Irish Pension

bucketman

Could someone offer me some advice please, I am based in the Uk and I am paid a Irish pension, this is transferred into my uk bank account and I am loosing quite a bit on currency conversion each month, does anyone know if I could open a euro bank account in Ireland here in the uk? or open in a euro account here in the uk that doesn't cost me money in bank charges or currency conversion?

kidmugsy

I don't know. As a suggestion, are there any banks that operate both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland?

As a second suggestion: I have a vague memory of once enquiring and being told you can have a Euro account easily at Barclays.

xylophone

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/PA_esf-ca-app-content/content/pws/content/personal/pdfs/international-personal-account-price-list.pdf

JezR

Unless you have some expenditure in euro the money will need to be converted at some time. Or is the issue that the bank you are in seems to have a particularly poor rate?

bucketman

Yes, it is a bad rate and being paid into a sterling account, I was wondering if one of the banks here could give me a euro rate and let it build up to do a better rate transfer, Im losing around £30 a month which is quite a bit.

JezR

According to welfare.ie Irish pensions cannot be paid into UK-based euro accounts. You would need to be looking for an account based in the eurozone. Some Irish banks do permit accounts for UK residents, but according to posts in the relevant forum here, they require it to be opened in person at a branch in Ireland.

You might investigate whether another UK bank would have a lesser fee. The cost probably lies with their agent in the middle, which often have a minimum charge.