Direct from my US Relationship Manager:
The Premier World Mastercard credit card has a 0% foreign transaction fee, 0% interest on purchases for the first year until December 2nd of 2010 and almost 20% interest on cash advances (not recommended of course since all credit cards have a high APY when you do a cash advance).
The debit card will not incur a foreign transaction fee when you withdraw money from other banks internationally since it is a Premier card but the other banks will charge you a per withdrawal fee. If you withdraw from HSBC HK, you will not incur any fees whatsoever.
Our Premier Support team stated that Hang Seng may not be reimbursed.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
EMS SpeedPost = USPS Express Mail International
For people sending mail to the US via Hong Kong's EMS SpeedPost, the tracking number given is usable at the usps.com (US Postal Service) website once the package arrives in the US.
Of course, the Item No is trackable at the hongkongpost.com website.
Once your package arrives in the US, you can track it using the hongkongpost.com website or the usps.com website. The usps.com website will provide more info however.
For my package, USPS attempted a Saturday delivery to the title company which of course was unsuccessful. Additionally, a delivery notice wasn't left, so the title company had no reference no. to use to track the delivery attempt. I had to keep tracking the usps.com website and notify the title company that the delivery was unsuccessful, at which point someone from the title company went to their local post office to pickup the package. They had to email usps.com to get the reference no first.
Of course, the Item No is trackable at the hongkongpost.com website.
Once your package arrives in the US, you can track it using the hongkongpost.com website or the usps.com website. The usps.com website will provide more info however.
For my package, USPS attempted a Saturday delivery to the title company which of course was unsuccessful. Additionally, a delivery notice wasn't left, so the title company had no reference no. to use to track the delivery attempt. I had to keep tracking the usps.com website and notify the title company that the delivery was unsuccessful, at which point someone from the title company went to their local post office to pickup the package. They had to email usps.com to get the reference no first.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Notes on getting documents Notarized in Hong Kong
I got my HSBC closing docs a week ago and had to get a few of the docs notarized. Here are some of the things you should know.
1) You should first make an appointment to get your docs notarized at the US Consulate. You actually can walk in without an appointment (I had to do this since one of my docs wasn't marked properly so I had to go back for a walk in). They have a lunch break from 12-130PM so they'll make you wait outside until 130PM, then they give you a plastic placard to show that you are a walk-in.
2) It costs $30 USD for the first notarized document, $20 for each document thereafter.
3) Go through all your docs to make sure you know what you need to get notarized. Two of my docs had yellow stickies signifying that I had to get them notarized. But as I was signing and initial'ing the rest of my docs at the post office, I found one additional document that wasn't stickied at all. I ended up having to go back to the US Consulate the same day, without an appointment to get it signed. This added 2 hours to my ordeal.
4) While HSBC doesn't require your last two years tax returns, one of the forms they'll have you sign is a release giving them permission to get tax return transcripts direct from the US Government. I guess this is actually better for them as there's no opportunity to forge documents.
5) I paid HKD 127 to send the closing documents back to San Francisco by SpeedPost. They say it takes 3 days to get delivered, but in actuality, it takes 3 days to get back to the US and pass customs. From there it gets delivered to the local post office and delivered. If you take the breezeway to the Central Post Office, you'll need to go down one flight of stairs to send the parcel via SpeedPost as those are sent out from the ground floor.
1) You should first make an appointment to get your docs notarized at the US Consulate. You actually can walk in without an appointment (I had to do this since one of my docs wasn't marked properly so I had to go back for a walk in). They have a lunch break from 12-130PM so they'll make you wait outside until 130PM, then they give you a plastic placard to show that you are a walk-in.
2) It costs $30 USD for the first notarized document, $20 for each document thereafter.
3) Go through all your docs to make sure you know what you need to get notarized. Two of my docs had yellow stickies signifying that I had to get them notarized. But as I was signing and initial'ing the rest of my docs at the post office, I found one additional document that wasn't stickied at all. I ended up having to go back to the US Consulate the same day, without an appointment to get it signed. This added 2 hours to my ordeal.
4) While HSBC doesn't require your last two years tax returns, one of the forms they'll have you sign is a release giving them permission to get tax return transcripts direct from the US Government. I guess this is actually better for them as there's no opportunity to forge documents.
5) I paid HKD 127 to send the closing documents back to San Francisco by SpeedPost. They say it takes 3 days to get delivered, but in actuality, it takes 3 days to get back to the US and pass customs. From there it gets delivered to the local post office and delivered. If you take the breezeway to the Central Post Office, you'll need to go down one flight of stairs to send the parcel via SpeedPost as those are sent out from the ground floor.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Corner money changer exchange rates HKD to RMB
The local money changer was offering to buy 1 HKD for .880 RMB.
I checked google and the spot rate at the time was 0.880902804 RMB per HKD. So I think the local money changer gives a pretty good rate.
Overall I did the calculation... I paid 1137 HKD for 1000 RMB... if I went by the actual spot rate it would have cost 1135 HKD... so not even 2/10ths of 1 percent of a mark up!!
I checked google and the spot rate at the time was 0.880902804 RMB per HKD. So I think the local money changer gives a pretty good rate.
Overall I did the calculation... I paid 1137 HKD for 1000 RMB... if I went by the actual spot rate it would have cost 1135 HKD... so not even 2/10ths of 1 percent of a mark up!!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
HSBC Premier Part 2
I opened an HSBC Premier account with 100 dollars cash, with the understanding that my 5/1 Interest Only 500k loan is pretty close to being funded.
Some issues though:
1) The appraisal came in at 770k, but since there were no furnishings, the appraiser marked the unit as 'vacant' on the report. This will need to be rectified before the loan can be funded.
2) I will need to write a letter to explain why there are no furnishings and to confirm that I will in fact be living in the unit.
As for ordering (whether I can get the loan and the discount prior to opening an HSBC Premier account), the answer is:
The loan officer needs to refer to the HSBC Premier account number when finalizing the loan in order for the discount to take effect. I started the loan process first but then a week later went into their office on 601 Montgomery to open the HSBC Premier account (you have to physically meet with a relationship manager before they can open the account).
So, the ordering I guess is flexible since the loan process takes so long...and there are a fair number of steps before they'll even send out an appraiser.
I had to supply the following to start the loan process:
-Copy of 2007 & 2008 W2
-Copy of October and November paystubs
-Copy of 2 months bank statements of bank accounts
-Copy of insurance policy for condo project
-Completed Project Questionnaire attached below
Note that Bank of America requires last 2 years signed tax returns as well!
Some issues though:
1) The appraisal came in at 770k, but since there were no furnishings, the appraiser marked the unit as 'vacant' on the report. This will need to be rectified before the loan can be funded.
2) I will need to write a letter to explain why there are no furnishings and to confirm that I will in fact be living in the unit.
As for ordering (whether I can get the loan and the discount prior to opening an HSBC Premier account), the answer is:
The loan officer needs to refer to the HSBC Premier account number when finalizing the loan in order for the discount to take effect. I started the loan process first but then a week later went into their office on 601 Montgomery to open the HSBC Premier account (you have to physically meet with a relationship manager before they can open the account).
So, the ordering I guess is flexible since the loan process takes so long...and there are a fair number of steps before they'll even send out an appraiser.
I had to supply the following to start the loan process:
-Copy of 2007 & 2008 W2
-Copy of October and November paystubs
-Copy of 2 months bank statements of bank accounts
-Copy of insurance policy for condo project
-Completed Project Questionnaire attached below
Note that Bank of America requires last 2 years signed tax returns as well!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
HSBC Premier
Spoke with an HSBC Premier relationship manager today in San Francisco, here's what I found out:
You can qualify for Premier with a mortgage balance of 500k from them BUT you need to have 24 months of mortgage payments (in straight checking, in IRA, in brokerage? I dunno). I'm also not sure if that 500k can be a mix between mortgage and equity line.
401k (He probably meant IRA) balance of 100k can count.
If I can get a mortgage via HSBC Premier, the mortgage application fee is waived, and I can get .25% off their best rate.
The ordering is tricky though... if I am trying to qualify for HSBC Premier via a mortgage, I'm not sure I can get the Premier mortgage benefits at the same time (meaning I need to be a Premier member before trying to get a loan).
Also need to establish 3mos to 12mos of credit history before it can be transferred to an international office.
You can qualify for Premier with a mortgage balance of 500k from them BUT you need to have 24 months of mortgage payments (in straight checking, in IRA, in brokerage? I dunno). I'm also not sure if that 500k can be a mix between mortgage and equity line.
401k (He probably meant IRA) balance of 100k can count.
If I can get a mortgage via HSBC Premier, the mortgage application fee is waived, and I can get .25% off their best rate.
The ordering is tricky though... if I am trying to qualify for HSBC Premier via a mortgage, I'm not sure I can get the Premier mortgage benefits at the same time (meaning I need to be a Premier member before trying to get a loan).
Also need to establish 3mos to 12mos of credit history before it can be transferred to an international office.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Exchange Rates and Opening a HK Account
I brought some cash with me from the US to open an account here with HSBC. Here are the details.
The exchange rate they give you is 7.707 (I exchanged 9k USD). They said this was a favorable rate but I wasn't so sure.
I went down to the street level money changers and the rate they advertise is 7.5 HKD to 1 USD, which is even worse! I asked them if I were to exchange in bulk (1k USD) how much would it be, and even then they said the rate would be 7.6.
The going rate for that day was:
2009-01-30 Friday, January 30 7.75585 HKD
HSBC was charging .04885/7.75585. This works out to be a charge of .63%. This is actually not bad - Everbank charges a rate of 1% for an international ATM withdrawal (which is much better than the industry standard 3%). The only thing better for exchanging money is to use the Capital One card which charges 0% but isn't really a money exchange.
The exchange rate they give you is 7.707 (I exchanged 9k USD). They said this was a favorable rate but I wasn't so sure.
I went down to the street level money changers and the rate they advertise is 7.5 HKD to 1 USD, which is even worse! I asked them if I were to exchange in bulk (1k USD) how much would it be, and even then they said the rate would be 7.6.
The going rate for that day was:
2009-01-30 Friday, January 30 7.75585 HKD
HSBC was charging .04885/7.75585. This works out to be a charge of .63%. This is actually not bad - Everbank charges a rate of 1% for an international ATM withdrawal (which is much better than the industry standard 3%). The only thing better for exchanging money is to use the Capital One card which charges 0% but isn't really a money exchange.
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