Best bank account for expat

Caladan

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Why won't you confirm or deny you are an HSBC empoyee?

Everyone who has been on MSE for more than a couple of days knows that you are.

Eek, replies are coming too fast!

Because I have been informed it's against MSE rules to claim to work for a company unless you're a recognised representative. I'm here to help people, and my posts are my own opinion and knowledge. I've come to understand it wouldn't be right or fair for me to suggest that what I say is representative of a companies viewpoints, which is a conclusion people could easily come to if I were to state my employers name.

Edit: My apologies for not responding to the second part of your post.

The fact it may have been mentioned in the past is something I regret, and would take back if I could. I should be joining discussions as myself with no reference to a particular company, indeed I've already experienced the harm it can do by being honest with people and having them twist my words.

Archi_Bald

Caladan wrote: »

....why the devil would I give a damn if a random stranger on an internet forum uses HSBC or not?

Simples - because you are here to promote HSBC.

As to the OP - - you have made just about zero efforts to suggest anything but what your own bank has to offer. Why is that? Have you determined that the HSBC offer is the best in the market? If so, could you please post some evidence?

Archi_Bald

Caladan wrote: »

Because I have been informed it's against MSE rules to claim to work for a company unless you're a recognised representative.

I think you are wrong there. There is nothing to stop you to declare who you work for (many people on here have been doing this for years). You just cannot speak as a representative for a company unless MSE have approved you as a formal company rep.

Not declaring who you are working for doesn't mean people on here can't figure out who you are working for. Quite a few of your peers do declare their employer relationship, and this adds to their credibility, IMHO.

Also, not declaring who you are working for doesn't give you carte blanche to advertise the services of your employer. Coming back to the OP's questions -- how does HSBC give them the best solution? I am not saying HSBC aren't, I just don't understand how. I am sure you can say how?

Caladan

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Simples - because you are here to promote HSBC.

As to the OP - - you have made just about zero efforts to suggest anything but what your own bank has to offer. Why is that? Have you determined that the HSBC offer is the best in the market? If so, could you please post some evidence?

I'll put you down as a troll, because if you're not, you're just bad at reading/assimilating information and I'd rather assume you're somewhat intelligent and are posting this nonsense because you enjoy it rather than not having a damn clue what you're talking about.

The OP hasn't said anything about banking with HSBC, on the contrary he/she had written HSBC off because of the charges involved. He/She certainly hasn't said a word about what his/her bank has to offer (and we don't know which bank that is).

I find the idea of being here to promote HSBC laughable as well, if you review my previous posts you'll note I've made some fairly harsh criticisms of HSBC and only today posted a thread on the PPI board about a customer who complained about HSBC to the Ombudsman and the Ombudsman found in their favour, I posted the thread with the intention of assisting other customers in a similar situation.

Nevertheless, please feel free to continue making your wild assumptions.

Geeby,
Please ignore the last few posts, I shouldn't have been drawn into this argument and it's hijacked your thread, I apologise (but not enough to not post this one ).

If HSBC doesn't work for you I think Citibank have some decent Expat solutions.

Kind regards,
Cal

Caladan

Archi_Bald wrote: »

I think you are wrong there. There is nothing to stop you to declare who you work for (many people on here have been doing this for years). You just cannot speak as a representative for a company unless MSE have approved you as a formal company rep.

Not declaring who you are working for doesn't mean people on here can't figure out who you are working for. Quite a few of your peers do declare their employer relationship, and this adds to their credibility, IMHO.

Also, not declaring who you are working for doesn't give you carte blanche to advertise the services of your employer. Coming back to the OP's questions -- how does HSBC give them the best solution? I am not saying HSBC aren't, I just don't understand how. I am sure you can say how?

I haven't said that HSBC DOES offer the best solutions, all I've said are what solutions HSBC offers. Big difference between the two methinks .

And you're quite right, many people do know who I work for (on a clerical, low paid level) and I can't stop them knowing that, but I've made the decision not to reveal that information anymore

Archi_Bald

Geeby wrote: »

Anyway,this is the second post which has recommended HSBC so it only makes sense to take a closer look at what they have on offer!

Geeby concluded from the responses by guesswho2000 and Caladan that it makes sense to have a closer look at HSBC since both the aformentioned had recommended HSBC.

Neither of the two had declared their employment status but it is well known on MSE that Caladan is an HSBC employee.

Neither of the two suggested that the OP look at independent comparison sites to work out the best transfer rates.

I will now report this thread to MSE Towers.

Caladan

I respect your decision and await the 'Towers' response with interest. I maintain that the information I gave was factual and not a recommendation. On that note, the OP stated he was willing to 'Take a closer look' which is no indication of accepting or receiving a recommendation, rather it is an indication of investigating further, which I would encourage anyone to do with whatever product they are looking at with whichever institution they are considering

I hope you have the OPs or the MSE communities best interests at heart rather than a chip on your own shoulder.

Enjoy the weekend,
Cal

jamesd

Geeby, if you don't have a UK address it'll be a bit harder. HSBC abroad then asking them to open a UK account is one way but another is your current bank if it has a significant UK presence. Definitely try to get it done while you are in the UK and able to show up in person and provide things like your passport as proof of identity. Prooving address might be more difficult for you.

So far as Caladan goes,

People can describe the products they happen to know about and aren't required to cover everything in the whole market, even if they happen to work for one particular provider.

There is a dividing line between mentioning and promotion but there's a long tradition of people like Caladan describing the features of their employer's products and helping people to use them. Caladan also seems to be keen on helping people to do things in the best ways for them, while helping us to understand how banking and a specific employer work. Those are good things and Caladan easily passes a sniff test for whether the purpose is promotion or being helpful.

The higher up in the organisation a person is, the more challenging that tends to be. At the lower levels there's likely to be no significant personal benefit from a mention of an employer's products. When it comes to bigger companies and higher positions, not mentioning the firm but only responding on a general product class most of the time can be the best way. But Caladan is clearly nowhere near the level where that would be an sensible restriction.

Topics like this one are somewhat interesting. It would probably be good to give a day or two before first mention of your employer's products, so consumers end up being first responders, but clarifying or correcting whenever necessary. This might well be good general guidance for lower level employees in what to use type discussions.

Caladan

Duly notes Jamesd, thank you. I've learned a lot today about how I phrase my posts (which is exactly why I no longer refer to my employment status). My account may date back to 2007 or so but I've only become active recently and clearly have a lot to learn.

I should probably calm my temper somewhat too, I do have a habit of responding harshly when I feel I've been wronged

jamesd

You should know that "never reply while angry or upset" are words to live by on the internet. And often in discussions in general.