Opening Euro Savings Account

newage27

I'm after some advice please, I get married next year in Ireland am I thinking about opening a Euro savings account now and depositing a lump sum, hopefully getting the timing right and getting more Euros for my pound.
Of course I want to pay as little commission and charges as possible and have fairly easy access to my money in Dublin for when we have to start paying out for things, my fiancée’s family all still live in Ireland, maybe it would be easier to ask them to open an account and for us to pay money in, but again I'm not sure about charges and commission.

Any recommendations appreciated! And if anyone has a crystal ball and knows whether the exchange rate will be better now or next year even better!!

Nick_C

Don't know how they compare for Euro accounts, but Nationwide International offer a good US$ account operated from the Isle of Man. NI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nationwide Building Society. They are currently paying 4.05% on Euro accounts. FSA guarantees don't apply.

Euro savings accounts generally pay low rates of interest. For example, www.halifax.ie only offer 4% on two year fixed.

Are you confident that the Euro will rise against the £? I think the £ is quite weak against the Euro, would not expect it to fall further. May be worth keeping your money in a high interest sterling account?

lolarentt

I have had a euro account with Cater Allen (part of Abbey, and therefore Santander now) for many years. There is no charge/commission for moving sterling to euros, and you don't need a sterling account with them to operate a euro account (you can just transfer from your usual current a/c or pay in cheques. As with all euro accounts there is not much interest as this is controlled by the euro currency regulators in EC. You get a euro debit/Visa card which is acceptable everywhere, chip&pin etc. I did try a Citibank euro account some years ago but this was a pain!
If you want to move bigger amounts to euro DON'T use the big banks (although they will try and encourage you to do so). You will only get an ER around the tourist rate and also pay charges. If you use one of the specialist foreign exchange people you will get something close to the business rate and money credits within 48 hours, plus there are NO transfer charges. I have recently had very good service from RationalFX (www.rationalfx.com), but there are many others - HIFX (hifx.co.uk), worldfirst.com. You need to be moving a minimum of £5000 usually. Hope this is of help to you! ER has moved down with the Northern Rock debacle - I was getting 1.48/9 a few weeks ago but it's down to 1.44 today - so I'd suggest waiting till it gets back up a bit.

newage27

Thanks for your suggestions and advice, will wait and see what happens with the rate over the next couple of months.

influence

Is Carter Allen really good? There were some review that I read back then that they start have hidden charges. Not too sure about their service as well. How do you normally do your pay in and pay out? via abbey bank?

Is Carter Allen an offshore bank? What does it differ from say abbey?

Thanks

lolarentt

influence wrote: »

Is Carter Allen really good? There were some review that I read back then that they start have hidden charges. Not too sure about their service as well. How do you normally do your pay in and pay out? via abbey bank?

Is Carter Allen an offshore bank? What does it differ from say abbey?

Thanks

When I first opened a euro account with them (24 years ago now I look it up!) they were called 'Tyndall' and independant, based in Bristol. Abbey took over Cater Allen 10 years or so ago, and now of course Santander. They call themselves a Private Bank. http://www.caterallen.co.uk/PrivateBanking/Default.aspx?pid=3

There are no charges to my euro account when I move money in sterling into the account (from other banks, cheques etc) and of course no add-ons when I use my card abroad as the money's in euros anyway! Only criticism would be that they have been slow in getting into online banking BUT I have had a letter this week announcing "the long anticipated launch of Internet Banking" so hopefully that's sorted now!

Best thing about them is the service - you get to talk to real people in England who are helpful when you ring up (they'll look into things, ring you back, and do all the servicey things banks used to do in former times). I'm afraid I get stroppy about rubbish service, 'standard' letters from banks that don't answer the question, charges, mistakes, and all the sort off stuff the big boys chuck at us these days, and I close accounts and move on when I've had enough. Over the last 20 years I've been with Natwest, RBS, Bank of Scotland (who were great until they merged with Halifax, now they're rubbish) and First Direct (who haven't upset me in the last 5 years!), so for me to have stayed with Cater Allen for this long must say something for the service - hope it continues!

influence

In fact, i believe it must have been a good bank for the past years. Probably santander has made their service down the drain.

Shall try to check with them. I always like the personal touch in a banking service. Actually quite hate it the way HSBC does. Too many automated machines but less and less counters.