Hsbc Banking & Online Savings

[bendshead]

I recently moved to Thailand from US and am trying to figure a way to maintain a high yield savings account that I could occassionally draw from for spending money in LOS without getting whacked by various banking fees.

So I found HSBC's online savings account to be a good earner at close to 5%. No maintenance fees and even comes with an ATM card.

Can anyone confirm that, although this would be a US account, ATM transactions would be free at the BKK branch?

Also, do you see any better way to maintain a high-interest savings account that could be used for occassional withdrawals -- figure 1-2 per month?

Thank you!

[chiang mai]

I recently moved to Thailand from US and am trying to figure a way to maintain a high yield savings account that I could occassionally draw from for spending money in LOS without getting whacked by various banking fees.

So I found HSBC's online savings account to be a good earner at close to 5%. No maintenance fees and even comes with an ATM card.

Can anyone confirm that, although this would be a US account, ATM transactions would be free at the BKK branch?

Also, do you see any better way to maintain a high-interest savings account that could be used for occassional withdrawals -- figure 1-2 per month?

Thank you!

If your funds are in USD you are limited to USD products typically those offered by US based financial institutions and I don't have vast knowledge of these. But using HSBC offshore for Sterling savings (and the rules for USD will be very similar) attracts an interest rate that is significantly lower than the best market rates available. For example, Sterling on a time deposit offshore UK can obtain a 6.5% return whilst the best HSBC will offer on an instant availability basis around half of that amount. Why not put your funds (less the amount you will need for the year) into a fixed rate deposit - the additional interest earned from the fix will likely offset much of what you spend each month. All of this depends on the numbers involved of course.

[sfokevin]

I had the exact same idea... I have set up a US HSBC online saving account and they have issued me a ATM card... I have linked the HSBC account to my Fidelity stock fund account and can make free transfers between the two online with no fee... I will make my next trip in September and plan to go to the BKK HSBC branch and do a test withdrawal of 2 x 20,000(the daily max i believe)... I hope this will be a cheap way of getting regular funds to Thailand for monthly living expenses... Will keep you updated as to if it worked and exchange rate and fees...

[MickeyM]

Warning: I have a US based HSBC account and a Bangkok based HSBC account. I used the US ATM card for a withdrawl at the Bangkok HSBC branch and the baht conversion rate was based on the off-shore rate (about 2 baht less than the local domestic rate). I then used the same card at a Bangkok Bank ATM and an SCB ATM and received the more favorable on-shore rate. I found this quite disturbing - an HSBC ATM card, used at an HSBC Bangkok ATM, receiving a poorer conversion than at a non-HSBC ATM. I have not as yet received a satisfactory explanation from HSBC.