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rjmore
4th May 2007, 06:39
Hey Guys,

I have a question regarding pay. I understand that we have to open an HSBC account during induction day. What do most guys do to get the money to their accounts in the US? I would imagine two wire transfers per month might start to cost more than it's worth. I don't want to change banks so hopefully there is an easy answer out there.

bell1st
6th May 2007, 17:35
RJ

Welcome to Cathay. We're paid once a month (usually the 26th unless a weekend or holiday) so only one monthly transfer to worry about. The most cost effective seems to be to get a cashiers cheque from the HSBC and deposite it to your bank at home. Limited fees in Hong Kong (80 HKD?) and no fee at your North American Bank. HSBC give a better exchange rate than my bank at home as well. Good Luck.

Bell

HeavyWrenchFlyer
7th May 2007, 00:28
Also HSBC has branches in the US, I'm planning on openning an account in the next few days so even if I have to open another one when I get to HK at least all I have to do on payday is transfer funds from one account to the other, and no wire transfer between two diff. banks.

I already asked them if I still need to open an account on indoc. day if I already have an HSBC account and they responded with this "you can just open one when you get here on indoc day", so we'll see.

I'mbatman
7th May 2007, 00:34
I've been told to be careful with this as HSBC in Hong Kong is completely different then HSBC in the US. I dont have specifics to back that up but apparently HSBC likes to charge for all sorts of stuff ie transfers, deposits, etc......I've heard the best bet and easiest is to keep your US bank and pay the $10 or whatever to wire it once a month.

HeavyWrenchFlyer
7th May 2007, 00:40
So that might explain the answer I got from them, I will definately find all that out before openning an account here then.

rjmore
7th May 2007, 01:28
Well if it is only ten bucks then there is no problem. Unless they require a minimum balance then we might have to leave some in there. I definitely don't want to change banks so I'll have to do something. Maybe even just a normal foreign check if it is pre arranged with my bank. We really don't have much of a choice I guess.

tx_dfw
7th May 2007, 02:39
good info guys i'm also intrested in transfering money back to the states cost free.
Ive looked into rewards credit cards and Capital one visa does not seem to charge a INTL transaction fee. Just an idea if you want cash back, or miles while using your US CC over seas.

iflylow
7th May 2007, 02:52
Anyone use this place to transfer money internationally? From what it says on the website, it seems pretty competitive.

http://www.xe.com/fx/

bribo757
7th May 2007, 14:52
I have an HSBC USA and HSBC HKG account, they are seperate companies
and you can not transfer money between the two without the wire fees.
I tried the same with Bank of America Asia and BOA USA.

The cheapest way to transfer the funds is to find a USA based credit
union that does not charge fees for incoming wires (Delta airlines
credit union or Members America Credit Union for instance). Some
credit unions charge, some do not so you need to ask first. You
will still pay the HSBC $12 US outgoing wire fee but not the traditional
$20 USD incoming wire fee.

The other method would be the 80 HKD charge from HSBC to have a
paper check issued, or 'walk' the actual cash USD's back on each trip.

Or, get an HSBC HKG credit card and charge all your expenses to the
credit card and try to avoid bringing over cash every month. (there
are no foreign transaction fees to use the HSBC HKG card in the USA).

alohajec
10th May 2007, 02:44
This is the easiest and best way since you won't have to pay ANY bank fees. -- This is for U.S. citizens only (or those with a soc. sec .# and can set-up an e*trade account in the usa).

Set up a free e*trade account in the states. Takes minutes online.

Then in HKG with your HSBC account, set it up so that e*trade Hong Kong is one of your Payees. Then, whenever you need money in your USA account, "pay" or transfer money to e*trade HKG and since e*trade HKG is linked to e*trade USA they don't charge you any fees. Your money just get's converted at the best exchange rate at the time which you cannot avoid since we get paid in HK$. It's good if you're transferring large sums of money. Forget wire transfer fees and bank charges etc! HSBC charges you so much to do that. It's ridiculous you gotta pay to access your own money.

Once the money is in your e*trade USA account you can write an e*trade check to yourself and deposit it into your USA bank account, or you can online trasnfer it. Lot's of ways.

First step is to setup a free e*trade account if you haven't already.

Then goto this website: https://hk.etrade.com/hk/contact_en.html and or call e*trade HKG to ask how to fund your account. It's so easy since everything is done online and u don't have to pay a thing...and as everyone knows, e*trade is the premiere online self-service discount brokerage industry leader.

Aloha! :cool:

Dan Winterland
10th May 2007, 03:04
HSBC is the same bank - wherever it is! In the UK about ten years ago, HSBC bought up one of the big 4 banks (The Midland) and renamed it HSBC. They may argue it's a different bank, but it uses the advertisng logo "The worlds local bank". I asked my local branch in the UK why I was being charged transfer fees if the branch at CLK airport and the one in Oxford was part of the same local bank. They coudn't answer that, but wouldn't relent either.

So I tried a different tack. I started to take my entire months pay from my HK account out of the ATM machine (preferably late on a friday when they had just filled up the machine for the weekend) and depositing the cash into my UK account at the counter. No transfer fees! They didn't like that much but still wouldn't give me free transfers. W@nkers! I got bored with that after a while - that and the fear of geting mugged between the machine and the counter - so I paid for the transfers.

Incidently, in the UK, they use the HSBC logo but there's no mention of Hong Kong or Shanghai in any of their literature. Seems mentioning it might be bad for business!

BusyB
10th May 2007, 06:38
If you have an HSBC Premier account in the UK and the same equivalent in HKG they claim you shouldn't pay charges. Haven't had 1 million dollars in my account to open the HKG end. Anyone had any luck?:confused:

FYI
10th May 2007, 15:25
Alohajec,
How long does it take for the money to get to your e*trade USA account?
Do you have to do anything once you have transferred the money to e*trade HKG for the money to appear in your e*trade USA account?
Thanks......I like the concept!!
FYI

FYI
10th May 2007, 17:35
Alohajec,
Ok, following up from my last post, I've looked into your way of doing things a bit more and have some followup comments.
First of all, looking on the HSBC banking page, it looks to me like you can only "Bill Pay" to E*Trade (as opposed to "Transfer") because E*Trade didn't come up as a possible destination under "banks" that you can transfer to (either HKD or foreign currency). Thats OK, however, setting up E*Trade HKG as a Payee will work except that it only accets HKD transfers to them. That would be fine if my pay is in HKD. As I'm on a US base, my pay is in USD. So to make this work, I would have to convert my pay to HKD (take a exchange rate commission hit), then transfer to E*Trade HKG who will then, as you state, change the money back to USD (take another exchange rate commission hit) for it to get to your E*Trade USA account.
Am I missing something?? The main catch is that if you are US based, your pay is in USD. So, yes it can all be done for free, but what you save in wire transfers, you pay in multiple foreign currency change commissions.
What I do see though is that E*Trade does not charge for incoming wire transfers. So that will be a savings of at least $10/month (Bank of America incoming fee is $10, other banks I know of are $20).
I think my next step could be to open up an E*Trade USA basic checking account (no min balance fee) and wire my pay from HSBC ($130 HKD) and then write a check from E*Trade checking acct to deposit into my local bank account. If you have a Wamu acct, they don't charge any min balance fees either, so hence the only banking charge is the wire transfer fee to HSBC. Getting a cashiers check written in HKG saves a little, but how often are you there at exactly the right day for that to happen?? For me, I need $$ in my acct in the US a week before I get paid in HKG, so its desparation time and wiring is the only way to go.
Thats how I see it. If I'm missing something please let me know. It seems to me that the main catch is whether you are transferring HKD as a bill pay to E*Trade HKG vs having to change USD to HKD first and then doing it.
FYI

Numero Crunchero
10th May 2007, 19:13
To answer the original question. No you do not have to open a HSBC account. The reason they suggest it is that HSBC in hkg is as ubiquitous as McDonalds and Starbucks combined in the states!
When I was based offshore I used to get a demand draft (bank cheque in pilot english) as that was the cheapest way to transfer. You pick up the cheque and deposit it at home and usually it gets cleared immediately. If you are going to be a freighter fo etc then HSBC is a good option as there is a branch in the CX building.
Minimum balance....hmmmm... there are a few different accounts called premier, power saver etc. If you are going to use the bank like 2 times a month just get a regular savings account...especially if you are based. you can do all your banking online anyway...you can set up telegraphic transfer accounts to cover those times you are not in hkg for a while.
If you do a monthly demand draft it should cost you less than 100hkd per month to take the money home!

alohajec
10th May 2007, 22:14
Hey FYI,

I think your information is all correct. My apologies, I shouldn't have used the word "transfer."

I'm not quite sure what the rest of your post was in regards to since you are USA based and get paid in U.S. dollars. I was originally replying to rjmore's post - it sounded like he's going to be a HKG based pilot who used to/or still lives in the States (like me) and has an account there and wanted to get his money to his U.S. bank account without incurring many fees.

I'm gonna talk to e*trade HKG today and get more info. Or if anyone wants to call them in HKG their local # is: 3191 3000

Aloha :cool:

rjmore
10th May 2007, 23:04
Oops, I just noticed that I didn't clarify in the original post. I will be LAX based on the freighter. Sounds like the easiest thing to do is just wire transfer. I have a total of six accounts with my bank here so I think I will put the screws to them to work out a deal for the transfer fees.

On the paperwork I received it says we are required to open the account on induction day so maybe that changed. Either way, I doubt they have my bank there so it is just as well. Thanks for the info.

alohajec
11th May 2007, 03:01
rjmore - if you want to wire transfer money HSBC always charges you a percentage based on the amount you want to transfer. it's ridiculous having to pay fees to move or access your own money. but you do what's easiest for you. e*trade is the best way to send large sums without paying any fees.

fyi - i spoke with e*trade. If you make the 'bill payment' before 1 p.m. it only takes 1 business day and your money is reflected in your usa account (converted to USD). no fees! from there you can do with it whatever u want.

all you have to do is setup your online banking with HSBC - choose "E*Trade" as a Bill Payment merchant (under the Securities Brokerage category), input your 8-digit e*Trade USA account number in the BILL PAYEE Acct. # and 'pay' or 'transfer' as much money as you want! you're essentially 'transferring' your money into your USA account and it'll show up in USD the next day. no fees. pretty cool. make sure you adjust your HKD transfer limit (ceiling) with HSBC when you setup your online banking. you have to do this in person at the bank.

Aloha :cool:

alohajec
11th May 2007, 03:03
As you can tell, I despise paying any type of bank fees! :ugh:

Aloha :cool:

rjmore
11th May 2007, 05:07
Thanks for the info! I guess it will boil down to whether or not I need the money or if I can spare a couple of days. In the beginning I will probably just have to pay the fees while I adjust to getting paid once a month.

So I have it straight, US based guys get paid in USD at HSBC in HKG. However, the e*trade account only accepts HKD. So it would have to be converted from USD to HKD and back to USD again?

Seems strange, it would be really simple to set up a US corporation and just pay us here through any run of the mill payroll company. Of course the payroll company charges fees for that so I just answered my own question!

alohajec
11th May 2007, 08:43
rjmore -

So it would have to be converted from USD to HKD and back to USD again?

No! For guys getting paid in USD you are in luck if you use E*Trade. I just spoke with e*trade here in HKG they have their own USD account here in Hong Kong! (Note: Because of the financial powerhouse that Hong Kong is, e*Trade HKG has setup, for lack of a more technical word, "easy-access" ties with e*trade USA). That means if you get paid in USD here and store USD in your HSBC Powervantage account, you just make a 3rd party transfer to e*Trade Hong Kong's U.S. dollar account (for your info the acct is #: 502118029201....no, that's not my account you can call them to confirm!) and your money will just transfer straight over - no exchange rate hassles. Great!

Lucky for you guys...I get paid in HKD. :ugh:

Aloha :cool:

bribo757
11th May 2007, 19:02
can you confirm the process to transfer from hsbc hkg to etrade ?

i have an etrade usa account.
i have an hsbc hkg account.

the '3rd party transfer' list is all banks, etrade is not on the list.
under the 'bill pay' option, etrade is listed, but it seems to only
allow hong kong $ transfers.

i could just wire the USD's from HSBC HKG to etrade USA...pay the
HSBC outgoing wire fee, (etrade has no incoming wire fees) but
it seems like there should be a free way to move the $'s to etrade
hkg from HSBC.

thanks.

Sqwak7700
12th May 2007, 13:36
Let me just say, if you are coming from the States, you will think HSBC is the worst bank you have ever used. They charge you a fee for everything. It is very inconvenient and you must do many of the things that should be done on-line by actually showing up in person.

You want to get a new card cause you lost yours? That is fine, come in and fill an application. HSBC is like most things in HK. Convoluted and very complicated with lots of paperwork.

You want a credit card? sure, how's 20+% APR sound? What a deal, right? I never get credit cards for more than 10%, but in HK, that is unheard of. Not to mention they will cap you limit based on your salary. So if you are a US based FO, then your limit will be around 4 to 5 grand.

IMHO, the best option is to have a really good bank in the States that doesn't charge for incoming wires. I use Commerce Bank, which is a bank in the northeast, based out of NY. If you are coming from this area, I highly recommend you walk into a branch and open an account. You can do everything online, there are NO FEES for anything, and they are really customer oriented (hopefully they won't get bought out, but probably will).

They don't charge me for when I transfer money, and it costs about 16USD for a wire transfer from HSBC. The nice thing is that you'll be able to do this from the states if you don't make it out to HK ever month.

Good luck

alohajec
14th May 2007, 10:56
I assume you are holding USD in your HSBC account. Just see my previous post. Transfer the money to e*trade's USD account - just as if you were transferring money to a friend's account. I even put their account number on my previous post for e*trade's USD account. (call them to verify).

Once you've done that, give e*trade a call. You must notify them that you've transferred money into their account that is bound for your USA account. Make sure you include your 8-digit USA e*trade account number. If you've done the transfer prior to 1:00 p.m. local hong kong time it will show up the next business day.

Call e*trade HKG if you have any questions. i also posted their phone number on an earlier post. They're quite friendly and very helpful.

Like Sqwak7700 said, don't pay HSBC wire transfer fees. HSBC is notorious for charging you for everything - bypass all of this by using e*trade.

Aloha :cool:

FYI
14th May 2007, 18:56
Alohajec,
Trying not to sound like a broken record here.....but, under the HSBC make Foreign Currency Transfer to non-HSBC bank (which is what we are trying to do in this situation), you have to choose a Bank name from the drop down list given on the page. E*Trade is not listed there. So despite having the E*Trade HKG USD acct number that you have kindly provided, the only place that E*Trade is listed under any transfer pages on the HSBC website is under BillPay....using HKD transfers only.
Anyway, thanks for your input. If you can find where to do a foreign currency USD transfer to E*Trade on the HSBC website, please provide the info.
FYI

alohajec
15th May 2007, 09:04
FYI -
No worries. The news keeps getting better. I just spoke with both e*Trade and HSBC again to verify the following information. The account number I mentioned in the previous post (502118029201) is an E*Trade Securities HKG Limited U.S. Dollar Account with HSBC Bank. (Say that 10 times fast). In short, it IS an HSBC account number.

So that means when you goto HSBC's online transfer section in their website, Under the section "Transfer to/from Foreign Currency Account" select "To an HSBC Account - 24-hour Currency Exchange Services" since that account is an HSBC account. (Do NOT choose the "To a non-HSBC Account" option).

Once you are there in Step 2>>> Select "Other HSBC Account" and input the account number listed above. (Call e*Trade to verify this beforehand as I claim no responsibility!) Change the Account Currency in the pull-down menu to "USD United States Dollar."

Funds will be transferred immediately and there will be no charge since it's within HSBC!

Remember to include your 8-digit e*trade USA account number (I guess you put that in the Notes section) and call e*Trade afterwards to notify them you've transferred funds to your e*trade USA account.

Hope this helps/works for you.
Aloha :cool:

FYI
15th May 2007, 14:06
Got it....will give it a try. The only other glitch (if you want to call it that) is that our pay often doesn't go into our acct in HSBC until after 1 pm, so this may delay the funds getting over to the US by a day. Worth it though and will just have to adjust the day I should expect to have my $$ in the US.
Thanks again for your input.
FYI

I'mbatman
17th May 2007, 21:29
Here is a question.....Can't you just write yourself a check from the HSBC and deposit it in your North america bank? No wire fees but it takes a bit longer to get your $$.

FYI
18th May 2007, 18:10
Well, first of all, if you are US based you get paid in USD. The check book you are able to get for your HSBC acct is a HKD check book (I'm only speaking as a PowerVantage customer with HSBC). To get a bank check written in USD for you will cost you something like $80HKD or there abouts. This again relates back to actually being in HKG just after your pay comes in and you are heading straight home to then cash the check. If you have the flexibility to do this and not need the money straight away, then fine.
If you were to change your USD to HKD online (read loss of money through commission etc) and then write yourself the check in HKD.....I would imagine most banks won't cash a non USD check from a foreign bank anyway, and if they did, they'll probably hose you for commission and put some ridiculous hold on the funds in the meantime.
I've signed up with ETrade in the US and will report back on how it goes. Note that ETrade HKG told me they only deal with the brokerage side of ETrade US and not the banking side, so if you are going to try the transfer this way, it will only work to a brokerage acct and not a ETrade bank/checking acct. Other brokerage/banking options I've checked out in the US recently that have pretty good deals as far as no fee for incoming wires, interest on checking accts, ATM fee refunds etc. are via www.schwab.com and www.everbank.com. They all along with ETrade brokerage and checking have similar setups with minor differences. One thing I like about the Scwab setup is that they will give unlimited refunds on ATM fees using their debit card worldwide. They'll (as far as I can see) refund those costs once a month. Anyway, lots of different options. At the very least, nobody should now have to pay for the cost of receiving an incoming wire (if you are, change banks....or open a separate acct via one of the ones suggested here) to get your pay to the US.
I wish we had this discussion years ago! (Thanks again Alohajec :))
FYI

rjmore
21st May 2007, 06:58
Thanks for the great input guys. I think I will just have to eat the fees until I get into the groove of a new pay date etc. Let us know how the e*trade stuff works out!

Freehills
21st May 2007, 07:33
Can confirm that HSBC Premium account allows fee free transfer to other HSBC accounts, anywhere in the world. So it bloody well should... as the requirement is to have average balance >1 million HKD.

Actually, not that bad, as you can hold all sorts of securities/ currencies in the account (so not just HK shares, but also US government treasuries, corporate bonds, CD's etc.) But it does make it pretty much your main bank/ savings account, which defeats the purpose of wanting a free way of sending money to your (presumably main) account in the US.

BusBusBus
21st May 2007, 10:42
Guys, why makes things so complicated? E-trade, bank draft, etc. You can save your time by just doing everything online and it won't cause you that much more.

By using PowerVantage Online banking with HSBC, you get discounted online wired transfer to overseas account for HKD$100 per transcation.
You will still need to pay the local charges at your own bank in the US, which will usually cost about USD$10 per transcation. This is probably the most convient way to transfer money. No need to go to the bank or anything, everything can be done with a click of your mouse! Easy!

bus

FYI
21st May 2007, 15:15
Busx3,
The whole point of this thread is to try find a way to avoid those exact fees you are talking about. If you are happy to continue to pay the $$ to send and receive your pay, that's fine....the idea here is that there is a way that is not overly complicated to do this without paying anything.
I'm pretty sure most people are aware of the use online of the wire transfer with HSBC. One thing some may not be aware of is that it can cost you more if you tick the "overseas charges to be paid by recipient" box at the bottom of the form. If you do this, HSBC USA take a slice of the pie as your money makes its way to your bank. So, the costs end up something like this.....
Wire out - $100 HKD taken by HSBC HKG. Wire passing through - $20 US taken by HSBC USA. Wire being received - $10 (or up to $20 by some banks) wire being received by your bank.
If thats OK with you....go for it. By the way, the $20 I quoted above that HSBC USA take out is what I used to see before I changed to ticking the box of "overseas charges to be paid by self". If you do this, then the total wire fee for HSBC become $130 HKD (ie, a bit less than $100 HKD and $20 US).
So, make sure you change how you tick that box on the form you use in the HSBC wire transfer page online. That is a big savings straight away. As far as paying a bank fee to receive the wire.....again, if you are ok with that then fine. The point of this thread is that it is not that hard to adjust your banking setup, if only slightly, to avoid that fee. Just setup an account online with someone that doesn't charge for incoming wires, no monthly minimums and a checkbook and then write yourself a check to deposit at your local bank. You can't tell me that is over complicating the process.
FYI

Cider30
29th May 2007, 23:13
Can anybody confirm what type of E*trade account you need to have for this transfer.

Do you need an E*trade savings account, E*trade investment account or does it matter.

Thks


Cider30

bribo757
30th May 2007, 13:37
etrade HKG told me that you need a brokerage account.
you can also have an etrade savings account, but the funds are transfered into the brokerage account, then you can move them to the savings.

i just did the first transfer from HSBC HKG to Etrade yesterday. It took a while to set everything up (including adding Etrade as a 'registered account' with Etrade), but it worked, and was all free.

Etrade HKG actually wires the money to Etrade USA for you, once you transfer the money from your HSBC HKG account to their HSBC HKG account.

FYI
30th May 2007, 14:59
I've done it also in the last day or so and it worked well. The $ appeared in my Etrade brokerage acct the next day as advertised.

flat-tire
30th May 2007, 17:05
Is there a way to get around the $1000 to open a brokerage account? I opened a savings account but I guess you need a brokerage account to transfer money from HK. Correct?

baronflier
7th Aug 2007, 18:08
If you are changing HKD to USD within the E*Trade brokerage account, you will be paying their spot rate (E*trade determines this). This is the same way that currency changers in airports make money, buy low and sell high. For every $1000 HKD that you transfer, you will be paying about $10 HKD just because of the difference in the open market rate and the 'spot' rate that Etrade comes up with.

So, does anybody have insight on whether HSBC exchanges money at their spot rate or at the current trading rate? If so, what is HSBC's spot rate?

For instance, ETRADE's current 'spot' rate is 7.7506 HDK for each $1 USD vs the current exchange rate of 7.8294. This is almost $.08 difference.

tx_dfw
8th Sep 2007, 04:46
any updates? Is this still the best way to get HKD to USD?