Posted by
hkjazz
17 yrs ago
I tried to open a bank account for my helper last week and was told that the minimum deposit to open the account was $5000. Surely banks cannot do this, in Australia I can open an account with $1 if I choose to. Isn't it everyone's right to be able to open a bank account regardless of their wealth. Anyone know the law in regards to this or do I just shout and yell until the bank finally complies?
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"I tried to open a bank account for my helper last week and was told that the minimum deposit to open the account was $5000. Surely banks cannot do this, in Australia I can open an account with $1 if I choose to. Isn't it everyone's right to be able to open a bank account regardless of their wealth. Anyone know the law in regards to this or do I just shout and yell until the bank finally complies?"
Shouting and yelling probably won't help.
I don't know the law in HK but what makes you assume it's everyone's right to open a bank account with $1 just because you can in Australia? Opening an account with only a few 100 Honkies is quite a bad deal for the bank.
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I think you misunderstand me axpatguy38, I don't assume its a right because I can in Oz. My point is that banks are there to offer a service for customers so how much money you have should not determine whether or not you can open a bank account. There are plently of people in HK who earn less than $5000 a month. Are they expected to hide their money in their sock draw.
If your reply isn't helpful might I suggest you don't write one in future! I'm after advice not sarcasm.
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Some banks have a minimum deposit amount, some don't. That's how it is. Shop around, it's actually very simple to find. Probably the best is the no deposit no annual charge savings account with 2nd biggest bank in HK that actually has more branches than the largest bank and a huge ATM network through Jetco.
We can't name names on here, so lets just say Bank of............and use another name for the mainland.
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"My point is that banks are there to offer a service for customers so how much money you have should not determine whether or not you can open a bank account."
Ehm. No. Banks are not there to offer a service. Banks are there to make a profit. This involves offering a service of their choosing.
As evildeeds points out, some banks choose to have minimum amounts.
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Also check for minimum account levels, drop below that and the bank will charge. And some banks will not charge for local transactions but may for foreign transactions.
Banking in HK is a major service industry; but the average Joe/Joanne in the street isn't the type of customer that the banks are after.
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When I initially tried to Open a account at HSBC, I was told that i needed to have 20k initial deposit. But I proceeded to another branch, and they opened an account for me without making an opening deposit, with the promise that I will transfer money in to the account in the future, which I did.
So, see if this works for you HKJazz
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I had been a Power-advantage account holder with HSBC for the past 7 years and usually I do not maintain the minmum, so they charges me 20 HKD a month for falling short. But this month without prior notice, I notice a charge of 120HKD jump. I am heading to the branch tomorrow and cancel out my account as this is way too expensive to have a bank account... Can anyone suggest a bank that don't have any charges or reasonable charge???
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I finally opened an integrated account with a bank (not sure if we can name banks here) with the initials H**g S**g. Opted for no savings plan, they charge $10 a month for balances between 10,000 and 20,000 and $60 for anything below $10,000 but it's averaged out over the month. Staff were courteous, friendly and a far cry the so called Worlds International Bank HSBC. I'm closing my account their too. Constant mistakes, unfriendly, unhelpful and trying to get information over the phone on my own account is harder than drawing blood from a stone! Had enough!! Hopefully this new bank will impress.....although it is still a bank after all. Hmm......
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Yeah, I know it's a subsidiary but here's hoping it's better. I think it may just be asian banking practices with the difficulty in doing what should be so simple. But I've had a run of errors with H**C in the last few weeks that has just made me furious so I thought I should go somewhere else..probably a subsidiary of the bank I so dislike is not the best choice but touch wood.
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My withdraw from another bank's ATM was canceled, but HSBC gone and processed a deduction from my account. Now, they tell me it takes 45-60 days to resolve.. Bank love to drag it as long as they can so to earn that small little interest.. Why 45-60 days god knows??? The canceled host bank already had print out of the transaction, what more fact finding is there??? "Bank Giant my foot!!!" With interest rate so low, we might as well buy a safe to keep the money. One probably gain from not having to pay charges...
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"However, I don't have any major complaints about H**C either, just some oddities like internal information flow -- if you update your data (new address etc.) regarding your savings account, the data is not updated regarding your credit card.
Also, if you apply for a credit card with them, they need a statement of your monthly income, although the salary is paid to H**C account every month."
This may be due to regulatory stuff. There may be a Chinese wall between the credit and account departments.
"May be a normal practice in other banks in HK, too. So they can employ a couple of clerks more to handle these papers. But this is of course not the only stone age practice here -- I just can't comprehend HK's love with cheques and passbooks in the era of e-payment."
Labor is quite cheap in HK. Agreed about the cheques. It's very stone age. Just like the US. But in the same way as there I can pay bills online so I don't care much if there's a cheque somewhere in the system.
By the way setting up totally electronic payments for all recipients is not trivial.
"My withdraw from another bank's ATM was canceled, but HSBC gone and processed a deduction from my account. Now, they tell me it takes 45-60 days to resolve.. Bank love to drag it as long as they can so to earn that small little interest.. Why 45-60 days god knows??? The canceled host bank already had print out of the transaction, what more fact finding is there??? "Bank Giant my foot!!!" With interest rate so low, we might as well buy a safe to keep the money. One probably gain from not having to pay charges.."
In my experience getting money back takes forever at any bank. It's not an HK thing. ;)
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Can anyone sugggest a good savings account? Time-deposit/fixed investment is fine but we just want a good interest rate...at least better than our passbook savings account at H**C!!
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The following option may apply: If your helper (you meant "maid", presumably) had worked elsewhere in Asia before, then she would have a bank account in that country. If the bank is large and has a branch in HK, then go to the same bank and open a HK$ account. Since she had already banked with the place, she would have privileges (e.g. using her previous balance as the minimum balance to avoid charges etc.).
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"If your helper (you meant "maid", presumably) "
I think presumably he/she meant "helper". ;)
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Different banks have different opening deposit requirements. There are those that require a lot less than that. Try Citic Ka Wah. As far as I can remember, the minimum deposit was about $500 to $1,000, which is more reasonable compared to what big banks offer, not to mention queues at the counter are shorter too.
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"not to mention queues at the counter are shorter too."
You actually go into the bank? I haven't done that in years other than for opening the actual accounts.
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