Euro Account in the UK?

StudentAbroad_2

Hi

I will be living in France for a few months next year and will be paid in euros. I have been told however that the payments need to be made into a UK bank account.

I currently just have a standard Natwest savings account, which would charge me to convert the euros into sterling and then would charge me again to convert them back again when drawing euros out in France.

Does anyone know of any UK (euro?) accounts where I could avoid all these charges?

Thanks.

trikidy

Hello, I'm a tad confused. Why would a French company, I presume, pay you in euros as that is their currency, but insist on paying it into a UK account? Can you not get paid via a different method? Such as a cheque?
I'm not aware of a UK account that would freely accept a different currency, but it may be worth investigating why it has to be a UK account.

calypso_rhapsody

Look at Citibank? I can't recall the exact charges but it was the lowest cost when i was looking around for a Euro account. Only problem I've got is that i can't change my PIN as i live no-where near a Citibank machine ... but i can withdraw money from any Euro Visa machine if i remember the number!

bowlhead99

I use citi for dollar and euro current accounts. They do have a monthly fee of £5 for each of them if you don't also have one of their premium accounts (there is a 'plus' GBP current account at £8pm or a 'gold' one for something higher).

It used to be the case that if you just had foreign currency savings accounts with them and not currency accounts, you could avoid the fee. Don't know if that still works, but if you're living in France I suspect you'll want a Euro account with the debit card anyway.

Citi are OK, I've never thought much of the customer service but the account features are decent and the online stuff works OK.

calypso_rhapsody

The monthly fee is only payable if your average balance is below a certain figure - not sure what it is now but it may not apply in your case?

bowlhead99

Yes the minimum is the currency equivalent of GBP 2000, if you aren't already paying for Plus or Gold. It's a monthly average account balance, so you can drop below it, if most of the time you're sufficiently above it to keep your average.

New T&Cs from the end of this month are here: http://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/banking/info/termsandconditions/novfc.htm?merchant=citi