TSB customer looking for new account. Please help!!

zerog

As the UK does not use the Euro, you will find it hard to get what you want.

UK-based Euro accounts only permit bank transfers. I believe Citibank is the only UK bank which will give you a Euro debit card. No UK banks will allow deposits or withdrawals of Euro cash. There is one ATM in London which will let you withdraw Euros without DCC to GBP

HSBC offers a Euro account but I don't think this comes with a card. The only other banks I think are some of the Northern Irish ones, and private banking ones which would require perhaps €100.000 deposit

There will be no insurance or cashback on UK-based Euro accounts.

SurfKing

ChrisNY wrote: »

Hello to everybody.

I have opened a current account with TSB last November since it was the only bank which accepted to open a full current account with debit card using only my EU passport.

Now I would like to move to another bank since i need to use both GBP and EURO and TSB does not provide such an option.

My needs :

1. Current account in GBP (already have with TSB)
2. Current account in EURO
3. Debit card for both currencies in order to avoid FX charges while traveling within EURO countries.
4. Internet banking in order to check and operate both accounts.

No overdraft is needed and no checks or credit cards.

The things stated above are the minimum. Any additional services , offers , promotions will be highly appreciated.


I am holder of EU passport and the only proof of address i can provide for the moment is the current TSB bank account statement and a mobile phone utility bill since i am staying as a guest at my girlfriend's house while searching for a job in the UK.

Thanks for reading and sorry for my poor english.

Chris

Hi Chris!

Wow, you've had quite a few impatient responses on here! Hopefully I'll be able to help a little more as this is something I've been doing some research on recently as I'll be moving abroad soon.

I can see the appeal of having all of your money "under one roof", but every time I look into it I always find that it's better to simply run different currency accounts in they own countries.

There is the option of Citibank, but its website isn't very clear on exactly what the charges are for moving money between currency accounts, especially about what kind of rate you'll get. There's also Lloyds Bank International, but again while they state that the don't charge for international transfer, they make no mention of whether you'll get a market exchange rate or a worse rate set by them.

Lloyds requires that you have a salary of £50,000 per year or over to open an account. Both Citibank and Lloyds Bank International offer debit cards in Pounds, Euros and US Dollars. However, neither current account (in Pounds at least) is very competitive with accounts available at other banks like TSB, so unless you're currently paying a monthly fee for your Euro account back home, you'd probably be best keeping your Pounds and Euro accounts separate and looking for the best deals on them at separate banks in the UK and back home. Also, as someone else has noted, your rental clients might incur charges for paying money to a Euro account in the UK.

ChrisNY_2

I would like to thank you for your prompt answers.

As stated in my previous posts i never do currency conversions using banks , i only use transferwise service so i won't have to pay such fees.

The cost to send money from my origin EU country to UK is less than half(0.5) EURO per time so this is not a problem in my case. I send the money to transferwise service in EURO using web banking and they make the conversion and credit my GBP account in few days.

My initial thought was to have all my money in the country i live , i dont know why but i feel more safe like this. Furthermore my origin country is not Luxembourg or Germany but Greece and this is an additional reason not wanting to keep my savings in Greek banks.

I travel a lot within EU and i definitely need a debit card connected to a EURO account in order to withdraw money or pay my daily expenses without paying any conversion fees.

So i definitely need a bank account in EURO and another in GBP.

In the begining I thought that i could have a bank account in the same bank in the UK with 2 curencies connected to the same debit card and choose each time in which currency i would like to pay in order make my life easier but i dont know if this is possible.

The second thougth is to have a bank account in EURO in a UK bank and have a EURO debit card in order to use while traveling outside the UK and also to be able to transfer my money from my origin bank to UK using the same currency avoiding this way any converssion fees.

If we follow this scenario i can accept any bank in the UK which you believe is reliable in order to open an account in EURO and issue a debit card in order to use while traveling within EU.

At the same time i would like your advices in order to check the options i have for a "better" current account in GBP compared to the classic current account i have in TSB. If the account type i have is the best in the Island i have no reason to change. But if you believe that there better options i would like to check them. I do not care about the monthly interest , i only care about better promotions , cash back , insurance , or joining bonus.

While reading the posts , nobody has said anything about Barclays.
Is there any problem with them?

Thanks for reading

Chris

System

If you had problems opening accounts recently with other banks - what makes you believe that this will be suddenly be resolved?

ChrisNY_2

Heng_Leng wrote: »

If you had problems opening accounts recently with other banks - what makes you believe that this will be suddenly be resolved?

Have you read the previous posts?
When arrived i did not have a proof of address in order to be accepted from the majority of the banks so i went with TSB which only requested a passport.

Now i get a monthly statement from TSB mailed to me so i have proof of address. Furthermore i can exchange my current EU driver license to a UK one in order to have one extra document but from what i read , most of the banks will accept a mailed bank statement as proof of address.

grumbler

ChrisNY wrote: »

At the same time i would like your advices in order to check the options i have for a "better" current account in GBP compared to the classic current account i have in TSB. If the account type i have is the best in the Island i have no reason to change. But if you believe that there better options i would like to check them. I do not care about the monthly interest , i only care about better promotions , cash back , insurance , or joining bonus.

• Best Bank Accounts
• Best Premier Current Accounts

SurfKing

ChrisNY wrote: »

I would like to thank you for your prompt answers.

As stated in my previous posts i never do currency conversions using banks , i only use transferwise service so i won't have to pay such fees.

The cost to send money from my origin EU country to UK is less than half(0.5) EURO per time so this is not a problem in my case. I send the money to transferwise service in EURO using web banking and they make the conversion and credit my GBP account in few days.

My initial thought was to have all my money in the country i live , i dont know why but i feel more safe like this. Furthermore my origin country is not Luxembourg or Germany but Greece and this is an additional reason not wanting to keep my savings in Greek banks.

I travel a lot within EU and i definitely need a debit card connected to a EURO account in order to withdraw money or pay my daily expenses without paying any conversion fees.

So i definitely need a bank account in EURO and another in GBP.

In the begining I thought that i could have a bank account in the same bank in the UK with 2 curencies connected to the same debit card and choose each time in which currency i would like to pay in order make my life easier but i dont know if this is possible.

The second thougth is to have a bank account in EURO in a UK bank and have a EURO debit card in order to use while traveling outside the UK and also to be able to transfer my money from my origin bank to UK using the same currency avoiding this way any converssion fees.

If we follow this scenario i can accept any bank in the UK which you believe is reliable in order to open an account in EURO and issue a debit card in order to use while traveling within EU.

At the same time i would like your advices in order to check the options i have for a "better" current account in GBP compared to the classic current account i have in TSB. If the account type i have is the best in the Island i have no reason to change. But if you believe that there better options i would like to check them. I do not care about the monthly interest , i only care about better promotions , cash back , insurance , or joining bonus.

While reading the posts , nobody has said anything about Barclays.
Is there any problem with them?

Thanks for reading

Chris

If you switch your GBP bank account from TSB to Halifax you will get a £100 switching bonus and they'll also pay you £5 per month, see their website for details.

There was one account I had forgotten about - Google "Cater Allen Euro Account" (I can't post links since this is a new account). Cater Allen is a private bank owned by Santander and they might be able to meet your needs.

jonesMUFCforever

OP if you are not a UK resident or have not been here for 3 years you are likely to only be offered basic accounts with most banks.
Certainly there are no free Euro accounts to be had.

System

See the post by jonesMUFCforever for more info.

ChrisNY wrote: »

Have you read the previous posts?
When arrived i did not have a proof of address in order to be accepted from the majority of the banks so i went with TSB which only requested a passport.

Now i get a monthly statement from TSB mailed to me so i have proof of address. Furthermore i can exchange my current EU driver license to a UK one in order to have one extra document but from what i read , most of the banks will accept a mailed bank statement as proof of address.

ChrisNY_2

SurfKing wrote: »

If you switch your GBP bank account from TSB to Halifax you will get a £100 switching bonus and they'll also pay you £5 per month, see their website for details.

There was one account I had forgotten about - Google "Cater Allen Euro Account" (I can't post links since this is a new account). Cater Allen is a private bank owned by Santander and they might be able to meet your needs.

I will check the second option.
Many thanks