$50 bonus for opening a Citizens Bank account | Citizens Bank | Discussion forum

I don't have family in Ontario unfortunately.

I'll stick with my 3 direct account with ING, HSBS and ICICI.

I think getting more would be abusive ahah.

djino, I'm a bit disappointed in your list. I see that you have no ICICI account opened yet.

What are you waiting for to take advantage of the 20$ opening bonus?!?!?!

LOL!

Max

ICICI's HiSAVE savings account does not have any monthly fees. Transfers between accounts, including bank-to-bank transfers, are free. Cash withdrawals charge a monthly fee but you could transfer funds to your HiVALUE chequing account and maintain a minimum balance of only $100.00 (pretty easy to do) to have a totally free, unlimited chequing account with surcharge-free access to ICICI ABMs and The Exchange Network ABMs.

ICICI's chequing account ranks, in my opinion, as the third best in Canada, behind Citizens Bank and PC Financial. However, I've used neither of those three. I'm just going by the information I have.

Still, this isn't my preference - I use HSBC Bank Canada (where I work as well) because the access points (we get access to Bank of Montreal ABMs) are greater even if the interest rate is 0.35% lower. 🙂

Cheers,
Doug

Max said:

So djino, I think you're one step away from your 20$ bonus

lol... not sure if $20 is worth the trouble. As I know I wont use the account much at all as I have HSBC, PCF and eventually Citizens. I dont think I have more to gain (besides $20) to get ICICI 🙂

djino
"Maybe if i'm bored someday :)"

djino said:

Yeah, I'm getting a bit excessive with bank accounts. Glad I got this software to keep track of everything.

ScotiaBank Savings ($0 Monthly - 2 free Debits)
RBC Savings ($0 Monthly - 1 free Debit)
RBC US Savings ($0 Monthly - 1 free Debit)
Royal Bank Centura US Checking ($0 Monthly - unlimited)
INGDirect Savings ($0 Monthly - 4 free Debits)
PCF checking ($0 Monthly - unlimited)
PCF Savings ($0 Monthly - unlimited) x2
HSBC Savings ($0 Monthly - unlimited) x2 <- PRIMARY
HSBC US Savings ($0 Monthly - $1/Debit)

And eventually:
Citizens Checking ($0 Monthly - unlimited)
Citizens Savings ($0 Monthly - unlimited)

djino
"Yes I know, too much"

How did you open an chequing account with RBC Bank USA (formerly RBC Centura), djino? I thought you have to go down to the U.S., have your two pieces of ID and open in branch. I didn't think foreign citizens could open U.S. bank accounts online.

Cheers,
Doug

Ah, ok. That's how it works. We have something similar with HSBC, called the HSBC Passport, which allows an HSBC Group entity employee to liaise with another Group entity employee in establishing an account at that other Group entity worldwide. A lot of the work is actually done by the International Services division of HSBC.

Cheers,
Doug

It's not an actual account, per se. It's basically a sort of package that has a bundle of offers for new immigrants coming from other countries. It's basically a way to get them in the door and it offers a MasterCard override (either cash secured or unsecured, depending on circumstances), certain special offers from partner companies, and six months free of service charges on any chequing and savings accounts.

If you want to open an HSBC account with another Group entity, you'll have to speak with your account manager, let them know what country you're planning on visiting/moving to and then they'll liaise with that Group entity to have documents mailed back and forth to get the account opened by the time you arrive in the new country. There is a fee involved for opening an account internationally (e.g., HSBC Bank Canada customer opening account with HSBC Bank plc in London, England) and it is disclosed in the Personal Service Charges brochure under International Services. I believe it is something like $150 or $175.

Cheers,
Doug