

Ask YC: I need a world-friendly bank - icey

This is only tangentially hacker related, but this is the best place on the internet I can think of asking.<p>I need a bank that works well with international purchases, both virtual and real. I currently use Wells Fargo for my bank and while they're fine for my purchases around town, they are TERRIBLE any time I need to make a purchase outside of the US.<p>I regularly have to make purchases over the internet in the EU as well as China. Unfortunately, Wells Fargo locks my account more often than not when doing this. They are happy to 'unlock' my account and 'let' the transactions go through after that, but it's an enormous inconvenience.<p>The secondary problem is that this has extended to travels I've had as well, and frankly there is nothing worse than discovering your credit card doesn't work when you're in some town outside of Cairo and you've found the one place in miles that accepts plastic.<p>So, I need a bank that I can use locally and internationally, and will give me a minimum of hassle when I need to spend <i>my</i> money.<p>Any ideas?
======
goofygrin
When I was in Brazil, HSBC was everywhere. Huge international banks like them
might be a good place to start looking!

~~~
icey
HSBC is one of the banks I've been looking at, actually. They've started
showing up quite a bit more in the states as well, so that's kind of useful.

------
SwellJoe
I've always had problems doing business internationally from US banks. EFT is
ridiculously expensive in the states...and no one even knows what a SWIFT code
is at every bank I've ever used (I don't know what they are either, but I know
they're supposed to make funds transfers easier and faster...but they just
mean the local banker spends a half hour on the phone talking to someone in NY
trying to figure out how to deal with the SWIFT code). This is an area
(banking in general, not just EFT) that I think subtly raises the friction on
US companies doing business internationally that I suspect European companies
don't have to deal with. One of many straws that eventually leads to Europe
being a better place for business than the US.

I've yet to find a bank that I really like for business, and I've been through
several. Local ones, paradoxically, seem to actually provide better service
and less nuisance fees, but they have other problems.

------
andr
HSBC is quite good. They even mail my account statements, etc internationally.
Plus, if you have about $30k or more in your HSBC you'll probably get invited
in HSBC Premier and they'll have you covered for relocations, etc.

~~~
staunch
One more vote for HSBC from me.

------
jyu
Not Bank of America. Although they have banks in many countries, their account
information is not connected. Don't be like me and learn this the hard way.

------
bk
For purchases abroad, use a Capital One credit card. They don't charge /
swallow the currency conversion and international use fees, so all you pay is
interbank currency conversion rate. Other cards might have ridiculous fees
(minimums and up to 3.5% transaction fees).

My only peeve with the Capital One card is that their online interface doesn't
allow automated bill payment, so you have to do it manually once a month (and
not forget).

For ATMs, any large US bank should work fine abroad (anything that's part of
the cirrus, etc. networks). Fees vary. Also try telling your bank to whitelist
you for certain locations/countries.

------
mrtron
I have found a few Canadian banks to be great internationally.

Specifically TD, CIBC and RBC.

I will be using a CIBC bank and credit card in asia leaving this weekedn,
maybe I will use the iPhone app to post how it went.

------
delackner
I have been living outside the US for 4 years now, and for the first 1.5 years
I pretty consistently (as in, every month) used my www.firstib.com bank ATM
card to make withdrawals all over asia, and they never even once blocked me.
They also have interest-bearing checking, and US ATM withdrawals are
reimbursed. I forget if international withdrawals are.

------
yawl
It really depends. For example, if you travel to China, Bank of America is the
top choice as you can get money directly from thousands of ATM without any
fee. DiscoverCard is also very helpful in China as it more acceptable than
Visa and MasterCard.

------
graham-miln
Consider Citibank or HSBC. Both banks offer an international perspective.

------
dc2k08
if you tell wells fargo that you make many purchases abroad or that you are
travelling to such and such a place, they will not lock your card. they lock
the card by default as a security measure, when it is being used outside of
its normal enviroment, for your protection, in case it has been stolen. call
them, speak to a member of the security team and they will remove or add as
many security details as you like.

------
gms
HSBC. "The World's Local Bank". The only problem with them is that their
presence in the States is really limited so far.

------
hhm
Isn't any bank the same if you use a credit card like Visa? Is BBVA well known
in USA?

------
whalesalad
I vote HSBC as well :)

------
aneesh
Use cash.

~~~
icey
As soon as I can use cash on the internet, I'd be happy to. Please note that
PayPal does not count because the providers I deal with only accept actual
credit cards.

