Opening a bank account from the UK - fail story

we had a not so disimilar experience of their service when we moved here 6yrs ago - make a formal complaint we did and - we got £100 compen.

I used that service from the UK, before our permanent move and had no problems at all.
All Malta bank details were sent to us before we left the UK, including our cards.
Yes, we paid for it but it was another less hassle to consider.
We submitted all our details and documents at our local HSBC office in the UK, they checked them and kept us informed as to progress and we were able to transfer our funds before we left the UK.

mine was also done this way but the cards were sent to the wrong uk address and not as requested to our chosen bank branch here.....st pauls bay....  on top of that we had been here only a few days and they stopped our uk debit and credit cards as they supposedly didnt know we were moving ...yet we had told them 6 weeks earlier and had all the paperwork in place for the transfers.... etc - worsened by the fact we needed the deposit, first months rent and the estate agents fee too at that time.... and as such they ahd to cancel the cards and reproduce them which takes time....

OMG did i go to town on them

HSBC is a pain in the ass, one of the worst banks on the planet (not only in Malta, but other countries only problems). I only have bad experience with them. Better go to Bov, they are slow but at the end they get the things done.

Best thing is when I see advertisements from them I would like to vomit and I cant eat as much as I would like to vomit.

Anyways go BoV you will be happier in the end.

Well we us HSBC and have had no issues that they haven't put right quickly.

Remember that they are a global brand but will only be as good as the individual who is dealing with you.

Some branches will be on the ball and others will be less so, its the same with any large organisation.

Terry

I do not like HSBC's policies and ethos etc but I use them out of necessity here.
I have had no problems with them at all. Getting to understand the setting up of internet banking was but once sorted, no problems and always very helpful. It's amazing the different experiences we have had. Seems very black/white, either good or bad.

on a personal note -  i think they have gone further downhill since we arrived.

They do tend to charge for some services that are free in UK. A bank transfer to a non HSBC bank account holder is one thing.

Just to make myself clear - this is post is not about saying that HSBC is bad or putting blame on them. The moral of this story is - don't think that just because you've paid for this service, have a good credit history, job, place to live etc. they open an account here for you. They may still decline to open it without telling you.
Secondly, basic bank account (with no overdraft) should be nowadays a right - everyone is expected to have one. But that's a different story ...

We tried to open an HSBC account in the UK and it was going to cost us £100 so we opened a BoV account instead which was hassle free then when we came across we went to the BoV in Valletta and they opened a euro account and within a week we had our cards.

[Moderated: no free ad on the forum pls]

I love Banif. They refund all ATM transactions, are very pleasant to work with, and even helped ME (a mere US citizen) open a real European bank account with no hassles.

Good luck!

toonarmy9752 wrote:

on a personal note -  i think they have gone further downhill since we arrived.

We can look forward to the improvement when you leave then!!

Any chance of opening an account online from South Africa? Just starting the move and I don't have time or patience for bull***t with paperwork. even hour i spend on paperwork is an hour of earning time lost. We have a very advanced banking system here, but there are many other drawbacks. All I want is a bank account with internet access, it should be no problem?

AntonovRSQ wrote:

Any chance of opening an account online from South Africa? Just starting the move and I don't have time or patience for bull***t with paperwork. even hour i spend on paperwork is an hour of earning time lost. We have a very advanced banking system here, but there are many other drawbacks. All I want is a bank account with internet access, it should be no problem?

This company advertises such  a service in Malta, never used them and have no link with them.........

http://www.chetcuticauchi.com/jpc/malta … counts.htm

Terry

AntonovRSQ wrote:

Just starting the move and I don't have time or patience for bull***t with paperwork. even hour i spend on paperwork is an hour of earning time lost.

Oh boy. Are you moving to the wrong country !

This is not a land for the impatient. If you expect ANYTHING to be dealt with efficiently you are going to have a VERY hard time adjusting. The "relaxed attitude" and way of life that most people move here for applies to everything. You can fight it, but you will lose. Time to chill fella. Don't want you also having to experience their fatalistic approach to healthcare. 

TheDarkman wrote:

AntonovRSQ wrote:

Just starting the move and I don't have time or patience for bull***t with paperwork. even hour i spend on paperwork is an hour of earning time lost.

Oh boy. Are you moving to the wrong country !

This is not a land for the impatient. If you expect ANYTHING to be dealt with efficiently you are going to have a VERY hard time adjusting. The "relaxed attitude" and way of life that most people move here for applies to everything. You can fight it, but you will lose. Time to chill fella. Don't want you also having to experience their fatalistic approach to healthcare. 

Antonov RSQ - you will have to learn to  'make haste slowly' in Malta. The South African style of wanting everything done yesterday is going to cause you huge problems here - you will need to remind yourself frequently that in Malta you are dealing with people, not machines and the more pushy you become, the less you will achieve. Having lived and worked in London for 12 years after leaving SA we realised the world is a much bigger place than 'little ol SA' - having mastered our approach to the Brits we had to learn an even gentler style when we arrived here. So as  TheDarkman advises, start taking your chill pills now.....

I am now relocated to Abu Dhabi. I hope that i will open a HSBC account in person now that am here.

Hope you know which country you are opening your bank account in. Here is not Abu whatever ....

Cheers
Ricky

TheDarkman wrote:

AntonovRSQ wrote:

Just starting the move and I don't have time or patience for bull***t with paperwork. even hour i spend on paperwork is an hour of earning time lost.

Oh boy. Are you moving to the wrong country !

This is not a land for the impatient. If you expect ANYTHING to be dealt with efficiently you are going to have a VERY hard time adjusting. The "relaxed attitude" and way of life that most people move here for applies to everything. You can fight it, but you will lose. Time to chill fella. Don't want you also having to experience their fatalistic approach to healthcare. 

You will get used to hearing But This Is Malta as an excuse for everything. 
Still blue skies and sunshine,  hey ho!

Just an update on how far I've got with HSBC.

I visited the Sliema HSBC branch on Tuesday last week and after waiting for almost an hour (in spite of having an appointment) I spent another hour going through the application process. I was asked all imaginable questions (size of my shoes was one of them :-)) and although I produced all the requested documents (employment contract, rental agreement, passport, tax certificate) I was still told that opening an account may take more than 2 weeks as they have to get references from the UK. 

Hope it's going to worth it ;-)
I also applied for an account from Banif the same day - lets see how it goes with them.

I had the same thing and I have a premier account in the UK, finally got the account with a letter stating that if I didn't deposit €200 within 10 days they would close the account.  Nice to feel welcome isn't it. 
I am seriously thinking of writing to someone regarding the whole process, why do they need to know how much money I have, where does it come from and my mother's date of birth along with the promise of my first born to be handed over before we can get an account. 
Oh well, as the saying goes ....this is Malta lol

Dunno why you're bothering guys. I guess it all comes down to personal experience, but BOV appear to be a FAR better proposition.

Chardor wrote:

I had the same thing and I have a premier account in the UK, finally got the account with a letter stating that if I didn't deposit €200 within 10 days they would close the account.  Nice to feel welcome isn't it. 
I am seriously thinking of writing to someone regarding the whole process, why do they need to know how much money I have, where does it come from and my mother's date of birth along with the promise of my first born to be handed over before we can get an account. 
Oh well, as the saying goes ....this is Malta lol

Its all to do with combating money laundering.
The rules are the same for all banks its just how they interpret the risk.


Terry

We called in at Banif Bank in Victoria last Wednesday and were in and out in 30 minutes, only requirements were Passport, eResdence card and some cash to deposit to open the account(150 euros)

We received our internet banking logon details on Saturday, our cheque book was delivered today and our debit cards are due next week.
No hassle at all!

Cheers

Ray

Does the €150 have to stay in your account at all times as surety against debit card purchases?

As far as I know we can draw against that money if we want to,it is not a deposit against the debit card.
Normally if you were to try and use a debit card and had no money in your account it would not allow the transaction, but then this is Malta!
I am going to start getting my pension paid in to that account from the UK and we will see what happens. I will do a test withdrawal against  that 150 euros befor I transfer the pension.

Ray

The small print on the account opening form I signed when opening my BANIF account last week stated in return for a free debit card and internet banking they would also open a savings account of which EUR 100 or the 150 initial deposit would be transferred to then EUR 50 every month for the first 12 months – no access to the funds during the first year.

Darrylv wrote:

The small print on the account opening form I signed when opening my BANIF account last week stated in return for a free debit card and internet banking they would also open a savings account of which EUR 100 or the 150 initial deposit would be transferred to then EUR 50 every month for the first 12 months – no access to the funds during the first year.

Interesting small print detail!  I asked the question because I remember someone posting something similar quite a few years ago and I think the person had to pay penalties for drawing against the deposited sums.

So why my education, my mothers maiden name, I mean seriously I didn't have all these questions in England , which by my recollection is part of the EU unless I am wrong and missed something !

I guess there are two ways of looking at this.
Would you rather keep your money in a bank that doesn't ask any questions and does it "quick and dirty", or in a bank that enforces some rules and asks questions about your background before accepting you as a new account holder?
Malta is being compared to Cyprus all the time. I hope incorrectly....

Seat 0A wrote:

I guess there are two ways of looking at this.
Would you rather keep your money in a bank that doesn't ask any questions and does it "quick and dirty", or in a bank that enforces some rules and asks questions about your background before accepting you as a new account holder?
Malta is being compared to Cyprus all the time. I hope incorrectly....

I would rather not use any bank but these days its almost impossible to get  through life without a bank account.

Terry

I agree with you there, tearnet.