HSBC Premier credit card - too good to be true?

[nightelves]

I've got a checking account with HSBC US, so I called them to open the CC account - meeting Premier criteria in Australia is sufficient to qualify overseas too, subject to any other requirements (which vary by country). This was a couple of years ago I opened the CC account, but don't think anything has changed.

Checking account means bank account? I also have a US HSBC Premier account. Does that qualify me as well?

 

[Chicken]

Checking account means bank account?

Means transaction accounts

 

[QF_Flyer]

Checking account means bank account? I also have a US HSBC Premier account. Does that qualify me as well?

Yeah you should be fine! If you have the account you presumably meet the criteria, was a pretty easy process, just a bit annoying having to call...hardly the greatest problem to have, I suppose, though!

 

[diamondhands]

Checking account means bank account? I also have a US HSBC Premier account. Does that qualify me as well?

There’s plenty of discussion on US HSBC credit cards in the strategy to obtain a US AMEX thread on the Amex forum.

Long story short you can open a HSBC US credit card if you have a U.S. premier checking account, but you might need to spend a bit of time on the phone to sort it out.

 

[fredomflyer]

Did hsbc premier credit card do af waiver?

 

[playbargain]

Did hsbc premier credit card do af waiver?

No chance.

 

[GerrardGerrard]

Which countries other than Expat? I've got UK & US (as well as US), conversely, UK was easy in my case, as a dual citizen I have lived there and have a credit history there. I haven't bothered with Expat, since it's basically the same as the UK card, but without online application (temporarily but for a long time now).

Hi I dont know if you can help im a UK HSBC Premier customer, i used the premier status to open a US checking account with HSBC however they are saying im not eligible for the US HSBC credit card. Ive called them too and im getting the same answer. Is there anything you did that helped? Do I need to set my address to a US address before trying to apply for the credit card?

Thanks.

 

[fredomflyer]

Ending of Aus, how to keep Premier alive?

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

Ending of Aus, how to keep Premier alive?

You would need to be able to open an account in one of the shrinking list of remaining countries in which HSBC offer Premier, maintain that status, and hope they don't shut down retail operations in that geography. I'd expect UK (where they are headquartered and listed), UK's Channel Islands and Chinese speaking territories (China, HK, Macau, Singapore) would be the safest bets:

Americas Bermuda | Mexico | United States
Asia-Pacific Mainland China | Hong Kong | India | Macau | Malaysia | Philippines | Singapore | Taiwan | Vietnam
Europe Expat offshore (Jersey) | Guernsey | Isle of Man | Malta | United Kingdom
Middle East Egypt | Qatar | Türkiye | United Arab Emirates

HSBC Premier - HSBC International Services

Premium banking without borders, you are HSBC Premier wherever you go. Overseas financial services, education and property solutions, and wealth management.

internationalservices.hsbc.com

The list of where they still offer Premier is now smaller than the list of countries they have exited retail banking in the last 15 years:

• Thailand, Japan, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Hungary (2012)
• South Korea, Panama and Guatemala (2013)
• Brazil and Maldives (2016)
• Oman (2023)
• France (2024; sold to Crédit Commercial de France)
• New Zealand (2024; business wound down)
• Bangladesh (2025)
• Bahrain (February 2025; sold to Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait)
• Sri Lanka (September 2025; sold to Nations Trust Bank)
• United States (May 2021; sold branches excl Premier to Cathay Bank and Citizens Financial Group)
• Greece and Russia
• Canada (sold to Royal Bank of Canada 2024)
• Australia (Announced exit in 2026, with branches closing and loan business sold to Blackstone)
• Indonesia (to be sold to OCBC early 2027)

 

[QF_Flyer]

I'd expect UK (where they are headquartered and listed), UK's Channel Islands and Chinese speaking territories (China, HK, Macau, Singapore) would be the safest bets:

Americas Bermuda | Mexico | United States
Asia-Pacific Mainland China | Hong Kong | India | Macau | Malaysia | Philippines | Singapore | Taiwan | Vietnam
Europe Expat offshore (Jersey) | Guernsey | Isle of Man | Malta | United Kingdom
Middle East Egypt | Qatar | Türkiye | United Arab Emirates

HSBC Premier - HSBC International Services

Premium banking without borders, you are HSBC Premier wherever you go. Overseas financial services, education and property solutions, and wealth management.

internationalservices.hsbc.com

The list of where they still offer Premier is now smaller than the list of countries they have exited retail banking in the last 15 years:

• Thailand, Japan, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Hungary (2012)
• South Korea, Panama and Guatemala (2013)
• Brazil and Maldives (2016)
• Oman (2023)
• France (2024; sold to Crédit Commercial de France)
• New Zealand (2024; business wound down)
• Bangladesh (2025)
• Bahrain (February 2025; sold to Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait)
• Sri Lanka (September 2025; sold to Nations Trust Bank)
• United States (May 2021; sold branches excl Premier to Cathay Bank and Citizens Financial Group)
• Greece and Russia
• Canada (sold to Royal Bank of Canada 2024)
• Australia (Announced exit in 2026, with branches closing and loan business sold to Blackstone)
• Indonesia (to be sold to OCBC early 2027)

Their focus is now on the core/home markets, so UK (ETA: should note that they're actually co-headquartered in the UK & Hong Kong, but its global HQ is indeed London) & HK/wider Asia. I don't see them pulling out of China or India, Macau by virtue of its SAR status or Singapore as a financial centre. Doesn't mean the rest of Asia is immune, or that I'm in any way right, but these are the markets from which I would be very surprised if they exited.

Expat I'm not so sure about, I don't really see the benefit of that market over and above what UK and CIIOM do (UHNW individuals and the CI tax situation, maybe); while Jersey is of course a Channel Island, HSBC Expat (Jersey) is separate from HSBC CIIOM - the latter serves Jersey residents (as well as Guernsey, Isle of Man and, I presume Alderney/Sark), Expat covers the broader expat community. That said, it would be presumably easier to roll Expat into UK or CIIOM if required (the accounts use the UK sortcode/account number format already).

USA they haven't exited - it is actually another fairly easy one to meet the criteria in (actually easier than here) - if you need USD, otherwise it's unnecessary work. I would hesitate to add that the US has the benefit of a large population and of being a financial centre; they could have jumped as they did Canada (similar but slightly larger population to us of course), but instead wound back to Premier/Private only, meaning they still see a benefit of providing retail banking services there. I could be entirely wrong though, in the longer term.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

Their focus is now on the core/home markets, so UK (ETA: should note that they're actually co-headquartered in the UK & Hong Kong, but its global HQ is indeed London) & HK/wider Asia. I don't see them pulling out of China or India, Macau by virtue of its SAR status or Singapore as a financial centre. Doesn't mean the rest of Asia is immune, or that I'm in any way right, but these are the markets from which I would be very surprised if they exited.

Expat I'm not so sure about, I don't really see the benefit of that market over and above what UK and CIIOM do (UHNW individuals and the CI tax situation, maybe); while Jersey is of course a Channel Island, HSBC Expat (Jersey) is separate from HSBC CIIOM - the latter serves Jersey residents (as well as Guernsey, Isle of Man and, I presume Alderney/Sark), Expat covers the broader expat community. That said, it would be presumably easier to roll Expat into UK or CIIOM if required (the accounts use the UK sortcode/account number format already).

USA they haven't exited - it is actually another fairly easy one to meet the criteria in (actually easier than here) - if you need USD, otherwise it's unnecessary work. I would hesitate to add that the US has the benefit of a large population and of being a financial centre; they could have jumped as they did Canada (similar but slightly larger population to us of course), but instead wound back to Premier/Private only, meaning they still see a benefit of providing retail banking services there. I could be entirely wrong though, in the longer term.

Yes I think you're right. I have been with HSBC Singapore since I lived there, although you never know, it's an important financial centre but from a retail banking perspective, Singapore is dominated by a local Big 3, and HSBC comes in as a minnow with a market share not much more than they have in Australia.

List of banks in Singapore - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Expat is probably the easiest to open with, I opened an account with them entirely from Australia but I'm hesitant to really use it much, reddit forums as well as Trustpilot seem to indicate they will regularly freeze accounts and be a pain about unfreezing them due to anti-money laundering and KYC...

 

[QF_Flyer]

Yes I think you're right. I have been with HSBC Singapore since I lived there, although you never know, it's an important financial centre but from a retail banking perspective, Singapore is dominated by a local Big 3, and HSBC comes in as a minnow with a market share not much more than they have in Australia.

List of banks in Singapore - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Expat is probably the easiest to open with, I opened an account with them entirely from Australia but I'm hesitant to really use it much, reddit forums as well as Trustpilot seem to indicate they will regularly freeze accounts and be a pain about unfreezing them due to anti-money laundering and KYC...

That's very true re HSBC in SG. We'll see in the long term, they have at least upgraded the website to be a bit more modern, unlike the Aussie one!

Expat was indeed an easy one to open - not sure myself re KYC/AML, I imagine it would be similar to UK, but Premier clients should be expected to have an above average volume, to a point. I haven't had any issues, but I don't use it to any great extent.

I do have the UK version though and use that extensively, along with the US one. HK I use only for HK things, SG I use for investing, so they're lower volume.

 

[GerrardGerrard]

Hi I dont know if you can help im a UK HSBC Premier customer, i used the premier status to open a US checking account with HSBC however they are saying im not eligible for the US HSBC credit card. Ive called them too and im getting the same answer. Is there anything you did that helped? Do I need to set my address to a US address before trying to apply for the credit card?

Thanks.

Anyone had a similar experience? Any advice would be much appreciated!