Open a personal bank account - Comparison of banks offers

BANK NAME : Vietcombank
DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO OPEN THE ACCOUNT: Passport and photo
FEES TO OPEN THE AC/ (VND): 50,000
MINIMUM BALANCE (USD or VND): 50,000
INTERNET BANKING (Yes/No/Comment): yes
DEBIT CARD PROVIDED: yes
CREDIT CARDS AVAILABLE: not sure
FEES FOR ATM WITHDRAWAL: 0 at bank owned ATMs
EASY TO USE (ATMs, branches, English, ...):Very easy
OTHER COMMENTS:Good no frills banking, haven't had any problems in 4 years

thanks a lot Don!

please guys if you have accounts at Vietin, HSBC, etc. share these simple info!

VungTauDon wrote:

BANK NAME : Vietcombank
DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO OPEN THE ACCOUNT: Passport and photo
FEES TO OPEN THE AC/ (VND): 50,000
MINIMUM BALANCE (USD or VND): 50,000
INTERNET BANKING (Yes/No/Comment): yes
DEBIT CARD PROVIDED: yes
CREDIT CARDS AVAILABLE: not sure
FEES FOR ATM WITHDRAWAL: 0 at bank owned ATMs
EASY TO USE (ATMs, branches, English, ...):Very easy
OTHER COMMENTS:Good no frills banking, haven't had any problems in 4 years

Credit Card: Yes, available:)

BANK NAME :HSBC Vietnam
DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO OPEN THE ACCOUNT: PP & Photos
Check for more detailed tariff
It's not convenient like Vietcom bank.
FEES FOR ATM WITHDRAWAL: No fee from HSBC/TECHCOM bank ATMs
Comments: Satisfactory

I would try a smaller bank like HD bank, Vietcommbank can be very difficult. My mate found that out when he wanted to remove a billion VND from his account.

colinoscapee wrote:

I would try a smaller bank like HD bank, Vietcommbank can be very difficult. My mate found that out when he wanted to remove a billion VND from his account.

When we deposit money, all bank staffs are very happy. But when we withdraw from bank I never see anyone happy

TuanSgn wrote:

Hello all,

I am looking to open a personal bank account, which can be managed easily by internet or phone and that provides me a debit card. There are other people in this case so I want to make a post that can be updated with your experience.

You can fill this simple questionnaire below, which makes it more structured for everyone. Don't answer if you don't know

So this post could be used by everyone in the same situation!
Other info needed, feel free to suggest.

Thanks in advance!
----
Remember it's dedicated to non-resident foreigners, based in HCMC

BANK NAME :
DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO OPEN THE ACCOUNT:
FEES TO OPEN THE AC/ (VND):
MINIMUM BALANCE (USD or VND):
INTERNET BANKING (Yes/No/Comment):
DEBIT CARD PROVIDED:
CREDIT CARDS AVAILABLE:
FEES FOR ATM WITHDRAWAL:
EASY TO USE (ATMs, branches, English, ...):
OTHER COMMENTS:

BANK NAME : SACOMBANK
DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO OPEN THE ACCOUNT: Passport only
FEES TO OPEN THE AC/ (VND): Non (for Free)
MINIMUM BALANCE (USD or VND): No need if you don't want or only VND 50,000.
INTERNET BANKING (Yes/No/Comment): Available (Hight Quality 24/24 anh mobile banking with messages when the balance chance)
DEBIT CARD PROVIDED: Available (For free to opent, only VND 99,000 per year for fee)
CREDIT CARDS AVAILABLE: Availabe with Bank policy
FEES FOR ATM WITHDRAWAL: Non at Sacombank ATMs (with more than 400 unit/everywhere in VietNam, VND3,000 for Not Sacombank's ATMs
EASY TO USE (ATMs, branches, English, ...): Yes with more than 400 unit/everywhere in VietNam
OTHER COMMENTS: friendly, easy and quickly.

This wasnt a case of not being happy, this was a case of them refusing to give him the money. The bank staff stuffed up and he was expected to put up with it. It was a term deposit, they reinvested the money and didnt do what he had written down. Still to this day he is he hasnt got it and has a lawyer now trying to work with the bank.

Very strange, we just moved 500 million through the bank last week. Deposit came in one day in USD and we withdrew in VND and deposited in another bank.
I do know that banks have been coming under a lot of scrutiny from the government lately do to money laundering issues but that doesn't sound like what your friends problem is.
Most likely the money is being held up because someone inside the bank is running a scam. 2 Years ago when the interest rate was as high as 18% at some banks there wasn't a lot of problems like this but when the rate started falling some banks got creative with the various types of deposits and were still able to give the higher rates. A lot of times what they would do was split the deposit up into 2 or more smaller deposits of varying length.
Say 80% at 14% over 1 year and 20% at 7% that renews automatically every 2 months (These numbers are not exact, just using them to give you and idea of what they were doing) My wife has a good friend who works at VIB bank that explained this to us and we were actually doing this for awhile. Banking in Vietnam is still very old school. Even now my wife can call her friend and tell her that we want to deposit X amount of dollars and she will credit our account and just stop by our house on the way to work the next day and pick it up.

Anyway, this is all a different topic.

Don, it was a term deposit, not a transfer of funds.

My girlfriend works in banking as a loans manager, she was telling me how many ex bank staff are in jail for offering higher then normal interest rates to friends.

I think the branch location would be helpful too.

It's also worth noting that all debit cards are not alike. HSBC issues a Visa debit card but can only be used as an ATM card, unless this has changed in the last year. Sacombank will issue a Visa debit that can be used internationally and even has the European style microchip in it.

Not true that Vietcombank does not levy a fee for withdrawal from ATMs. I need to pay a small fee each time, LOl??

Don,
Hello again from offshore W.A. I didn't get to VT last time off, went to Nha Trang instead, and had a good time. It wasn't very crowded so I suppose I might have been there at the right time, anyway I like it.

On the banking thing, from what you have experienced it would seem that putting large sums of money into the Vietnam banking system is safe?

Cheers,
Mike

guys please try to stay focused on the info about the banks, you can create other topics for your billion-vnd transfers

Please explain who you are Tuan to be lecturing people.

i'm just trying to gather information that can be useful for for all the foreigners who want to open a bank account in vietnam.

Which is why I asked is it safe? While it is good to know how to open an account, what use is it if you can't get the money out!

Makes sense to me.

I have had money in banks here for about 4 years or so now and have had no trouble at all, either on the deposit side or on the withdraw end. Even when we had interest rates of 18% we never had any problems.

You can take out what you put in, as long as you have the proof.

Hi TuanSgn,

If you provide more details about your needs it might be easier for you to get more info, prepare document & consider:
-how long have you been in VN? If less than 6 weeks from the last arrival the document is normally simplier..

-source of fund in: cash deposit in VND or USD? From overseas or salary with labour contract, pay slip? What is the estimated amount of deposit or withdrawal per month?

-activities: is there any future transaction of transfering fund back to France? Are you frequently using card for payment at POS, online? Does your job require travelling around VN or overseas a lot?

-do you concern MORE about the charges & fees or the services & brandname as international banks are always more expensive but the card discounts/benefits/quality, call center, services,etc. are better.
However the local banks has more braches, ATMs, cheaper schedule of charges.

No bank is perfect. It depends on your needs & requirement to find the most suitable one.

After you decide foreign bank or local bank is suitable, then you can search google around 3 bank's websites to download schedule of charge/list of branches to compare.
For foreign bank: anz, hsbc, standard charter...
Local: vietcombank, acb, sacombank, techcombank...

Next step you call their call centers to ask further info (if any) or to test if the connectivity is good, how much helpful the staff is.
Now you can narrow down 1 or 2 bank to visit. Yes nothing better then actually experience & let the bank understand your needs.

If you still need more advice, you can ask for experience about these banks from other members here.
You dont expect to change the bank several times, do you? So just do like starting a friendship, pay a little more time to understand each other.

Good luck

thank you Clarimonda. I have very simple needs in terms of banking in vietnam, the info I asked is enough for me to make a decision.
As an expat I have other accounts in other countries so the VN account will be just for the rent and local expenses.

This post is not for my individual case, I intended to gather this information so next time someone googles "open a bank account in vietnam" they can find the basic comparison between the banks. Then they can dig into the fees and their particular cases if they want, but it's not the purpose here.

So far we had Vietcom Bank, HSBC, Sacombank. It would be great to complete with other banks ACB, Vietin, ...

colinoscapee wrote:

I would try a smaller bank like HD bank, Vietcommbank can be very difficult. My mate found that out when he wanted to remove a billion VND from his account.

Call me xenophobic, but I wouldn't be caught dead depositing in Vietnamese banks. I would only use International banks (HSBC, etc).

Yeah, If i lived in Manila I wouldn't deposit money into a bank in Vietnam either.
I've had nothing but trouble with HSBC bank in the past, both poor customer service and tech issues with their stupid USB dongle

Why wouldnt you be caught dead, back it up with some facts.

What is the best bank for international transfers?

Note: I already have a HSBC in the UK.

BANK NAME : ANZ (39 Le Duan, D1) (Australia &New Zealand bank)

DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO OPEN THE ACCOUNT: Passport +visa/tempoprary resident card (ask bank for more detail)

FEES TO OPEN THE AC/ (VND): Non (for Free)

Monthly average MINIMUM BALANCE for all kinds of account(s) & currency  (USD,EUR,AUD,GBP,VND):VND 50Mil or USD 2,500 & equivalent

INTERNET BANKING (Yes/No/Comment): Available (Hight Quality  and mobile banking with messages about yesterday's balance), free token if you want to stransfer. You can save template for a transfer, pay for Mobifone/Viettel bill,etc.

DEBIT CARD PROVIDED: Available (Visa Debit: online transactions,cash withdrawal, POS payment). Annual fee 150,000VND

CREDIT CARDS AVAILABLE: Availabe with Bank policy. Free first annual fee now until Nearly end of July, Im not sure. There are no income document required if you have a credit card with Citibank, HSBC, etc. (I dont remember the full list).
Many discount programe, reward on spending, installment without form &free nterest, etc.

FEES FOR ATM WITHDRAWAL: Non at ANZ & Dong A ATMs (with more than 1000 unit/everywhere in VietNam). I saw only Dong A has security guards for most of their ATMs (esp.besides the road)

EASY TO USE (ATMs, branches, English, ...): 5 branches in Saigon (2 in D1, D3, D5, D7) & 5 in HN. Sure English is good for both branch staffs & call center

OTHER COMMENTS: further info -> hotline 24/7: 18001559 or anz.com/vietnam

Is this banking service examination here?

colinoscapee wrote:

Why wouldnt you be caught dead, back it up with some facts.

Local banks of any country are only accountable within their own country. International banks have international reputations to protect and international laws/licensing/etc to follow. Given the corruption in SEA and Vietnam in particular, I would not deposit any more in a bank here than I could afford to lose. Vietnam banks have a B credit rating, which is the lowest in the region.

So your saying the banks will steal your money.You do realise that banks such as ANZ work under VN law, if you have a problem with ANZ here you cant going running to ANZ in Australia with your problem.They are two different enterties.

HsBC is good bank reputable n friendly

colinoscapee wrote:

So your saying the banks will steal your money.You do realise that banks such as ANZ work under VN law, if you have a problem with ANZ here you cant going running to ANZ in Australia with your problem.They are two different enterties.

Same with HSBC from what I have read. HSBC seems to always have the lowest time deposit of all the major banks. Still because of it's international presence I'm considering it despite a lot of bad reviews about it.

This topic is really useful, actually. Heck, no. It's awesome! Expat banking without work permit is always confusing here. Thanks for the topic, man.

I just opened account with Techcombank. Mainly because they gave a Visa Debit card that can be used internationally, min monthly average of 50 K dong; no fees at ATM and staffed with a cheerful manager whom I am comfortable with.

A question. What's your visa status when you opened the bank account? And did you have to show work permit?

Reason being that I am not working here so my visa is just B3 visa.

You dont need a work permit to open a bank account.

sfaith as long as the visa is current it doesn't matter what type it is. However any time you want to make a deposit into he account you'll have to provide a legal source of income.

Budman, not sure if its government owned banks that want that, but the banks I use have never asked for proof of income.