Agree with most, if not all, the comments here.

Banks in the UAE - SUCK.

All of them them that I have tried - no experience of Llyods - but have been with NBD, mashreq, Citi and HSBC over the years, and they all suck.

HSBC will screw you on the exchange rate, but if you send money in US$ there's little they can do. I deal with the Jebel Ali branch, the manager there is an smart Emirati guy, who is very helpful.

Best to keep your dealings with the bank to a minimum. get a Citi/Emirates credit card (free) and send your money overseas with one of the exchange houses. They offer good rates, will negotiate for larger transactions and chrage a small flat fee regardless of the amount.

Have to say both HSBC and Citi have Credit card teams that are very good.

Mutt,

I'll check it out. If it's that good I'll owe you a cold one and will edit my post to all of UAE banks....
Cheers

HSBC credit card services are very good???? You gotta be on drugs mate they are the most useless impicilic bunch of #$%^:mad: idiots I have ever had the missfortune to deal with. I am stuck with them because my employer banks with them, I have 1 card with Mashreq and they run rings around the dolts from HSBC 'the Worlds [worst] Bank'. My experience has been shared by most of my colleagues and anybody else standing in front of you at the queue in the HSBC branch:yuk:

There are no good banks in the UAE some aren't as bad as others.

What does HSBC stand for anyway?

Is it "Hopeless Staff, Big Charges"

I guess I'm lucky with jumeira DIB branch...

avoid,avoid HSBC,they are useless,until it comes to charging u for everything and anything,also Citibank and Standard /Chartered,terrible,Emirates Bank are good,branches everywhere and if u are EK crew they sort out ur problems very quickly,hope this helps.

I am transferring from HSBC. They were ripping me off with their 1 "free" transfer. My gosh what a lie. They rob you blind with their version of the exchange rate.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi has been great so far. So I am leaving HSBC never to return.

- Same day personal loans though.
- still can't get them to undo the credit cover (another rip-off)
- status account and personal bankers - another useless service
- 15 emails to try and get something done
- customer dis-service centre at Mercato is another useless piece of driftwood that needs to be chopped up and burnt.
- still don't know what my phone banking PIN is
- no idea what my credit card PIN is
- what a hassle trying to reset your online acount
- cancelled my credit card without tellin me then taking 3 weeks to deliver the new one with Aramex - who couldn't find the villa.
- can never find parking at the Bur Dubai branch.
- applied for a revision to my car loan tenure twice without success and then just gave up.
- free tea at the status waiting area. They can't even afford some bloody milk or at least pay for a guy to make a fresh cup.


I gave up on HSBC. Glad I am moving to National Bank of Abu Dhabi. So far so good.

Hi,

feel a little misled with the status account i signed up for.

Four years of 70 Dhs per month for the privilege only to be told by a member of staff at the HSBC Jebel Ali that as EK staff i have the same benefits as a status account holder.

Cancelled status from then and called the lady who signed me up. She got very defensive when queried on the product she is promoting.

I am going to try and retrieve the money paid over the 4 years. Will be intersting to see how it goes, as i have had a few fairly significant problems with HSBC during my time here.

Rgds.

Avoid Rak Bank
 

Never, ever do any business with Rak Bank.

Similar issues as other posters, total lack of customer service, totally incompetent staff, useless products & services, rip off charges, unresponsive and ineffective call centre, bizarre and pointless policies .. the list is endless. Everything they do and the way they do it makes your life more difficult.

Avoid them like the plague.

I have said this before on this forum, and will say it again..NEVER deal with HSBC. Concur with all previous comments..hopeless service, rip off exchange rates.

With Lloyds now, still a few problems but overall much better. Lost 25,000dhms on a card fraud, but got the money back quickly. Ever tried to do the same with HSBC?...doubt you'd ever see the money back.

Unfortunately every bank in the UAE spends far more time trying to get new customers, rather than spending much effort on keeping their existing customers happy.

The main thing to consider is never ever sign a security check to get a credit card. It may land you in prison if you are away and forget to pay your card. The banks are quick to cash them if they cannot contact you.
To all the guys who have signed them i suggest you confront your bank and have them cancelled and destroyed, change banks if you have too as it is a serious noose around your neck.

HSBC Service
 

I attempted to make a transfer of AED 36000 to a UK bank in early February, they completely screwed it up sending the money to a non existent account in Abu Dhabi. HSBC have admitted their mistake but still refuse to even put the money back in my UAE account until they themselves get the money back from Abu Dhabi.

50 plus calls to anyone I can contact and still no result.

The trouble is I don't think any bank in UAE will be much better, there is no regulator and writing this is probably the only way I can hurt them at all.

In the past, I have been reasonably satisfied with what they have done but I am only measuring them by the standards I have come to expect in this region.

Mutt,

Made a quick research on the subject looks like SHB is not included in the middle east charts, they seem to be on their own, www.mideastinfo.com/banks.htm. If you look at HSBC middle east, they will include UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, not Saudi. So I maintain my original statement of the middle east chart, all a bunch of crooks. They would not last a week in any civilized part of the world.

Interesting when you say quickly what time frame are we talking about? I have been told it is 3 month minimum and it is now almost 4 months since the fraud happened with no sign of refund.

Lloyds blame NDB and seem to have no leeway to fix the general incompetance on their cards dept, effictively means I cannot use their card when away since it is easily cloned and they do nothing to question transactions, Citi while generally a bit of a pain at least are fast to respond to unusal transactions. Have rattled up loads of Skywards miles over the years as well.

Why should a bank be different from our employers? It's local culture: When the oasis is all littered up, they just move on to the next one.

HSBC = :yuk:. They are bad:E.

Card Fraud Refund
 

"Interesting when you say quickly what time frame are we talking about? I have been told it is 3 month minimum and it is now almost 4 months since the fraud happened with no sign of refund. "

Seem to recall about a month. Certainly not 3 months.

I agree Lloyds' Visa service could be better. Perhaps the ideal situation would be to bank with Lloyds, and hold a credit card with one of the larger banks (but NOT HSBC!!!!!)

HSBCrap
 

First : NEVER convert money with them. NEVER.
They ripp you off on money transfers and credit card conversions. I still can't believe the rate they offered me some time ago.

Second: try their helpsdesk. You WILL get better answers from the monkeys at Al Ain Zoo.

For the standard spinneys bill over here : they are fine.

I would never recommend them; But have no idea where to go from here.

National Bank of Dubai!
 

Any thoughts from anyone in regards to the National Bank of Dubai???

Thank you in advance