Offshore/international account for a seafarer?

Pacman99_2

Afternoon all, I have been searching the internet and this website for information but would like to ask some advice.

I am a UK citizen but currently work on ships, so I dont live there and I move from country to country all the time. I am looking for a bank account that matches my requirements or at least most of them.

Sometimes I am paid in cash, sometimes into bank accounts. Sometimes I am paid in US Dollars, sometimes in Euros. But I never know what the currency or payment delivery will be for each job until im in it. The thing I need is one account or one bank that will allow me to set up a Dollar account and a Euro account with debit/visa cards for both and a way of depositing cash in from anywhere in the world. I would also need to withdraw from these accounts from anywhere in the world. Ideally I dont want to be charged loads of fees for using these accounts. I dont have large amounts of money to immediately open an account with. I have a UK account at the moment which is mostly unused as I dont want to put my foreign money into it.

I understand this type of "perfect" account might not exist but if people could please point me in a direction or recommend some accounts I would appreciate it.

Regards, Pacman.

jonesMUFCforever

I have no answer BUT what do your work colleagues do?

Pacman99_2

Thanks for replying.

It varies, some crew use accounts from their home countries and take the hit on fees (or are from the US or a Euro country), some have offshore accounts but dont move boats so only need one, some stick the cash under their beds...

I will be moving boats in a few months time so need something flexible available. There isnt much point setting up a Euro account only to find my next job pays in Dollars. I could always stick my first pay packet into my UK account and lose a bit on fees while I sort out an account suited to the new job, but I would prefer to have something readily available if possible.

I will keep talking to other crews and I will eventually find something to fit but I like to use other resources too.

Mikhail

How do you expect to deposit cash from anywhere?

Offshore account are good but could require high balance eg £70k+ or quite substantial subscription fee eg £100 per month.

Try Citibank international currency account(s). Plus citi has a global presence.

Pacman99_2

Sorry, I didn't mean I wanted to deposit in literally anywhere in the world, I wanted a company that has banks all over the world, not just in one country or continent.

I checked out citibank, they seem quite good. Thanks for the recommendation.

Azrael_1701

Or I suppose HSBC, they have branches all over the world....