[Travelling_Man]

Hi.

I am after a little local help and knowledge.

I live in Shekou, but I bank at HSBC in Hong Kong. I have banked there now for about 8 years and always maintained a healthy account balance.

Currently the balance of the money in the account is very healthy indeed. They also hold my stock investments and both my own and my wifes life assurance policies.

I hold a UK HSBC visa credit card that I frequently use all around the world, have a good history, and clear the balance at the end of the month.

The thing is that is is a UK card and I get charged obscene fees to send the payment from one HSBC bank (my account in HK) to another (HSBC UK credit card issuer), purely because its overseas.

I have tried to get a credit card from HSBC in HK and they tell me that because I do not actually live or work in HK they will only give me one with a timed deposit of x1.25 the required card limit.

Now I have been a good customer, they are sitting on a combined fortune with all the stock, policies and cash, and so I really object to them wanting to try to take more and so refuse to do it on principle!

Does anyone know of a local bank (HK) that would be willing to open an account and provide credit and debit card facilities to a, as far as I am concerned, totally risk fee customer.

I have all my bank statements from HSBC since the account opening and so can prove trading history.

Thanks in advance

SC

[DanielandHayley]

I'm no expert, but from what I understand you have to be a HKID holder (ie resident) to have a credit card with the banks here. I know tht banks will issue credit cards for corporate accounts to non residents, however they do require a deposit (HSBC certainly)...it's there standard practice so don't take it personally!

[PDLM]

If you total relationship balance is over HK$1M in HK or GBP 60K in the UK then you should upgrade to Premier status. Once you have done that your relationship manager will take care of this for you.

[hktraveller]

Originally Posted by PDLM

If you total relationship balance is over HK$1M in HK or GBP 60K in the UK then you should upgrade to Premier status. Once you have done that your relationship manager will take care of this for you.

You only need a RMB 500000 equivalent balance if you do it in Shenzhen. But why not just make a time deposit of 1.25x the monthly limit? It gives you a slightly better (than the lousy interest they pay for normal balances) interest on a part of the combined fortune.

I am a permier customer and was offered a Premier credit card without anything. But since I wanted 2 cards (one master and one visa, one in HK$ and ine in US$, they asked me 1.2x the monthly limit as a time deposit for the second card).

[PDLM]

Bear in mind that if you're not actually planning to use a credit for credit (i.e. you will pay off the bill every month) then the credit limit is just an irritation rather than a block - there's no problem prepaying a credit card so that it, in effect, you increase the credit limit.