I received a text from the agent saying that my check was returned for the rent.  The bank AGAIN rejected my signature.  My guess is because my new signature had not yet been shared around.  I ran into that when I wanted to set up the PIN for my bank account.  I went to the bank to choose my PIN.  They claimed they didn’t have my signature information even though I could show them an email from the banker I started the account with from the Island stating all of the information has been provided to them.  I had to walk away and wait for the bank to get their sh*t together.  It was close to 2 weeks later when I emailed the original banker for assistance.  He was flabbergasted I had been denied.  He called the bank to be sure they would provide me with what I needed.  

Now getting to the bank is not exactly a down the road thing.  I had to transfer two trains to get to it, and they have funky hours.  The one in Kowloon was open longer but did not have the necessary information (I had gone to them a month ago because I needed the deposit for the flat.  It took 5 tries for them to accept my signature even though I had my passport, HKID, drivers license, and school ID).  So that was not helping.

When I went to the bank on Wednesday to apply for the security device to be able to pay my bills (because having a bank account isn’t enough), I encountered even more problems.  I sat with one of the bankers with Monster as she tried to help me sign the appropriate signature.  I had to resign my signature four times before they would begrudgingly accept it.  It was humiliating to have to have the banker show me my signature to see if I could reproduce it enough for it to be accepted.   

I ended up changing my signature.  I instead use block letters for my signature instead of my signature scribble.  I still had problems.  I actually had to redo all of the paperwork I had just completed again with the new signature.  To change my signature, I had to sign the old one for the new one to be accepted.  She again made me try a few times to be sure I had the signature correct.    

Never was a signature such a big deal in the IS.  Not only that, but the school gave me back my checks because I had made a mistake .  They said the mistake (which was a crossed out letter) would kick it back because I crossed something out.  Based on previous experience, I’m going to say they were right.  

I paid my rent finally.  Checks aren’t rocket science, but man, do they over complicate things here.