Non-sterling savings (how to avoid hyperinflation)

Sam37

Often banks on ''the continent'' would accept customers who live abroad.

They often pay more interest than off shore, and there is in most cases good government protection. So if you have any linguistic talents in Spanish, German or French or anything else, search and look for local comparison sites, and try to find out if they accept.

littlekov

Does anyone have any views on the safety of the Australian dollar? I dont have massive amounts of savings (circa 12K), but I am planning to emigrate there in 2010...would transferring money now be a good idea? I would be gutted if in 2010 my savings were worth a lot less due to sterling hitting rock bottom...

antiludd

Hello, I'm a new boy too!

I have also been getting nervous about the risk of staying in UK deposits. whilst watching interest rates and sterling plummet. No fun at all.

I have to ask why are Advanzia offering 6%? The obvious answer appears to be that their deposits are loaned out to people for their credit cards. This is surely quite 'toxic'. At least some further research is warranted.

I opened a barclays euro account a fortnight ago, but (foolishly) balked at the 3% less than official rate for transferring <£25000.
I have since found that for >£25000 you get around 1.5% under official rate.
I'm toying with the idea of using a foreign exchange broker to transfer between 2 barclays accounts!

But I'm a bit worried that any UK account might fall prey to Gordon.
Any thoughts?

MiserlyMartin

littlekov wrote: »

Does anyone have any views on the safety of the Australian dollar? I dont have massive amounts of savings (circa 12K), but I am planning to emigrate there in 2010...would transferring money now be a good idea? I would be gutted if in 2010 my savings were worth a lot less due to sterling hitting rock bottom...

I was wondering about the AUS$ but after research it seems that Australia has an economy which was built on nothing, overpriced housing etc similar to the UK so I don't think its such a good bet.

One question, if one were to open a euro account with Advancia, do they accept sterling and convert it to EUR themselves or do you have to use another company to change it into EUR before depositing it in a Euro account? Looking at the FAQ it looks like you need a german bank account to put money in/out?

pmcx9

Guys,

I think Advanzia could do with its own thread as it appears very interesting in todays worrying times. Mine if I start one?

I will post it here shortly;

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=16469783#post16469783

soulsaver

Charles1968 wrote: »

Yes you're right that Advanzia is covered by the Luxembourg deposit scheme, but the chap I spoke to on the phone when ringing Advanzia a few minutes ago told me the limit is being raised to EUR 100,000 on 1st January.

The advantage of moving a large sum is that you get a better exchange rate. I'd probably deposit EUR 90,000 to leave room for interest. Quick back of an envelope calculation after speaking to First Direct suggests I'd lose only a £25 fee charged by FD and then around £250 lost through the exchange rate. Advanzia don't charge any fees for transactions.

I'm not certain but a revisit to the statement AGDL webby leads me to the conclusion that the AGDL is the Lux equivalent of the FSCS - funded by the their financial services industry. The additional guarantee to 50k now, 100k in Jan appears to be taxpayers money, although not sure which treasury is funding it, prob Lux forced by Euro central would be my guess.

I'd like it to be clearer , so I'd like to research it a bit more for my dosh.

Baldur

soulsaver wrote: »

I'm not certain but a revisit to the statement AGDL webby leads me to the conclusion that the AGDL is the Lux equivalent of the FSCS - funded by the their financial services industry. The additional guarantee to 50k now, 100k in Jan appears to be taxpayers money, although not sure which treasury is funding it, prob Lux forced by Euro central would be my guess.

I'd like it to be clearer , so I'd like to research it a bit more for my dosh.

http://www.agdl.lu/

Charles1968

gunnaknow wrote: »

Blimey Charles, you move fast! I only pasted the link a few hours ago and you've already been on the phone to Advanzia and your bank to set everything up! For your information, Advanzia is a niche bank that was set up in 2005, owned mostly by a Norwegian investment company called Kistefos.

http://www.kistefos.no/private_equity/our_investments/advanzia/

Not quick enough perhaps as sterling is well on the way to parity with the Euro, and it will be a week at least before I've shifted any money.

Worrying that Advanzia is backed by Norway, as Norway's economy is probably a mess. I knew there had to be a reason for such a generous interest rates... could be another iceland situation.

What's most worrying at the moment is the news reported on Newsnight last night and in the Telegraph today that the UK treasury is now considering "quantitative easing", a euphemism for printing money to inflate the economy out of its hole. That could be an absolute disaster for sterling. Certainly wise to move a portion of you savings out of the UK before they start rolling the printing press.

gunnaknow

Is Norway's economy any more of a mess than the UK's or the rest of europe? I called my bank today and the charge for transferring 30K+ abroad in euros is only around £20, with an exchange rate of 1.13 something.

Charles1968

gunnaknow wrote: »

Is Norway's economy any more of a mess than the UK's or the rest of europe? I called my bank today and the charge for transferring 30K+ abroad in euros is only around £20, with an exchange rate of 1.13 something.

I don't know that they're any more of a mess than the UK, but in the early 90s recession, Norway and Japan both had major banking crises like the one we're currently going through, though not as bad. Maybe they learned the lesson and got their house in order.

Scandinavia's housing market certainly got overheated and is now coming off the boil, so there are obviously risks.

It needs a bit of further research I think. Perhaps the best place for Euros are continental banks that have been nationalized or partly nationalized and hence have government guarantees like northern rock now has. I don't think Advanzia falls into this category.