etc). Again, my local friend with a salary half mine had the platinum card.

I asked if they had even a single foreign platinum card holder in Taiwan, and was told “No”.

To cut the story short, I eventually wrote an e-mail to the bank, promising to write to the English papers here explaining the policy of discrimination unless I heard from them within such and such a time.

I had my platinum credit card within about 10 days.

The point of telling you this story is that those of you who are complaining here, particularly about the so-called “International Banks”, need to make it clear to these banks that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable, and that you will do whatever is legal to ensure you are treated with the same respect as anyone else.

Now that I am a card-carrier, I must say that I am having excellent service from this bank. They just needed to understand that I was as worthy a client as anyone from here.

Please see this post: [forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 777#312777](Credit in Taiwan

No point if you don’t name the bank. ABN AMRO? HSBC? Citibank? Standard Chartered?