EU Bank account recommendation

benjus

planteria wrote: »

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.

As suggested above, Britline will let you open a French bank account by post with a UK address. It's really just a branch of Credit Agricole where the staff deal with UK clients. It has the advantage that the staff speak English (although the online banking is the standard Credit Agricole online banking, in French).

It's not free though - about €0.55 monthly fee for the basic account with a cheque book, and further fees for debit and credit cards.

darius_jedburgh

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

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.

You clearly don't know what you are talking about.

Government of Gibraltar issued notes and Bank of England issued notes are both denominated in exactly the same currency - the Pound Sterling.

They are notes in the same currency merely from different issuers, just like the Scottish bank notes (although the legal basis for issue is slightly different - the backing basis is similar).

Your statement "There is no market in the UK for Gibraltar currency" is devoid of any meaning.

Firstly, as I've just explained, they are bank notes deonminated in the SAME currency - the Pound Sterling.

Secondly, there is nothing legally stopping anyone who chooses to from accepting a Gibraltar issued note in the UK, however there are no circumstances where anyone is under an obligation to do so - as it is not legal tender, Bank of England issued notes are the only notes that are legal tender in England and Wales (and no notes are legal tender in Scotland).

Please do not comment on things when you don't know what you are talking about.

bob792

darius_jedburgh wrote: »

You clearly don't know what you are talking about.

Your statement "There is no market in the UK for Gibraltar currency" is devoid of any meaning.

Firstly, as I've just explained, they are bank notes deonminated in the SAME currency - the Pound Sterling.

Secondly, there is nothing legally stopping anyone who chooses to from accepting a Gibraltar issued note in the UK

Please do not comment on things when you don't know what you are talking about.

You are being very judgmental about someone who has been thanked by other forum users over 7,000 times more than you have and you haven't actually contradicted the point made.

So ......... in your experience of using Gibraltar issued notes in the UK, who have you found that will actually take them?

grumbler

darius_jedburgh wrote: »

Secondly, there is nothing legally stopping anyone who chooses to from accepting a Gibraltar issued note in the UK,

Is there anything legally stopping anyone from accepting €? USD? Bitcoins?

SuperHan

grumbler wrote: »

Is there anything legally stopping anyone from accepting €? USD? Bitcoins?

No, in fact some retailers do.

agrinnall

bob792 wrote: »

You are being very judgmental about someone who has been thanked by other forum users over 7,000 times more than you have and you haven't actually contradicted the point made.

So ......... in your experience of using Gibraltar issued notes in the UK, who have you found that will actually take them?

It's a very good question bob, but given the infrequency of darius' posts we may never know the answer (well, we all know the answer really, but it would be interesting to see a defence of his position).

darius_jedburgh

grumbler wrote: »

Is there anything legally stopping anyone from accepting €? USD? Bitcoins?

Nothing what so ever. As SuperHan points out, plenty of shops will have people spending in Euro, and quite a number will also accept USD.

Although all of those are different currencies.

The point is that once you are talking in a specific currency, there are then two aspects - the value in that currency, and the method used to transfer/carry that value.

Government of Gibraltar issued notes and Bank of England issued notes, and Clydesdale Bank issued notes (etc), all are denominated in values of the same currency.

darius_jedburgh

bob792 wrote: »

You are being very judgmental about someone who has been thanked by other forum users over 7,000 times more than you have

Well from post statistics they post here far more than I do so it is only natural that they have far more opportunities to be thanked. I would not care to comment upon whether they have posted on other maters that they are actually wrong about, I've not reviewed all their posts, however in this case the answer is wrong - and the poster clearly has an incorrect understanding of the relevant legal matters.

and you haven't actually contradicted the point made.

benjus: "Gibraltar pound and the English pound is not the same currency"
me: "...are both denominated in exactly the same currency..."

- I think that is a contradiction?

As I said, the other point 'no market' is devoid of meaning.

So ......... in your experience of using Gibraltar issued notes in the UK, who have you found that will actually take them?

There is very low familiarity with them. I'd say it the level of familiarity is close to that with CI or IoM notes, but a bit less - either way it is orders of magnitude of familiarity away from Northern Ireland notes, which themselves have slightly less (in England) familiarity than Scottish Notes.

Accordingly, knowing there is low level of familiarity and accordingly very low desire to receive, I rarely use any of them.

That said, have I used Government of Gibraltar issued notes in UK high street retail banks? Certainly, although rarely. In shops - never tried. In pubs - only when it was spotted in my wallet and the bar wanted it for novelty value (or when it was a friend who had familiarity with them).

I would certainly never advocate that people purposefully go about attempting to use them, no party would ever have an obligation to accept them, also there is very little familiarity, so it is certainly 'being awkward' towards the other party - and it is perfectly fair and legitimate for the other party not to want them.

My point about 'there being noting to stop people accepting them' (note the way around that is written), was to convey the point that they are denominated in exactly the same currency.

darius_jedburgh

agrinnall wrote: »

It's a very good question bob, but given the infrequency of darius' posts we may never know the answer (well, we all know the answer really, but it would be interesting to see a defence of his position).

Apologies that I don't live on MSE!

The facts remain:
GIP is an entry in the ISO table, however no such currency actually exists. (In physical or any other form, nobody has a bank account in GIP - it does not exist, it is merely a reservation for such).

Government of Gibraltar issued notes are denominated in exactly the same currency as Bank of England issued notes - the Pound Sterling (GBP).

Accordingly benjus is wrong to say they are different currencies. They are different issues of notes denominated in the same currency.

And the simplistic 'pictures of the queen of them' style of response I consider a bit flippant for the more detailed explanation in the post that it was in reply to.

Hazzanet

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/gibraltar/money