working abroad and getting paid into my uk account, bad exchange rate.

seabass106

Hi Guys,
I have just started working in Norway and get paid into my UK Lloyds bank account, i pay the monthly £7 transfer fee but i have just noticed that i am getting a terrible exchange rate which i am loosing out on around £150 per month.
Does anyone know of an account that gives you good exchange rates or an international bank account?
There is an HSBC ex pat account but you need to have £25k in it so thats a non starter.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

benjus

I think you need to give some more information...

What currency are you being paid in? Are you losing out on the transfer of your salary into your account, or on spending money with your debit card in Norway?

If you're being paid in local currency, why not just open a local account?

If you're being paid in GBP and you're complaining about poor exchange rates for using your debit card, would it be an option to open a Metro Bank account (you'll have to come to London to do it though)? The N & P Gold Classic/Light could be options as well.

seabass106

Sorry for the lack of info as just joined this site.
I work in Norway for a Norwegian company and get paid in NOK (norwegian Krone) i live in the UK and my salary gets transferred from my company to my Lloyd's account, i pay the £7 international transfer fee but i noticed that the exchange rate is always bad. For example the exchange rate was 8.4 NOK to the pound but my bank gave me nearly 8.8 NOK.
Does this help?

grumbler

See http://www.mycurrencytransfer.com/money-transfer-to-UK/10000-NOK for NOK->£ transfers options. If the rate is better, then the only way to cut charges is to open an account in NOK and to have your salary paid into it.

macman

This doesn't make sense to me. If you work in Norway, are you not incurring most of your living costs in Krone (rent, food, fuel etc)? If so, and your salary is going 100% straight over to your UK account, how are you paying your bills in Norway? Surely you must then need a local account regardless of ex rates?
You say you work in Norway but live in the UK? Does that mean that you commute weekly or similar?

grumbler

An oil platform would be my guess or some job that can be done online. Does this really matter?

jennifernil

Running a bank account in Norway can be expensive, most charge for every transaction.

If the OP is working offshore, then he would not be in Norway to open an account anyway.

seabass.....I think you may well find Nationwide will give you a better deal than Lloyds.

They do their transfers via HSBC and do not charge a separate fee to receive money. I would expect the exchange rate to be as good as or better than Lloyds.