Hello all,
I'm new to HK and to this forum. I'm a business guy from the US who is in the early stages of relocating to HK from San Francisco. In anticipation of writing some large checks here in connection with the relocation (rental deposit, etc) i attempted to transfer some money from my HSBC account in the US to my newly opened HSBC account in HK, but cancelled the transaction when i saw the exchange rate. Instead of about 7.80, HSBC was intending to exchange USD to HKD at the rate of 7.61. Given the fairly large amount i was trying to transfer, the "fee" associated with the transfer would be about 10,000 HKD. I think that is outrageous, especially given that I am merely trying to move my own money online within HSBC via their Global Transfer process.
So, in addition to wanting to vent my anger, I thought posting here might result in some helpful suggestions for how to accomplish the same goal and obtain a fair exchange rate. Thus far, the best alternative route i have identified is to withdraw cash via an ATM from one of my other US accounts (where I get a proper exchange rate and pay no ATM fee), but i am limited to about 1000 USD per day. So, i can get there eventually, but it would take a while and its not convenient.
Any other ideas? And as an aside, is kind of treatment of its customers merely par for the course for HSBC? I'm beginning to think that might be the case. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions