HSBC

Bank of America is a pretty terrible bank. Customer service sucks. The bank doesn’t offer you a lot of perks and it charges random fees all the time. The most redeeming quality of the bank is the fact that it is everywhere in the U.S., providing convenience to its customers. HSBC is a similar case, except way worse. Bank of America was slow and inefficient; HSBC is slow and incompetent. Bank of America will tell you when a service doesn’t exist and not offer any solutions. HSBC will actually just pretend services exist or when it does actually exist, its employees are not properly trained to carry them out for the customers.

The Similarities:

1. It takes about 20 minutes of automated phone menus to reach a customer service representative.
2. Everyone is segregated into tiny little departments so no one can actually help you in a holistic way.
3. Does not offer many benefits to consumer, except for the sheer size of its ATM and branch networks.

The Differences:

1. At Bank of America, there are standard rules and procedures. If a customer service rep. doesn’t know the answer, at least he/she does not make it up. Here at HSBC, I spoke with 3 different people at two different branches and on the phone, each person has given me a different version of the type of documents I need to apply for a credit card. First, Priscilla, the lady who submitted my application at the Causeway Branch on Hennessy Road told me an employment letter will be sufficient since I just moved from the U.S. I gave her a photocopy. Today, I found out my application was rejected. I went to the Headquarters Central Branch to ask. Alex, the bank teller, told me that an employment letter is not considered official documentation and I must provide 3 months worth of paystubs. Frustrated, I had no idea what to do, my colleague told me to call the hotline to see if HSBC can check my US credit history as a reference. The representative on the phone, Eric, turns around and tells me that in fact I did not have an employment letter so I did not have proof of employment but if I just faxed in my employment letter, I can be reconsidered for a credit card. That’s 3 different stories from 3 different representative of the same bank!
2. Online banking. Wiring money out of the U.S. is difficult given the U.S.’s fears of funds supporting terrorism activities. I understand. The banks can’t do anything about that. However, at least with Bank of America Online Banking, I was able to wire a little bit of funds into my Hong Kong HSBC account. I logged into my HSBC US account to wire money to HSBC Hong Kong account. Total disaster. HSBC USA online banking does not even have an option to wire money abroad, not even to its own Hong Kong branches. I cannot understand how HSBC can call itself a global bank, when its international divisions can’t even communicate with each other. I went to the HSBC branch here to ask them for help on the transfer, the branch simply said it can only be done online. When I asked if they can show me, even they couldn’t figure it out. In the posters in the airports, HSBC claims to be the world's global bank. It can't even transfer money between its own international branches.
3. HSBC actually unilaterally decided to change my name on my application. In Hong Kong, most people have an English name, but they have Chinese names as well, so legally, the would go by their surname, chinese name and forgo their english name. When I filled out the application, I made it clear that my name went by the American way, with an English name first then the surname, given that's what all my legal documents are. Nope, HSBC decided to unilaterally drop my English name and transformed my name to my surname and my chinese name (which is actually my middle name legally now). Basically, they were keeping my money under a name that's not legally mine. When I tried to point this out to the bankers, they were confused on why I insisted to change my name back. How can such an international institution not recognize that you cannot unilaterally change people's name when you are keeping people's money? It's these technicalities that cost people their life savings in court because the money is not kept legally to you as an entity.