Bank Choice - Debit Card and Online banking

[glc]

Hi guys,


I am moving to Singapore from Europe in a month or so, and would like to know which bank can propose me what I'd like to get. I looked a bit in the forum, but didn't quite find my answer...

My wishes are :
1- Debit card (instead of a credit card). Best if I can accrue miles for SG airlines or Flying Blue. And best if free as soon as I spend over xx$/year (what I have now in Europe)
2- Online banking with free transfers in SG, and availability of int'l transfers with reasonable FX markup
3- "Good" savings rate if at all possible
4- Even better if the bank can propose to have a 2d/3rd account in another currency (thinking of Euro and USD)

1 and 2 are must haves, 3 and 4 are nice to have...

also, any hints on what's best in terms of Amex versus Visa versus Mastercard wrt. availability in shops/net ?

Thanks a lot.

G.

[beppi]

1- Debit card (instead of a credit card). Best if I can accrue miles for SG airlines or Flying Blue. And best if free as soon as I spend over xx$/year (what I have now in Europe)

All banks here offer debit as well as credit cards, and most of them give you some kind of "points" that can be used to offset the yearly fee. There are also cards with air miles option. Check your airline webpage to see which banks offer them.

2- Online banking with free transfers in SG, and availability of int'l transfers with reasonable FX markup

Transfers to other banks (within Singapore) are unnecessarily complicated and not used much (but usually free). International transfers require a paper form sent or brought to the bank and incur some charges (which seem to be very similar in all banks).

3- "Good" savings rate if at all possible

Interest rates here are negligible - forget it as an investment option!

4- Even better if the bank can propose to have a 2d/3rd account in another currency (thinking of Euro and USD)

Foreign currency accounts can be opened with any bank independent of your main account, but conditions are generally worse than leaving the money in your home country.

[glc]

Thanks a lot for your answer - even though it only helps a little to select a bank !

Any idea where i can find comparison site on features, customer experience, independent body comparison and so?

Cheers.

[beppi]

Any idea where i can find comparison site on features, customer experience, independent body comparison and so?

I am not aware of any of these and, knowing the Singapore culture, I would be surprized if they exist at all.
All local banks are very similar and customer service universally bad (my opinion). Citibank has a better reputation (and probably more/different features), but I haven't tried them yet. They charge more and higher fees.

[jpatokal]

beppi, you're otherwise spot on, but...

Transfers to other banks (within Singapore) are unnecessarily complicated and not used much (but usually free). International transfers require a paper form sent or brought to the bank and incur some charges (which seem to be very similar in all banks).

UOB offers international transfers in their standard Internet banking package. (Charges apply, but no more than you'd pay if you queued up in person.)

glc, as background, there's only three big local banks in Singapore: DBS/POSB, UOB, and OCBC. All the rest -- Maybank, StanChart, Citbank etc -- have very limited branch and ATM networks and are generally less convenient for personal banking. That said, you can easily apply for credit cards from a different institution than your own bank, since credit records are centralized.

[aster]

1. The best cards for earning miles are credit cards, the #1 being DBS' Altitude AMEX. RBS also has a good card (one of their Visa CCs I believe). I don't think there is any decent debit card out there for racking up air miles.

2. Yes, UOB and HSBC are your best bet for int'l transfers done online. Otherwise it's off to the bank to fill in a form... which is not that bad unless you happen to be with DBS (where the lines of people waiting to be served are almost always ridiculous).

For domestic transfers you might as well use a cheque book as banks usually charge for this.

3. It's a bad time for savings overall unless you plan on keeping your money in a currency like AUD. Can't really recommend anything here.

4. If you need accounts in other currencies then HSBC allows you to add a multi-currency account that covers something like a dozen other currencies. With other banks you'd end up opening them up one by one.

[aster]

Just out of curiosity, is there a decent debit card out there for earning air miles? I haven't come across any but maybe they are out there...

[curiousgeorge]

Before I moved to Singapore, I was travelling here regularly and maintained a singapore dollar account with Citibank in the UK, through which I could withdraw local currency at the citibank machines.

Naturally, I signed up with Citibank when I moved here.

International transfers are painless and easy online, or even on my iPhone! Used to be free to my citi account in the UK, but now its $10 per transaction.

So my money goes to UK in SGD, then to my current account in the UK - that point of tranfers is what matters for the FX rate, and banks are not overly generous. Beats Western Union though!

Citi has 900 ATM and AXS points, some drive-thru at petrol stations, most located at MRT stations. Also, can use the '5' network of banks for withdrawing free: RBS, HSBC, StandChart, Maybank & Citi...so never stuck for cashpoint, and never get the queues like you do at DBS machines

Citibank also lets you maintain a Euro account and a US$ account. They also have an airmiles credit card...never heard of an airmiles debit card.

I am not affiliate with Citi, just appreciate their spread of services. Their setp-up interest account can be run as a current account also, but otherwise its not worth using banks to make interest in Singapore.

[aster]

Not too convinced about Citibank over other banks, though probably a good idea as a 4th or 5th bank account just to get a card and some additional shopping/dining benefits.

With HSBC once you open up a local account you can then open up a multi-currency account that gives you the ability to receive/hold funds in 10 major currencies, and all under a single account number. Best of all you can open that account online in ibanking with just a few clicks, no need to rush to the branch again. Then again, only useful if you want to have accounts in other currencies as well...

Int'l transfers between your HSBC accounts are free if you have Premier status, and what's better is that they're instantaneous (your funds are credited straight away - it's then the bank's problem how they move the funds internally... or is it externally?).

Cash machine-wise you'd be in the same position as Citibank customers.

For Air Miles you cannot beat DBS' Altitude AMEX, unless you go for DBS Treasures which has a slightly better card (for overseas purchases) but requires you to maintain a large "balance" with them (like Premier).

Maybank also has a good card, especially for use abroad (double-miles!). But DBS' Altitude gives you 1 mile for every $0.83 spent here which is pretty much as good as it gets for local transactions.

[patch81]

does hsbc not require the bank account holder to maintain a minimum amount in the account?

[nakatago]

...just bumping original topic...

[aster]

does hsbc not require the bank account holder to maintain a minimum amount in the account?

Well, from what's on their web site it seems to be the following:
- savings account: open with 1k, maintain 2k to prevent monthly fees
- checking account: open with 2k, maintain 3k to prevent monthly fees

If you're going to just have one account in Singapore and want to take advantage of some good dining offers then definitely go for UOB.

If you need the best miles-earning card then DBS, Citibank, RBS and Maybank will all have something interesting to offer you.

[durain]

Hi I'm using DBS Esso Platinum MasterCard which offers me motoring benefits. In your case, I'd suggest you to check out different debit cards and credit cards provided by DBS Singapore. They offer Visa card, MasterCard for different requirements. In credit cards you can have more options to choose from. http://bit.ly/d41eRo

so is DBS the best? would you recommend any other banks?

[woodsdevil]

Hi,

We came from the UK and has the HSBC premier. We had it set up before we leave as the starting balance in UK is lower than in Asia. You have to have 50k pounds in there and they can open any HSBC account for you in the world. SO it makes opening our Singapore account a breeze here.

But once we are here, we open a local bank account. There's a few of them and it depends on choices. We choose OCBC as its branches open on a sunday. Useful as my hubby is super busy and saturday bank branches are too busy. So we choose OCBC for mainly that reason. You need min 1000 SGD to open an account, 3000sgd to maintain if not you pay an amount each mth (can't remember how much). You get a nets card (to draw money) and also internet banking. In addition, you don't have to queue at the ATM. Generally the DBS/POSB have the busiest ATM. Usually you will see like 10 people queuing at their ATM while OCBC or UOB is free.

So we just maintain our OCBC for local transaction, esp for online gov payment having a local bank account is more useful, while we use hSBC for our UK and international transfers, which is free (online) and instantenous and their interbank rates they offer is reasonable.

Hope that helps.

[aster]

Actually OCBC get's my award for the #1 banking experience in Singapore.

They are a joy to deal with, especially if you go to their head branch just behind Boat Quay. It feels like being in the lobby of some 5***** hotel, in my case it was only a two minute wait to be served but I could easily have "relaxed" there a bit longer. And the staff is great, absolutely miles above anyone else I've had to deal with at other banks...

I've mentioned it before, even before dealing with OCBC, that they have the best branch locations out of all the banks here (just my opinion), and you can't beat them for ATMs either (especially with the shared network with UOB).

P.S. Even all their forms/pamphlets seem to be designed by someone who actually has a bit of common sense.