Euro Sterling Current Account Fx Rate

inmypocketnottheirs

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

They are fully covered by an offshore scheme.

That's good.

So then, it costs less than 1% in currency exchanges. So you have separate dollar and euro accounts? Do they bth have cheque books and a visa debit card? And what monthly charges are there for the accounts?

RetiredInThailand

I have EUR and GBP accounts. I dont do USD. These are interest-bearing "savings" accounts (around 2%) and so they dont have cheque books, but I dont need cheque books on them anyway as I have them elsewhere. Apparently I could have a debit card with both, but I dont need that either so I've never bothered. There is no monthly fee (I am totally allergic to fees.)

inmypocketnottheirs

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

I have EUR and GBP accounts. I dont do USD. These are interest-bearing "savings" accounts (around 2%) and so they dont have cheque books, but I dont need cheque books on them anyway as I have them elsewhere. Apparently I could have a debit card with both, but I dont need that either so I've never bothered. There is no monthly fee (I am totally allergic to fees.)

As long as I get the same level of service I would certainly swap, as I would save a fair bit on the commissions.

Do you have a link or could you PM me the details please?

Many thanks.

inmypocketnottheirs

I haven't heard from RetiredInThailand, so I havent been able to check their "better" offer, so for me until proven otherwise Citibank remains my choice.

If RIT you can let us know where you are getting your deal from then we can see for ourselves whether that is better than citi..

jotpilot

Just had the joining pack from Citi. They are introducing a £5 monthly fee from 29th June unless you have:

A Citigold current account OR

A Citibank Plus current account OR

Maintain on average a balance of £2000 or equivalent.

BTW, I have not found a better solution for me than I suggested earlier - i.e. build up € in this Citi account (I won't get hit by the monthly fee) and transfer via money broker for best rate when I need £.

RetiredInThailand

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

I haven't heard from RetiredInThailand, so I havent been able to check their "better" offer, so for me until proven otherwise Citibank remains my choice.

If RIT you can let us know where you are getting your deal from then we can see for ourselves whether that is better than citi..

LloydsTSB offshore.

inmypocketnottheirs

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

LloydsTSB offshore.

You didn't mention minimum balance of £2,500/€2,500/$3,500 with 0% interest! Didn't go so far as to check whether that is per currency or aggregate, but no minimum balance with Citi. Still going to check their rates on dollar and euro today.

RetiredInThailand

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

You didn't mention minimum balance of £2,500/€2,500/$3,500 with 0% interest!

Well, I wasn't asked about the minimum balance requirements. I opened my accounts with a suitable balance and I keep them that way, and I get full interest on the total balance. Maybe you are looking at the wrong account?

One shouldn't expect to get both reasonable interest and low/no charges on a tiny balance.

inmypocketnottheirs

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

Well, I wasn't asked about the minimum balance requirements. I opened my accounts with a suitable balance and I keep them that way, and I get full interest on the total balance. Maybe you are looking at the wrong account?

One shouldn't expect to get both reasonable interest and low/no charges on a tiny balance.

The rates are a lot closer than you lead us to believe.

I have just come off the phone to LTSB and against the deal I have transacted today with Citi, this is how the rates compare:

LTSB €1.1872. £1000 buys €1187.20
Citi. €1.8118. £1000 buys €1181.86
Lloyds + €5.34 = -0.45%

LTSB $1.5436. £1000 Buys $1543.60
Citi $1.5473 £1000 buys $1547.30
Citi + $3.70 = + 0.24%

Citi no minimum balance. No monthly charge. Visa debit card switchable in real time between the three accounts, £/$/€. Cheque books available. Intra account transfers free of charge on line 24 hrs plus free transfers to any other Citi accounts worldwide.

The Lloyds offshore deal is in my opinion a lesser deal.

RetiredInThailand

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

The rates are a lot closer than you lead us to believe.

I was specifically talking about booked rates, not the much worse off-the-peg rates you get when you make a general enquiry (these are the ones that commonly come with a spread of 2 or 3% or more).
Also booked rates are generally only applicable to larger sums and I doubt that GBP1000 is large enough, though it may be. Personally I would not exchange a small amount like that as the combination of charges/weighting would probably make it poor value.

For small sums I just use a credit/debit card with zero weighting.