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So where should I pick up a 3rd bank account? HSBC? I have accounts at BoA (too big to fail?) and etrade (almost failed last fall, subsequently bailed out by a hedge fund, still worried about it). I really do not want to be on the road when my banks disappear.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 06:52:13 PM EST
My take is that you're fine so long as you're with banks that are most certainly "too big to fail".  BoA is a good choice, or at least I think (hope?) it is, since I have my money there.

Stay out of regional banks.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 07:21:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You're probably right. BoA going down would signal the end times anyway, in which case I'd be worried about acquiring food more than, uh, my international travel plans.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 07:23:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Right.  If BoA were allowed to fail, it's a pretty good bet that we'd be well beyond a housing crash and into something akin to the 1930s.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 07:51:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Still, I like HSBC's ties to China.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 07:25:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
HSBC is probably a good one, too.  Largest UK bank, if I'm not mistaken.  Probably not going to fail.

That said, my experience with them was incredibly frustrating.  They were very bureaucratic and generally just dumber than catshit.  I eventually wound up just using my BoA card with my American account.

The only issue I could possibly see is that I think HSBC largely does the online account thing.  Not a lot of branches in the states, or at least there weren't last I looked.  I don't personally like the idea of not being able to head down the road to the branch and get hold of my money.  (He who gets there first avoids the FDIC headache, after all.)  But I'm paranoid that way, having grown up in a household suffering a two-generations-long Depression Mentality.

And maybe they do have branches near you, which would make it an entirely different story.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 07:49:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Also, the question becomes, "Is HSBC America a completely separate entity from HSBC UK, and, if so, is it thus much more likely to fail than the parent?"

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 07:51:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Right, and I don't know the answer.

I really like etrade - their online banking is the best in the business, which I will need while on the road for a year, and the security is awesome as well as it uses a security token. So in order to steal from my account, you need my username, password, and physical possession of the security token. Nice for when you stop by that internet cafe in India...

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 08:07:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Drew J Jones:
They were very bureaucratic and generally just dumber than catshit.

Do I even need to mention this normal for UK banks?

It took six weeks and five calls to my 'relationship manager' before my bank finally sent me a slip of paper with a phone number on it when I wanted to find out what was involved in setting up a credit card merchant account.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 08:15:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I was being nice, ya schmuck. ;)

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 08:28:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well I've just got a "We dont believe you have moved bring us something to prove you have a new address" letter in response to my "I've moved house letter"

Guess which address it got sent to. yes, the new one which they dont believe I've moved to.

and guess how many letters there are at my old address saying "Someones just tried to move your bank account" and yes that would be zero.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Mon Sep 15th, 2008 at 08:34:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'd believe banks are legally supposed to have a "proof of adress" of their account owners. It would be dumb to ask for it at your old adress as they know you've moved...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 at 04:47:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well if their letter had said that, rather than something along the liners of "We don't believe you've moved that would be fine.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 at 05:14:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Which one will actually get a reply by your average lazy customer ?

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 at 06:23:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well I would have thought you'd send one out saying "We won't allow you to take any money out till you've shown us proof of address" rather than the two that give an option.  the sudden lack of money access would concentrate the mind.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 at 07:34:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Depending on where you plan to go, a HSBC account can be useful because they do have a lot of branches in a lot of countries... worth investigating just from that angle perhaps.
by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 at 05:01:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I used to have various Citibank accounts all over Europe for that reason. You could go to an ATM bank in Germany, France, or Belgium, and pay bills or give other transfer instructions to your branch in any of these countries. It didn't work at Citibank ATMs in the U.S., though. I dropped all except the German one after they started raising the fees (and the French one was gracious enough to waive the usual fee for closing the account after they failed to close it on the first attempt....)
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 at 05:09:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I heard that because Hong Kong doesn't have a lender of last resort, HSBC suffers from less moral hazard and is better capitalised (lower leverage) than most Western™ banks.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 at 05:54:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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