Banking

[Gandtee]

My Debit cards from HSBC expired last week and as usual my new cards have not arrived. When phoning HSBC customer service I was asked by a machine several questions, one being numbers from my Security number? What is a Security number? Is it the number on the back of the card?  If not, where will I find it? Needless to say, I hung up. Speaking to a machine and being at an old age, it's very stressful. Any tips on the best way to solve this problem?

[lungbing]

HSBC  are a pain in the bum.   If you input your branch's sort code  eg 401006  then your account number  eg 01234567 then wait (and wait and wait) you will eventually get to a human.  She'll be Indian with an impenetrable accent, but human.  You can ask her to set up your telephone security number  which you punch in yourself from your phone, twice.  The two times obviously have to agree. You might also have a tele-banking password which is not the same as the telephone security number.  There's also a memorable name and a memorable place they might ask you for.  Plus the answer to a memorable question and your internet banking username  eg IB0123456789.

 

I hate HSBC

[Gandtee]

Thanks for the advice but I'm still back in the dark ages and don't have internet banking. I've written to my branch in the UK and hope they'll sort something out and meanwhile keep my old card active.

[55Jay]

1 minute ago, Gandtee said:

Thanks for the advice but I'm still back in the dark ages and don't have internet banking. I've written to my branch in the UK and hope they'll sort something out and meanwhile keep my old card active.

I can recall a number of times calling my bank(s) and didn't enter the requested information or stuffed it up, waited too long, but eventually, it connected to a customer care representative. 

[Gandtee]

1 hour ago, 55Jay said:

I can recall a number of times calling my bank(s) and didn't enter the requested information or stuffed it up, waited too long, but eventually, it connected to a customer care representative. 

That sounds good. Perhaps the call will be less than a weeks pension? Maybe not. The wonders of modern technology

[55Jay]

23 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

That sounds good. Perhaps the call will be less than a weeks pension? Maybe not. The wonders of modern technology

 Well, it's a "tip" on how you might handle this, which is what you asked for.  The other member told you about the Security code issue you asked about, which you also rebuffed.  I suppose you just want to vent your frustration.  Fair enough, I certainly empathize with you about these aggravating, automated telephone systems. 

 

Hope your written communication is answered and you get your card sorted out.  Good luck.///

[jerry921]

When an automated phone system starts asking you questions, regardless of the question, hold the phone about two feet away from your mouth and yell "REPRESENTATIVE" at it as loudly as you can. Wait two seconds, and yell "CUSTOMER SERVICE". Repeat until you get to a human. It's best to do this in a public place for maximum emotional support from random onlookers.

[Gandtee]

The danger in doing this is I might be arrested for inciting more than five to gather in one place. I'm sure it would attract many sympathizers.

[Gandtee]

13 hours ago, 55Jay said:

 Well, it's a "tip" on how you might handle this, which is what you asked for.  The other member told you about the Security code issue you asked about, which you also rebuffed.  I suppose you just want to vent your frustration.  Fair enough, I certainly empathize with you about these aggravating, automated telephone systems. 

 

Hope your written communication is answered and you get your card sorted out.  Good luck.///

I thank you for that. My reply was not meant as a rebuff to your suggestion. I'm now considering trying the phone connection again. I must be a glutton for punishment. I hope by doing this I won't confuse them when they receive my letter at a later date. My brain hurts!

[TerryLH]

OP, are you positive they asked for a 'security' number and not for the last 4 digits of your Social Security number?

[Stocky]

I sometimes find pressing '0' gets me a human, doesn't always work but oft times it does.

If you've not set up Internet banking it's unlikely you have registered a security number, so you're stuck unless you can speak to a human being.

[Gandtee]

3 hours ago, Stocky said:

I sometimes find pressing '0' gets me a human, doesn't always work but oft times it does.

If you've not set up Internet banking it's unlikely you have registered a security number, so you're stuck unless you can speak to a human being.

That could be  the answer. Thanks.

[Gandtee]

Just to round off my problem. I wrote to my bank HSBC in the UK and never received an answer. My cards arrived in normal postage nearly three weeks after my old ones expired. 

For those of us who criticize Thailand for inefficiency, first look at our own country.

Thanks to those who offered advice.

[topt]

On 4/27/2018 at 9:36 AM, Gandtee said:

Just to round off my problem. I wrote to my bank HSBC in the UK and never received an answer. My cards arrived in normal postage nearly three weeks after my old ones expired. 

For those of us who criticize Thailand for inefficiency, first look at our own country.

Thanks to those who offered advice.

Have you considered the post may be partly to blame? Perhaps your letter has only just arrived with them and a reply could take anything from 2-5 weeks to get back to you - not including the time it may take them to formulate a reply.......

Edited April 28, 2018 by topt
grammar

[Gandtee]

Just now, topt said:

Have you considered the post may be partly to blame? Perhaps your letter has only just arrived with them and a reply could take anything from 2-5 weeks to get back to you - not including the time it take them to formulate a reply.......

Yes. I have considered this. Easter in UK and Songkran holiday here. But as I may have already mentioned I've had problems with the last three card deliveries. Some years ago when I managed to talk to someone at my bank I was told that the company who handle their postal service hang onto it for ten days before posting it? So logically, as my old cards expired at the end of March and I received them on the eighteenth April, the ten days delay before posting and eight delivery time sounds reasonable. But this is pure conjecture. 

I suppose I will have to give in to this hi-tec age and go to online banking. But with reports of hacking this could open another can of worms. Especially for an old bugger like me. 

[Gandtee]

On 4/27/2018 at 9:36 AM, Gandtee said:

Just to round off my problem. I wrote to my bank HSBC in the UK and never received an answer. My cards arrived in normal postage nearly three weeks after my old ones expired. 

For those of us who criticize Thailand for inefficiency, first look at our own country.

Thanks to those who offered advice.

Another lesson learnt. Don't write to your HSBC bank to report non receipt of your bank cards. The new cards  were cancelled after two weeks then another set of cards arrived a week later. Most probably was all due to my letter to my bank. I never have received a reply. As the claimed advice given to British Colonial ladies is good but sore advice. ' When being raped lay back and think of England!'

[55Jay]

On 5/29/2018 at 12:05 PM, Gandtee said:

Another lesson learnt. Don't write to your HSBC bank to report non receipt of your bank cards. The new cards  were cancelled after two weeks then another set of cards arrived a week later. Most probably was all due to my letter to my bank. I never have received a reply. As the claimed advice given to British Colonial ladies is good but sore advice. ' When being raped lay back and think of England!'

Don't feel too bad.  I avoid talking to my bank at all.  If they suss out I'm "living" in Thailand, they would move to close my accounts. 

 

 

[jerry921]

TL;DR just a long post with lots of personal advice, just my humble opinions based on experience. It's free, and you're free to ignore.

 

My advice for all expats is to have home-country bank accounts with two different banks, because when you're living elsewhere, stuff happens, and it takes longer to sort out and you need a backup in a way that you don't when in your home country. If you have more than one source of income, split the sources so they don't all go into the same bank - in case that's the one that gets frozen.

 

If you can possibly do so, get an account with one of the banks where they refund foreign ATM fees. Use that card only at ATMs to reduce risk of having to get it replaced (i.e. not for point of sale purchases or credit card purchases or web purchases). You probably won't be able to find two accounts that refund ATM fees, but you still should have the other account as a back-up in case the "good" card gets skimmed, lost, stolen or frozen. Keep the backup card at home, not in your wallet.

 

Ideally, set up online banking links so you can push or pull money from either account in either direction. If you get locked out of online access for one account, you may be able to function by pushing & pulling money from the other to it while you get access reinstated.

 

If you like buying stuff with a credit card (for points or cash back or whatever), get a card for that separate from your two ATM cards. At some point either the ATM cards will get skimmed or the credit card details will get hacked by a merchant, or you'll leave the card behind at a restaurant or something, and you don't want to lose both ATM access and credit access at the same time. You may find it advantageous to have a home-country credit card to use when buying air trips home rather than buying in Baht, or other online purchases made from your home country etailers.

 

Personally I don't do the rewards thing, so I just get along with the two ATM cards and use the "bad" ATM card for online purchases, reserving the one that pays ATM fees just for ATM withdrawals, but I'm thinking I might try to get a no-annual-fee minimal rewards credit card for added safety.

 

All the above should be on top of whatever local banking and cards you decide you want or need - in my situation I don't have any, but I live in another country (not Thailand) where almost everything is handled in cash (for example utility bills and rent), so I don't need a local account at all.

 

Try not to pay monthly or annual fees for any of these accounts or cards, except for your main buy-stuff-for-rewards credit card, which might justify an annual fee if you buy enough stuff with it. That means you have to have enough money that you can leave the minimum balances just lying around in your two bank accounts (getting zero-squat interest). It's a cost, but I view it as just part of the cost of living overseas without getting into difficulties. You want to minimize these costs, but not at the expense of your security.

 

If possible, set up your accounts before you leave home, while you still have a home-country address to use in establishing the accounts.

 

My experience is as a US person, for UK/Aussie people there might be some differences. For example, if I was from the UK, I don't know if I'd want one of the two banks to be an offshore account on a tax haven island or something. As a US person, the interest I get is very low, and the taxes on it are negligible, and it's easier just to pay Uncle Sam than file paperwork for overseas holdings.