Can I use my Karachi Bank Account in Islamabad? What difficulties I will face?

Moving to Islamabad this week. My bank account is in HBL, do I need to get a new account in Islamabad? What troubles will I run into if I continue using my current one?

Online banking will serve you well don’t worry with Habib Bank Limited largest branch network.

HBL has inter-city charges on certain types of accounts and they are rather high, I think it is around 430+ rupees, so every time you go to a branch in Islamabad for example to cash a cheque or deposit money, you’ll get slapped with those charges. You need to check with HBL if those charges apply to your account type.

Using a debit card or online banking will be an identical experience so don’t worry about that.

You also have to check if they will courier you your debit card or cheque book to Islamabad in case the present one expires. I don’t know about HBL, but I faced some problems when I moved to Lahore and I lost my Bank AL Habib debit card (account in Karachi). I couldn’t get a renewal because they don’t courier the card, have to pick it up personally. Since I couldn’t, I’m without a debit card till I go back. Ask your branch whether they will be able to courier these two things.

Also if anything happens which would require you to go your branch, you’ll be stuck. For example, I get remittances in my BAHL account and sometimes they need me to fill out R-forms for which I need to go to the branch. This is one example I can think of, there may be other examples. You can either have a trusted person in Karachi that you can add as a joint account holder so they can do this for you or you can get a new account in Islamabad.

The above comments were made on Facebook group. 

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