Paying euros into a basic bank account

DaveyT_2

Hi,

Fantastic forum! I contacted PayPlan (who have been excellent so far) last week. They told me to set up a basic bank account. I have looked at the list and done lots of research but I can't work out which bank is cheapest for paying euros into my account by cheque and by transfer from abroad. I receive a few foreign currency payments each month for my work (mainly from France), so really would like to find the cheapest bank for this. I know my current bank (Lloyds TSB) charges £7 for receiving a transfer in euros from abroad, but wondered if this was cheaper elsewhere.

Any advice would be gratefully received as I need to get things up and running asap.

Thank you!
DaveyT

innovate

Hi DaveyT,

you might find the great euro bank transfer experiment conducted by some guys on eBay of help. As you can see in that thread, there are a few banks that charge zilch for receiving bank transfers - provided the transfer is done properly with IBAN and all that.

Another alternative might be Moneybookers - if the payments are made to your Moneybookers account, you can withdraw them into your linked current bank account for £1.30 or thereabouts per transaction (and you can combine several payments into one withdrawal). If this alternative works, look for a bank that pays high interest in current accounts (Nationwide or Cahoot, for instance. But I'd stay clear of A&L, their customer service is abysmal).

DaveyT_2

Fantastic. Thanks innovate. I will take a look - seems like anything would be cheaper than Lloyds.

Dagobert

I tried three different UK banks for € receipts. None of them charged a fee. Interestingly though, the exchange rates differ! My Egg savings account seems to give me the best exchange rate.

Have a look at Foreign transfers: different banks - different exchange rates!.