EU Bank account recommendation

joelious

I need ideally a bank account in Mainland Europe
that is free, a Visa or MasterCard Debit card.
and easy path to get a credit card.

Which Country and Bank would you recommend.

grumbler

You are dreaming.

>> Euro Zone bank account for a UK resident?

Why do you need it? Why credit card?

System

joelious wrote: »

I need ideally a bank account in Mainland Europe
that is free, a Visa or MasterCard Debit card.
and easy path to get a credit card.

Which Country and Bank would you recommend.

Search this forum for DKB. It's the Deutsche Kredit Bank, Berlin. It offers a Visa credit card which you are encouraged to put into credit. This can be used to withdraw euro, free, in the eurozone (and, for that matter, GBP at the unloaded Visa exchange rate in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Gibraltar, and, for the present, Scotland.)

Graham1

joelious wrote: »

I need ideally a bank account in Mainland Europe

I think you will find most European countries these days will want you to travel there and apply in person. So you can't apply by post even with certified documents. Ireland is an exception - but their banks charge maintenance fees and additional fees for issuing debit cards.

Archi_Bald

You could try Britline

I haven't checked out the fees so have no opinion on them: http://www.britline.com/pdf/banking_fees_2014_principal.pdf

System

Strictly speaking Gibraltar uses the GIP not GBP.
Are they going to charge extra for Scottish ATMs?

YoungNick wrote: »

This can be used to withdraw euro, free, in the eurozone (and, for that matter, GBP at the unloaded Visa exchange rate in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Gibraltar, and, for the present, Scotland.)

darius_jedburgh

Heng_Leng wrote: »

Strictly speaking Gibraltar uses the GIP not GBP.

I'm sorry, but that is utterly wrong.

If you look on the ISO (International Standards Organisation) list of currency codes, you will find GIP listed with 'Gibraltar Pound' listed beside it. (GI is the two letter ISO country code for Gibraltar). However, no such currency exists - it is merely a 'reservation' for such in the ISO list.

The currency in Gibraltar is the Pound Sterling, exactly the same pound sterling used in the UK and elsewhere.

The Government of Gibraltar issues currency notes and coinage, but these are essentially the same as the bank notes issued by Scottish banks, they similarly notes issued backed by Bank of England deposits and denominated in Pounds Sterling.

Sadly what you will find is UK airport bureau de change offering you a chance to change Bank of England issued notes into Gibraltar notes for a 5-10% premium. This is a complete rip off - both are readily accepted in Gibraltar and have absolute parity of value, being notes issued in the same currency with absolute parity of value.
[Scottish notes are not readily accepted in Gibraltar.]

planteria

it's an interesting question.

i would expect with most banks you would need to go into a branch, but i'm not sure whether French banks, for example, will open accounts for someone with a UK address.

a Euro account we be quite useful to me, and i would rather open one with a bank in the Eurozone and keep things entirely separate.

gt94sss2

If you are a HSBC customer in the UK, they will help you open an HSBC account in Europe.

HSBC offer current accounts in France, Malta and Greece which would all operate in Euros. The Malta one appears to offer a free current account..

I presume Citibank would do something similar.

Regards
Sunil

jonesMUFCforever

darius_jedburgh wrote: »

I'm sorry, but that is utterly wrong.

If you look on the ISO (International Standards Organisation) list of currency codes, you will find GIP listed with 'Gibraltar Pound' listed beside it. (GI is the two letter ISO country code for Gibraltar). However, no such currency exists - it is merely a 'reservation' for such in the ISO list.

The currency in Gibraltar is the Pound Sterling, exactly the same pound sterling used in the UK and elsewhere.

The Government of Gibraltar issues currency notes and coinage, but these are essentially the same as the bank notes issued by Scottish banks, they similarly notes issued backed by Bank of England deposits and denominated in Pounds Sterling.

Sadly what you will find is UK airport bureau de change offering you a chance to change Bank of England issued notes into Gibraltar notes for a 5-10% premium. This is a complete rip off - both are readily accepted in Gibraltar and have absolute parity of value, being notes issued in the same currency with absolute parity of value.
[Scottish notes are not readily accepted in Gibraltar.]

Sorry but the Gibraltar pound and the English pound is not the same currency.
There is no market in the UK for Gibraltar currency so you would be stuck with it here - even if it has a picture of the Queen on the front.

LeDe_2

joelious wrote: »

I need ideally a bank account in Mainland Europe
that is free, a Visa or MasterCard Debit card.
and easy path to get a credit card.

Which Country and Bank would you recommend.

It's quite easy to open an account in Germany, Comdirect and DKB are good banks, DKB offers co-branded credit cards (Hilton HHonors for example) to foreigners, it's most likely your best bet.