Opening a Euro Account in the UK

szikor

Well I'm really struggling here...

Used to have a free German account with one of the Sparkasse's, however closed down unceremoniously when they decided to charge a €5 monthly maintenance fee a few years back.

Since then, DKB and Commerzbank (similar online account as DKB) turned me down, my guess is they systematically reject every non-resident, as they want to make money on the credit card that comes with the account (no longer optional!), and as a foreigner you would not be eligible for one, because of the lack of German credit history.

Same story with Keytrade, my guess is I was too honest on the application form about the amount of expected transactions

Tried my luck in Ireland: made an appointment online with AIB in Dublin, explained them why I need the account, and I was told that I don't really need an Irish account so they can't offer me one...
Then at Dublin Airport I stumbled upon a Bank of Ireland branch, here's how it went:
- Do you offer a current account to non-residents?
- Yes, but you have to work at the airport (!!!!!!??? If I was working at Dublin Airport chances are I'm a resident)... I mean you have to have a reason to open an account in Ireland.
- Thanks, have a nice day.

They don't seem like a very helpful bunch to be honest.

Now in the UK I don't bank with Barclays, HSBC or Citi and honestly do not intend to.

So why I need a Euro account: I receive occasionally payments from various Eurozone countries, nothing big, couple of thousands a year max. and I don't want my bank to turn it into GBP at a !!!!!! rate I'd rather have it in EUR and transferwise it once or twice a year or spend it when I'm travelling in Europe.
For this what I need is free SEPA in/out, with minimal or no monthly fee, maybe a debit card, but I can manage without one.

Now permanenttsb seems good, if the opening is really that straightforward, but the €12 quarterly is a bit steep, it would wipe out the benefits of having a EUR account :S

So if I missed something or someone has a suggestion it would be much appreciated.

szikor

Sorry it was Comdirect not Commerzbank

bowlhead99

I have a Eur acct with Citi although I don't really use it other than putting some Eur in it if I have some European travelling to do and want to be able to spend euros on the debit card, and not worry about converting the leftovers back to GBP if I don't want to.

It doesn't cost me anything to run, because I've already got GBP and USD accounts with them. But I haven't checked transaction prices for transfers out recently - the money either goes out by transfer to my GBP account or by spending or withdrawing on the debit card. You can link the debit card to whichever currency current account you want, in an instant.

Maintaining an account isn't free, but then why should it be. You are asking them to help you manage your 'occasional receipts' of a couple of thousand max which you want to flip around between currencies at your leisure and ping in and out of the account for free at will. The currency you want to do it in is not the currency of the country in which you're living. What is possibly in it for them, if they don't charge you a fee, and you aren't going to give them all your banking business or open an account with €50k minimum to give them some serious fx commission?

If you baulk at paying €12 a quarter because it would wipe out all your potential FX savings and efficiencies... see it from their angle - the service is not even worth €3 a month to you? So what can it possibly be worth for them, to set you up as a new customer, compliance and money laundering checks, customer service infrastructure, issuing plastic cards and statements, letting you fire cash all around the world and out of a hole in the wall or directly into a retailer's bank account whenever you like and in whatever denominations.

If you "don't bank with [certain banks] and quite honestly do not intend to" you're perhaps cutting off your nose to spite your face. Take a look and see if they can help. If they can't, or are too expensive, fair enough. A bank relationship is only going to work out well long term if it's mutually beneficial. If you don't want to give them enough money for it to be worthwhile for them to help you, they won't help you. If you don't want to give them any money because you find some of their practices morally objectionable, you won't get any sort of service. So, you will be stuck with your current default solution of paying high transaction fees and not being able to maintain balances in Euros.

Thanks for the comments on the other banks you tried, always interesting to know what is out in the market. But bottom line, if you have a thousand euro that you want to keep for a better exchange rate later, and you don't want to pay for a euro account, your choices are going to be limited. You can try to work in cash. You can request that people sending you EUR send you GBP instead and give them the fx risk and cost. You can take the bank's naff standard rates and receive EUR as GBP but then place some spreadbets on the future exchange rate movements to allow you to benefit from EUR currency gains. You can become a resident of France. Whatever you do, will have some sort of cost. Most of us for a thousand euros here or there wouldn't try to overcomplicate it.

Porcupine

One alternative angle to suggest is to look at accounts at the FX brokers. They aren't bank accounts, so aren't intended for pinging money about here and there, but do allow you to collect money before doing exchanges at a time that suits you.

The downside is that FX brokers aren't as well regulated as banks, so there's more risk to your money if they go bust. However if you're only pinging around a thousand or two at a time your losses are limited to that.

cepheus

JohnRo wrote: »

If UKIP got their way it'd be a capital offence....

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Unless you are Farage with his EU payments, who would get his German wife to help him out with this next one!

innovate wrote: »

.... You have to speak German, too, if you want to have an account with them.
http://www.dkb.de/privatkunden/dkb_cash/produktinfo/ausland/dkb_cash_weltweit/index.html?affiliate=ntzint&referer=28269.NETZEFFEKT_sem_WW001

planteria

if UKIP got their way we would have more Pounds, Dollars & Euros to need to bank, or spend:beer:
will the likes of Societe Generale, BNP Paribas or Rabobank open Euro current accounts for UK residents?

Paula63

Hello, sorry but I've never used anything like this before but I have a question please.
Where can I get, in the UK, a Euro account. Don't need to deposit cash, transactions would be electronic. Want to reduce currency changing fees. Not worried about interest. Would prefer no account charges. Thank You

slopemaster

Hard to find one without fees these days.

Barclays have one, but you have to first have a sterling current a/c with them, and you have to go into a branch to open the euro account.

I've no personal experience of it.