Hello everyone, please repeat after me: unlucky person, don't be unlucky, unlucky person, don't be unlucky... The surprise is at the end...
Getting to the point, the unlucky person has already made all the bank appointments in HK around April 12, starting from the dates and times below.
1️⃣. April 23, Thunderstorm
NCB: West Kowloon Financial Center, entered Hong Kong in the morning, went directly to the NCB at the West Kowloon station, waited for half an hour until 9 o'clock, entered and the lady helped me fill out the KYC, after completing it, she directly gave me the password letter, and the card will be sent out in 7 days. As a result, the app review failed again because I needed to provide additional proof for the HK mobile number I used. I submitted it, it should pass, right? ✅
SC (Standard Chartered): Tsim Sha Tsui branch, called me to say to prepare the documents and 10,000 cash, but since the unlucky person is a student and doesn't have 10k, the account opening failed ❌.
China Construction Bank Asia: Tsim Sha Tsui branch, the unlucky person made an appointment at the Tsim Sha Tsui branch, and after the appointment, they called me twice, the first call was from the head office, the second was from the branch. Then on that day, when I arrived at the branch, before I could say anything, they directly rejected me ❌, saying they were fully booked. I showed them my appointment record, but they said it was full and I couldn't open an account, they even told me I needed to make an appointment two weeks later. I was frustrated, account opening failed ❌.
Hang Seng Bank: Tsim Sha Tsui branch, I made an appointment for the premium wealth management, after entering, I was asked to queue for a number to open an account. After waiting for an hour and a half, it was finally my turn. I gave all my documents to the guy, and he said I must prove I have long-term ties to Hong Kong, like working or studying in Hong Kong, in short, I needed a Hong Kong address. I told him to be lenient as I am a university student about to graduate, but he said no. I asked if I could let someone else try, and he said they opened an account for someone from mainland China last week, and then closed it three days later, so he was scolded by his superiors and didn't dare to open it for me. He then told me that even if he opened it for me, it would probably be closed within three days, so this account opening, the unlucky person announces failure ❌.
ICBC Asia: Tsim Sha Tsui branch, immediately went to ICBC after leaving Hang Seng, was received by a beautiful lady with excellent Mandarin, probably from mainland China. After chatting for a while, she asked if I had brought my documents. I said yes and handed her the address proof, ID card, permit, passport, mainland student ID, and white slip. She looked at them and said, "We have strict requirements for opening accounts. You need to show that you work in Hong Kong or provide bank statements or something." I showed her my bank statements, which were about 25,000, 10,000. She said I should try other banks, explaining that because I was a student, it would be difficult to get approved. She recommended HSBC and Bank of China, saying she also uses them, and then I left, announcing account opening failure ❌.
Bank of China: Mong Kok President Commercial Building branch, when I just entered, the security guard was quite nice, arranged everything for me at the account opening window, gave a thumbs up 👍, then took a number. When it was my turn, the account opening guy came out directly, asked for my documents, I gave them all, including the address proof. Upon seeing I was from mainland China, he directly said we can't open an account for you, you should try opening it online, and just walked away. The next person was a handsome guy who spoke Cantonese, and without even asking, he wrote down the information for that handsome guy. I don't know if he got approved, but my app showed the account opening could not be processed, please go to the branch. I showed it to the guy, and he said there was nothing he could do... speechless. I took out 10,000 cash right there and said I wanted to... account opening failed ❌.
Bank of China Sham Shui Po branch, then went to the Sham Shui Po branch, they said there were no numbers left. I showed them my online account opening failure situation, and they said to scan the QR code to make an appointment. Since I bought a ferry ticket to Macau for tomorrow, I couldn't go, account opening failed ❌.
HSBC: Chuang Chuang Center branch, made an appointment, scanned the QR code to take a number, asked at the counter, the counter looked at my ticket, directly threw it into the trash, and said, "What are you doing here?" I said I wanted to open an account, and she completely ignored me and went to serve the next person... I was frustrated, speechless, family, I announce account opening failure ❌.
Online Banks: Account opening successful ✅,
Online livi: Account opening successful ✅
Online za: Account opening successful ✅, my invitation code: RNR5T5
Online Fusion: Account opening successful ✅
Online Ant: Account opening successful ✅, my invitation code: MGMXC1sm
Online Welab: Account opening successful ✅, my invitation code: FPKXPM
Online Xinyin: No Android phone, unable to open, failure ❌
In the evening, I went to Tsuen Wan, planning to open an account there the next day, but the environment didn't allow it, so I returned to Sham Shui Po and spent half the night at McDonald's + park bench.
2️⃣. April 24, Overcast
I bought a ferry ticket to Macau, then went to Yoho Mall.
Hang Seng Bank: Yoho Mall branch, walked to the entrance with my documents, the beautiful lady at the counter took a look and casually said, I fell in love with her at first sight. She said your documents are all okay, I thought I could succeed, but then she asked to see my investment record balance. I showed her, and she said my balance wasn't enough, starting from 100,000... To see her a few more times, I took out my bank statements (the ones on my phone, not printed, very messy, but totaling 50,000), she carefully looked and said, "Not possible." I said, "Okay, beautiful girl," the unlucky person officially announces, today Hang Seng again account opening failure ❌.
Macau International Bank: Taipa branch, student ID, address proof, ID card, permit ➕ 100 MOP, walk-in to take a number, very smooth, got two passbooks, no debit card provided... When I was opening the account, a guy from Zhuhai came in, a northerner, was directly rejected, told to provide proof documents, anyway, this bank is very favorable for student ID account openings. Got the passbook, linked to Mpay, directly at level 3B. By the way, this bank automatically gives you 50 MOP with no threshold for the banking app, can be used freely in Macau, everyone remember to use it after opening, considered account opening successful ✅.
ICBC Macau: Taipa branch, required insurance, student buff ineffective, account opening failed ❌.
Bank of China Macau: Taipa branch, said investment, no wealth management, he said you must have Macau ID or work to open an account. I asked about wealth management, he said that would require buying insurance. I asked him what the minimum was for a year, he said insurance must be at least 30,000+ a year. Well, the unlucky university student from last night has no money, so account opening failed ❌.
Macau doesn't have 24-hour McDonald's or anything, so I had to go to an internet cafe, internet celebrity MP5. The lady boss charges 10 MOP an hour, 40 for the whole night, just in time for 10 o'clock. I took a bottle of water and a bottle of cola from her, totaling 82, oh my, the drinks are almost the same price as in Hong Kong. Luckily, the 50 MOP from Macau International Bank has no threshold, so I finally paid 32 MOP. The internet cafe in Macau prohibits smoking, but there were still people smoking. During this time, I noticed a girl came in playing CS, I secretly glanced a few times, couldn't see her face, but she was wearing glasses. She played from 10 PM until 8 AM (the overnight package is from midnight to 8 AM), maybe she was too bad, got killed by the opponent with a gun... I quietly played CF for a while, but ended up with 0 kills, all assists...
3️⃣. April 25, Rain in Macau, Sunny in Hong Kong
Macau was too oppressive, almost all called leisure entertainment resorts... not much fun... too oppressive. Just casually mentioning, the free drinks inside might have something mixed in, I felt very uncomfortable after drinking, my brain was excited, I asked friends who had been there before, and they had the same situation. I deeply suspect they added excessive caffeine, everyone be careful, free things often have traps... My phone ran out of battery, Macau is really inconvenient, borrowing a urinal bag is troublesome, 200 deposit, urinal bag 100, very slow, heating, just like in Hong Kong. Then friends said to go to entertainment places to charge, so I went in, found a socket 🔌, plugged it in, after 2 minutes, a staff member came over, unplugged it, said no charging allowed, and kicked me out... Also, the USB charging ports at Macau bus stops are just for decoration, unable to charge...
Before leaving, I hurried to leave something in Macau to mark my visit, so I did my business on the ground in Macau 💩, contributing a bit to future land expansion! In the afternoon, I took a car back to HK from Sands, ah, the instant noodles at the bottom of the station smelled so good, it turned out a lady was eating them, I was hungry, sob sob sob, then I went to Prince Edward, topped up a phone card. I saw the app said topping up costs 40, but the guy only spoke Cantonese, I couldn't understand. He said it was done, I asked if there was a fee, he said it was done, free!
Then I went to Victoria Harbour, tmd there was a very disgusting person trying to hit on me for money... speechless, he wouldn't say the reason, he wanted to work illegally... I said, "Did you die in a leisure resort?" He told me he lost 270,000, oh I was speechless, he even said he would kneel for money, I told him I had no money, he kept asking... Did he want me to use magic to conjure it up????? He was unbelievable, I immediately walked away. This kind of person looks very disgusting, if I hadn't probed deeper, I would have given him money, originally thinking he was a pitiful person, but knowing the reason afterward... the pitiful person must have a hateful reason...
When I arrived at Hong Kong Island, I found there wasn't much fun, wandered around a bit, the malls on Hong Kong Island are open, not as cool as Kowloon... I was dying of heat 🥵, so I took the subway 🚇 back to Kowloon, heading straight to Sukiya, ran to two stores (there are only 3 in Kowloon), oh, they all needed to queue... I suddenly had an idea, across from me was Haidilao, should I try overnight? Ah, tmd it's much more expensive than mainland, but the service attitude is very good, however... the service attentiveness is not as proactive as in mainland... Membership doesn't work with mainland, ordered beef balls, noodles, and tomato soup base, spent about 150, and the waiter also had a service charge... After I settled the bill, I asked if I could rest for a while, he placed a "Do Not Disturb" sign on my table. I stayed for 2 hours, and no one cleaned my table, I felt a bit embarrassed, so I headed straight to McDonald's... Also, I was curious and swiped for first class on the MTR, charged me 42 for 2 stations, ah, I don't know what happened, why did first class add more than 30 bucks...
OCBC: I made an appointment at OCBC Central, but no one contacted me after several appointments. I found it too far when I went to Hong Kong Island, previously rejected ❌ and scared, what if I went there and got rejected again... The unlucky person announces account opening failure ❌.
4️⃣. April 26, Thunderstorm
Hang Seng Bank: Hung Hom branch, yes, it's the one many sisters said could be opened smoothly by walking in... I was the first in line, started queuing at 8 o'clock, opened at 9 o'clock. When I entered and said I wanted to open an account, she said the minimum is 100,000, regardless of the type of account. I was instantly speechless 😓, she said it was a new regulation this month. Mmm, no wonder all the posts about Hung Hom are from before March...
⚠️Summary#
In conclusion, all online banks (except Bank of China) successfully opened accounts!
However, for those who need to go to branches to open accounts, even though they all made appointments, none were successful... The branches that can be walked into directly online were also rejected... So everyone, don't deliberately try to open physical accounts... The one I'm using now, ZA, is quite good 😭.