Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#71

Post by larrysalibra » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 4:39 PM UTC

Try Neat (https://www.neat.hk/) - they offer both personal and business accounts to people and businesses worldwide and are based in Hong Kong.

Businesses get a virtual account number at Standard Chartered.

Funds for personal accounts are held at Bank of China Hong Kong.

Both types of accounts get debit cards that ship globally.

I've signed up for a business account and been approved all online.

I think they exclude people from some countries.

Can try here: https://www.neat.hk/signup/start

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#72

Post by JulianWasTaken » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 4:46 PM UTC

I have Charles Schwab, use it for all my banking and it's fantastic. No fees to take out money from any ATM in the world. Don't even know why I'd want something else, but now that I see people talking about Revolut, N26 and TransferWise I guess I should at least investigate whether they have anything to offer.

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#73

Post by theodor_shi » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 4:47 PM UTC

larrysalibra wrote: post #71

Try Neat ( https://www.neat.hk/ ) - they offer both personal and business accounts to people and businesses worldwide and are based in Hong Kong. Businesses get a virtual account number at Standard Chartered. Funds for personal accounts are held at Bank of China Hong Kong. Both types of accounts get debit cards that ship globally. I've signed up for a business account and been approved all online. I think they exclud…

thank you! it looks exactly what i looked for

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#74

Post by pentae » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 4:51 PM UTC

larrysalibra wrote: post #71

Try Neat ( https://www.neat.hk/ ) - they offer both personal and business accounts to people and businesses worldwide and are based in Hong Kong. Businesses get a virtual account number at Standard Chartered. Funds for personal accounts are held at Bank of China Hong Kong. Both types of accounts get debit cards that ship globally. I've signed up for a business account and been approved all online. I think they exclud…

Do they let you send wires anywhere? Does every wire require manual review or extra documentation?

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#75

Post by toomuchtodo » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 4:54 PM UTC

joshuatalb wrote: post #35

orf wrote: post #12

Revolut[1] seems perfect, I cannot recommend them enough. With their premium plan you get 1% cashback on all card purchases outside the EU as well. The support is great, if your card gets cloned or something. You also can fluidly and transparently transfer between all different currencies at the interbank rate, which I find is great for travelling back home (Most of my cash is in Euros). They are really, really good.…

Whilst I recommend Revolut, be wary of the support. My card was stolen and I noticed that there had been several transactions on it, meaning somebody had been using it. Fortunately I have the push notifications turned on so I was alerted almost instantly. When I got in touch with Revolut support, they needed a paper copy of the police report, along with several other documents from places such as ActionFraud (an orga…

Wow, I can’t even comprehend that much hassle to report a card stolen. American Express will deactivate my card and overnight me a new one in 5 minutes on the phone with customer service.

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#76

Post by supermatt » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 5:02 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #75

joshuatalb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whilst I recommend Revolut, be wary of the support. My card was stolen and I noticed that there had been several transactions on it, meaning somebody had been using it. Fortunately I have the push notifications turned on so I was alerted almost instantly. When I got in touch with Revolut support, they needed a paper copy of the police report, along with several other documents from places such as ActionFraud (an orga…

Wow, I can’t even comprehend that much hassle to report a card stolen. American Express will deactivate my card and overnight me a new one in 5 minutes on the phone with customer service.

Its not just reporting it stolen - that is instantaneous with revolut (and you can do it in the app) - it is the refunding of fraudulent transactions on a stolen card that takes time.

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#77

Post by tudorconstantin » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 5:08 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #75

joshuatalb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whilst I recommend Revolut, be wary of the support. My card was stolen and I noticed that there had been several transactions on it, meaning somebody had been using it. Fortunately I have the push notifications turned on so I was alerted almost instantly. When I got in touch with Revolut support, they needed a paper copy of the police report, along with several other documents from places such as ActionFraud (an orga…

Wow, I can’t even comprehend that much hassle to report a card stolen. American Express will deactivate my card and overnight me a new one in 5 minutes on the phone with customer service.

You can deactivate any Revolut card from your mobile app instantly (don't even have to call them).

What parent commenter was complaining about were the cumbersome procedures for refunds of fraudulent transactions. Given the worldwide distribution of their customers and the online only interactions with them, seem justified IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#78

Post by tudorconstantin » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 5:14 PM UTC

dazc wrote: post #60

orf wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. They also have single-use disposable virtual cards which is pretty handy!

They are only disposable if there are no outstanding charges. For example, try to conveniently opt out of a newspaper subscription and you may find your account is closed at no notice, as mine was.

I subscribed to a "free for one week" service using a disposable Revolut card and didn't had my account suspended, even though the service kept trying to charge my card weekly. Even funnier, I could use the free trial for about 6 months.

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#79

Post by joshuatalb » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #75

joshuatalb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whilst I recommend Revolut, be wary of the support. My card was stolen and I noticed that there had been several transactions on it, meaning somebody had been using it. Fortunately I have the push notifications turned on so I was alerted almost instantly. When I got in touch with Revolut support, they needed a paper copy of the police report, along with several other documents from places such as ActionFraud (an orga…

Wow, I can’t even comprehend that much hassle to report a card stolen. American Express will deactivate my card and overnight me a new one in 5 minutes on the phone with customer service.

Reporting the card stolen is hassle-free and can be done from the app instantly. It's just the process to get the money refunded and back in my account.

Re: Ask HN: Online banks where I can open account worldwide?

#80

Post by toweringgoat » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

JulianWasTaken wrote: post #72

I have Charles Schwab, use it for all my banking and it's fantastic. No fees to take out money from any ATM in the world. Don't even know why I'd want something else, but now that I see people talking about Revolut, N26 and TransferWise I guess I should at least investigate whether they have anything to offer.

Schwab are great if you only want to keep USD. They're terrible otherwise, including the fact that they charge 1% currency conversion if you send them a non-USD wire.

And they're not a bank, meaning your cash isn't insured. (Unless you reside in the USA, in which case you can get a proper bank account with FDIC insurance).