HSBC still sucks
Today was a bit busy as I had a memorable meeting in the morning before running some errands to prepare for a business trip to Bangkok. I had to get some Thai Baht and so headed to my “favorite” bank, HSBC.
Because my company pays me in Dong and not US Dollars, I have a few restrictions on how I manage my money. In order to withdraw foreign currency, I have to provide my ticket, passport and any relevant visas. I always have this prepared.
On this particular occasion, I wished to pull about 35,000THB which is about $1000USD. I need this for a new digital camera and my yearly check-up at Bumrungrad Hospital. This is really not an earth-shattering amount of cash either, in Dollars or Baht.
But as I submitted my papers, the clerk said, “Oh, this is from your US Dollar account?” I had to say, “No, I have a Dong account.” “Oh,” was her response. And then she picked up the phone to call a manager. You see, if my company still paid me in dollars, I would not have to present any of these papers and I could take whatever amount of Baht I wanted. But because my company pays me in Dong, I have to jump through hoops to manage my money. After a year of being paid this way, I have really grown tired of this nonsense. Whether it is pulling money from my account here or trying to transfer my funds overseas, it is never a smooth process.
After the clerk hung up the phone, she said to me, “Um, I’m sorry to say, but we do not have enough Baht to give you.” You can imagine my face. So I collected myself and said, “Let me make sure of something. This is a bank, correct? And you are telling me that you do not have the equivalent of $1000USD in Thai Baht? That’s absolutely ridiculous. I do not believe you. I suppose that if I had a USD account, this would not be a problem.”
She replied, “You are right. But actually, Thai Baht is not that popular of a currency so we cannot give you what you ask for.”
“What? Thailand is practically your neighbor and people travel back and forth there for business and leisure very frequently. This is absolutely ridiculous. How am I supposed to get money for my trip, when I cannot exchange Dong outside of Vietnam?” I couldn’t wait for her response to this.
“You can go to the gold shops ma’am. They can change the money for you.” She looked at me as thought she was proud of her answer. Yes, very helpful.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. An employee of HSBC, one of the largest banks in the world is telling me that it is better for me to go to a gold shop to exchange money because it is better than the bank? HSBC seriously does not have enough Baht in reserves to give $1000USD worth? Again, this is ridiculous.”
“We are sorry ma’am. I hope you can get your money. Thank you for banking with HSBC.” I rolled my eyes at her and left the branch. Seriously!!!
No love for HSBC
I ranted on twitter today about my visit to HSBC. And I feel like ranting here. I hate the fact that I get paid in Vietnamese Dong. This one fact has changed the entire way I have to bank and there is really no other reason behind it than it is less costly and more convenient for our company to pay us in dong than dollars. This unnerves me to no end, but that is a blog for another time.
I went to HSBC today to withdraw Yen for my upcoming trip to Japan. I have to have my passport, my ticket and if needed, a visa in order to “prove” that I need the foreign currency.
The tellers now think they are immigration officers. The idiot behind the counter today said, “I cannot give you money. You don’t have a visa.” I told her I don’t need one. Then she made a phone call. The person on the phone told her I needed a visa. She said, “You must have a visa.” I told her, “I am an American Citizen and if I go to Japan for less than 90 days, then I do not need a visa. I do NOT need a visa! Understand?” She made another call. “Ok, you do not need a visa.” Then she needed my original ticket to make a copy of, even though I provided a copy for her and showed her the real ticket with the copy.
Then she shuffled the papers, looked at the screen, looked at the papers and confirmed verbally the amount of yen I was asking for. And she said, “And it is Yen?” Trying to remain calm, “Yes. I wrote on the form that I will withdraw Yen. The ticket says I am going to Japan. So I need Yen.” So she made another phone call. “Um, I’m sorry, but we can’t give you that many dollars. You are over the daily limit for withdraw in US Dollars.” (This is a VND account policy) So I replied, “I don’t want US Dollars. I want Yen. I am going to Japan. They use Yen. I need Yen, not US Dollars.” And so she picked up the phone again.
After a few phone calls and a visit to the room where they keep the foreign currency, she returned with my Yen. I signed off on the papers and said, ” I realize you are just doing your job, but this is my money and if I want Yen, or Dollars or Dong, I should get it.” Oddly enough, she said, “I know. Sometimes the policies of HSBC are not very customer-friendly.” “My point exactly,” was what I said before I headed out the door.
I’m quite sick of having these headache-inducing interactions with my bank. I feel like just because I have a Dong account, my money is held hostage and I don’t have control over what happens to it. And that just pisses me off. I would love to hear suggestions of a bank which doesn’t penalize a person like me who lives in a foreign country, operates with foreign currencies and uses her credit card in foreign countries too. It really should not be that complicated!
Another day another Dong
Sometime in July my company decided to pay all of us expats in Vietnamese Dong (VND). This decision came after the government cracked down on accepting dollars. We had to change all promotional materials, menus and such to VND. This in itself is a bit of a nightmare. Instead of $130 per person you list 2.400.000VND per person. Perhaps you can see where that gets confusing, especially for tourists. There are other, more lazy reasons for this decision, but that’s another blog entry.
This movement toward a dong-only system is bad for the country. VND is not an internationally exchanged currency. So even if I go to Thailand for the weekend, I can’t change my dong for baht at the Bangkok airport. Thailand wont accept the currency. The only place I can use dong is in dongville, and that’s Vietnam. And let’s face it – I can’t even say the currency name with a straight face, much less take this worthless currency seriously.
Managing my finances in dong wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t so many restrictions on what I can actually do with the dong, once I am paid in this currency. Here are the only things I can do with the dong directly deposited into my VND account at HSBC.
1. Keep it in the account (never gonna happen).
2. Withdraw in VND ( a must for daily expenses).
3. Transfer in foreign currency to account in foreign country
4. Withdraw in foreign currency provided I have proof of air ticket and visa, if needed, and explain for what purpose I need the money. (The tellers can be more aggressive than immigration. Upon going to London I had to argue that as a US Citizen I did not, in fact, need a visa for the UK.)
If the direct deposit from my company is not earmarked as salary, then items 3 and 4 are null and void. I’m stuck with the dong. The only place I can exchange dong for dollars is the black market, the gold/jewelry stores peppered throughout the city. The hotels (even the 5 Star ones) wont exchange money this way either (total bullshit – good luck if you pull too much dong on your stay in dongville) and not all of the “exchange” booths at the airport exchange money in the other direction. When I went to Laos in October, I had to go to 4 booths to accumulate $500 because 2 of the booths refused to give me USD, despite being a money “exchange”.
In order to make bank transfers online, you have to set up your online banking. Fine. You have to register the bank(s) you want to transfer to and if you plan to transfer a decent amount of cash, you have to “apply” to raise your daily limits. Done.
So last night when I went to transfer funds to my US account, it wouldn’t process my transfer because it said I was over the daily transfer limit. (I so wish I was talking large sums of cash here, but it’s a normal amount to prepare for a two week vacation in the US.) So apparently the paperwork I filed months ago was pointless and never processed. I was pissed.
Today I went to the bank to check on that paperwork. I had to fill out the form a second time. I’m assured that it will be processed this time. And so then I went to get my cash, because frankly, between now and Friday, I don’t have the time to dilly dally around with a wire transfer. I don’t really have time to make a personal appearance at the bank, either and wouldn’t need to had the damn people at the bank processed my paperwork!!!
So, I filled out my withdraw slip and waited in line. (Remind me to mention in another post how the Vietnamese do not like to wait in line and find no problem in just going up to the counter ahead of people.) Once I made it to a counter and elbowed a couple line-cutters out of the way, I was told that the maximum amount of USD I could be given “today” was $1000 (This figure, I was told, changes on a daily basis depending on the bank’s USD cash situation. It’s a frickin bank!!!)
I explained the situation about the unprocessed paperwork and told the teller that had HSBC done their job months ago and processed my paperwork, we wouldn’t be in this situation. I would have been able to smoothly transfer the funds I wanted. I went round and round with the teller and actually said the following on more than one occasion, “I am the customer. I already did my job. The bank has not done theirs. ” And a few “I should not have to work this hard to make a withdrawal. It is my money.” And also, “I am not leaving here until you give me the cash I am asking for.” One thing this country does not understand is customer service. But let’s just say that persistence does pay, and I left with my desired amount of cash.
I can’t tell you how annoying it is that even this aspect of my life comes with a set of challenges. Everything requires extra effort, but this is an area I really don’t want to have to put up a fight. She works hard for the dong just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Dong dong dong. Nope, still can’t say it with a straight face. Stupid dong.
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