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What are the benefits of holding an HSBC Premier account?

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  1. #31

    Join Date
    Jun 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by alfeno:
    Can somebody here explain what are the benefits of holding a Premier HSBC account instead of the lower HSBC Advance?
    DPLM will be your best friend.

    If you want a better bank without hidden charges everywhere, go with BOCHK.
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  2. #32

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    Feb 2010
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    I find Premier account useless. I had one for a year with that promotion. Their phone service was pretty good but in a branch it was quicker to head to a Advance counter than wait 20 to 30 mins in the premier lounge.


  3. #33

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    As has probably already been mentioned, the only advantage is easier international transfers and free coffee and sweets while you're waiting. The 'Relationship Manager' is just someone who tries to sell you investment products, as soon as you make it clear you're not interested you'll never hear from them again which is probably for the best. If you need help or support you'll get exactly the same help by just popping in to your local branch and talking to whoever is on duty.

    If you do a lot of international transfers it's worth it, if not there's no point. I think we're on the first year, fees waived arrangement at the moment because we find the transfer facility useful at the moment, previously we never bothered with Premier. I'm assuming that when the year runs out they'll try to charge us, the missus will tell them where to stick it and they'll waive the fees for another year. That's the way it works for all their other 'services'.

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  4. #34

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    Jun 2005
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    That pretty much sums it up. If you have >HK$1M then you might as well get Premier. The Relationship Managers are generally fairly useless in my experience, but they will sometimes get a fee waived - for example I had a US$ cheque for about US$15 that I need to pay in but the normal fee to do so would have been HK$100. I pointed out that as a Premier I could open an account in HSBC USA at no charge, pay the cheque in there at no charge, transfer the money to HK at no charge and then close the US account at no charge. And that would just be a waste of everyone's time wouldn't it? The HK$100 was waived.

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  5. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    That pretty much sums it up. If you have >HK$1M then you might as well get Premier. The Relationship Managers are generally fairly useless in my experience, but they will sometimes get a fee waived - for example I had a US$ cheque for about US$15 that I need to pay in but the normal fee to do so would have been HK$100. I pointed out that as a Premier I could open an account in HSBC USA at no charge, pay the cheque in there at no charge, transfer the money to HK at no charge and then close the US account at no charge. And that would just be a waste of everyone's time wouldn't it? The HK$100 was waived.
    Goodness you must have found a remarkably intelligent person to speak to! I find they are few and far between.....

  6. #36

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    In my experience most charges at HSBC (and any other bank) will be waived if you firmly and politely point out how ridiculous they are. They just try it on and if you're silly enough to pay they're very happy to receive the money but they know as well as you do that they're mostly entirely nonsensical. I went in at lunchtime today and asked about some funds. Noticing that the ones he showed me all had setup fees of 5% I raised an eyebrow and the young fellow immediately cried out "We may be able to negotiate that!" "For example?" I enquired. He looked at me plaintively, like a sad little puppy, and said, "Maybe we could make it 0.8%?" I didn't push as I was just enquiring but I would assume that it would have gone lower if I had raised my other eyebrow. Presumably some people are foolish enough to pay such nonsensical fees otherwise they wouldn't keep trying it on, but there's really no need as there are many more deserving charities that you could be donating your money to.


  7. #37

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    I think HSBC's attitude generally has changed a bit recently - they are trying much harder to get people to invest through them (hence those fees being far more negotiable than they were when I last tried), and less hard to push loans on people.


  8. #38

    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Quote Originally Posted by MovingIn07:
    Goodness you must have found a remarkably intelligent person to speak to! I find they are few and far between.....
    Indeed, who could possibly match your superior intellect...Certainly not too many natives

  9. #39

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Hong Kong
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    If you want an upgraded account, the main purpose is to get better services and receive them in a timely manner... as in "right away, sir!"

    For this reason, I find HSBC P to be quite lacking.... they're so slow and incompetent. They don't hire very intelligent people over there. if you need help for special things, they don't know how to think outside the box. they're dumb asses.

    If you like simplicity, I suggest getting Citigold instead.

    Very easy log in and straightforward online banking. Always easy to get in with customer service. Almost no waiting lines. No fees for a buncha services. If I need anything, they get back to me right away.


  10. #40

    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    111

    I was going to get a Citibank account when I first moved here, but they told me that they would not connect it with my citibank accounts in other countries and provide one internet logon portal for all accounts because they use "different systems" (yes, cannot!).
    I was also surprised the other day to find out that I CANNOT use a local ANZ bank here to deposit money into my ANZ account (held in Australia) because again, they use different systems.
    So much for a worldwide customer-centric banking system!


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