Looking for a premium and international(ly capable) bank

jmedwards

Greetings

I currently bank with the Halifax and I have been a happy customer for more than a decade.

However, my situation today in terms of income and travel is very different compared to back then.

I need a bank with:

1. More direct customer service (pick up the phone, speak with someone)
2. Fantastic online service
3. Internationally capable - i.e. where I could hold USD in a bank account, and get access from abroad easily
4. Any other perks to make life easier a plus

For #2 I am thinking along the lines of Barclays, who have impressed me the most in terms of online service.

For #3 I am not so sure and this is where I'd like advice. My experience has been limited to the highstreet; Halifax, Barclays, Lloyds and so on. I am not familiar with the likes of Citi (their Citigold and multicurrency accounts for example seem appealing).

Are there any other banks I should be thinking of, like Citi?

InsideInsurance

None of the high street are really "premium", other than in name. You may get preferential call answering etc but ultimately its still a call centre you speak to etc

A relationship manager in these offerings is nothing more than a sales person and has no more sway over decision making than a normal call centre agent would for their non premium/ private customers.

Most banks do offer currency accounts and these come with a debit card so are as easy to access abroad as any other account but generally international transactions still attract international fees, you are effectively just protected against currency movements.

TheEffect

jmedwards wrote: »

Greetings

I currently bank with the Halifax and I have been a happy customer for more than a decade.

However, my situation today in terms of income and travel is very different compared to back then.

I need a bank with:

1. More direct customer service (pick up the phone, speak with someone)
2. Fantastic online service
3. Internationally capable - i.e. where I could hold USD in a bank account, and get access from abroad easily
4. Any other perks to make life easier a plus

For #2 I am thinking along the lines of Barclays, who have impressed me the most in terms of online service.

For #3 I am not so sure and this is where I'd like advice. My experience has been limited to the highstreet; Halifax, Barclays, Lloyds and so on. I am not familiar with the likes of Citi (their Citigold and multicurrency accounts for example seem appealing).

Are there any other banks I should be thinking of, like Citi?

I'd recommend HSBC Premier or First Direct.

First Direct gets you straight through to a human when you call them. No press 1 for this and 2 for that. Also, you can open a bank account in any country that HSBC offer, including the US/Canada etc for a fee (£50 for First Direct customers I believe).

Alternatively, HSBC Premier allows you to open accounts around the world for free, view them all and instantly transfer money between them via Global View in online banking.

CitiBank also offer accounts in the UK/USA, however I've never used them or looked at their services.

grumbler

jmedwards wrote: »

I need a bank with:

1. ...
2. ...
3. Internationally capable - i.e. where I could hold USD in a bank account, and get access from abroad easily
4. ...

Are you sure that you really need this? What's wrong with a £ account that you can use for $ purchases and/or withdrawals at a good exchange rate?

jmedwards

grumbler wrote: »

Are you sure that you really need this? What's wrong with a £ account that you can use for $ purchases and/or withdrawals at a good exchange rate?

Basically, to make sure I get a good exchange rate rather than relying on, say, my American Express at the time (plus their fee), or taking cash with me.

I suppose a fee-free debit card for a GBP account would work (if the bank provided good rates).

innovate

jmedwards wrote: »

Basically, to make sure I get a good exchange rate rather than relying on, say, my American Express at the time (plus their fee), or taking cash with me.

Having an account with the same bank in two different countries doesn't give you any guarantee whatsoever that you will get a good exchange rate, let alone the best one. Have you seen the "Top cards for spending overseas" article?

Voyager2002

jmedwards wrote: »

Basically, to make sure I get a good exchange rate rather than relying on, say, my American Express at the time (plus their fee), or taking cash with me.

I suppose a fee-free debit card for a GBP account would work (if the bank provided good rates).

No bank can protect you against exchange rate movements.

If you regularly visit the same foreign country then you could open a bank account there, and exchange money at times when you like the rate using a currency broker, transferring the proceeds to your account there. That is what I used to do.

InsideInsurance

TheEffect wrote: »

Also, you can open a bank account in any country that HSBC offer, including the US/Canada etc for a fee

How long ago was this?

When I tried to do the same with HSBC Premier 2 years ago they advised that this was no longer possible for US unless you owned property there, worked there or were about to move there.

You can hold a US$ account with HSBC but that is outside of the US so you still get hit with international transaction fees even if there is no exchange rates involved.

TheEffect

InsideInsurance wrote: »

How long ago was this?

When I tried to do the same with HSBC Premier 2 years ago they advised that this was no longer possible for US unless you owned property there, worked there or were about to move there.

You can hold a US$ account with HSBC but that is outside of the US so you still get hit with international transaction fees even if there is no exchange rates involved.

I only know one person who has used the service, and they opened the account because they were going to study there. As far as I'm aware however, you can open an account for the simple reason of you'll be travelling to the country a lot.

Apparently it's very slow to open and most people opt to open a bank account when they are in the country.

If OP wanted a US bank account, IMO they are better off just opening an account when they're next in the US at somewhere like TD, Chase, BoA. They'd have to find out which bank allows overseas addresses however.

jmedwards

Voyager2002 wrote: »

No bank can protect you against exchange rate movements.

If you regularly visit the same foreign country then you could open a bank account there, and exchange money at times when you like the rate using a currency broker, transferring the proceeds to your account there. That is what I used to do.

Yeah, I understand that - but some banks offer acces to better rates than others (i.e. compare Citi to Halifax).

grumbler

Unless you are going to play currency exchange games, i.e. buying/selling in advance when you think the gate is good, no bank will beat Visa/Mastercard rate that you can get with the right cards and that virtually repeats the interbank one.