Barclays Foreign Currency Account

rajeshk4u

I wanted to open a Euro (and or multi-currency account).

Mainly for savings purposes (not that they are paying any interest). At some points, I may want to transfer the foreign currency back to Pounds if needed.

Barclays say I need a UK bank account, to open their euro/foreign currency account.

If I transfer Pounds to another currency, do Barclays give me market rates for transfers?

I can't see what Barclays charge?

I dont know if there is a another bank, which offers what I want to do.

dont_use_vistaprint

rajeshk4u wrote: »

I wanted to open a Euro (and or multi-currency account).

Mainly for savings purposes (not that they are paying any interest). At some points, I may want to transfer the foreign currency back to Pounds if needed.

Barclays say I need a UK bank account, to open their euro/foreign currency account.

If I transfer Pounds to another currency, do Barclays give me market rates for transfers?

I can't see what Barclays charge?

I dont know if there is a another bank, which offers what I want to do.

I would stay away from Barclays for anything FX related. I had the same conversation with them, the info they gave me on FX rates and fees is totally incorrect and when I challenged the rates and fees they just blame third parties.

Why do you need EURO account here in the UK, its always better rates to sell GBP outside the UK

ColdIron

Depends on what you want it for and the sums involved but Revolut might be worth a look. You don't say you want any interest which is handy as they don't offer any. I'd echo the above advice, avoid Barclays and most other high street banks

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/prepaid-travel-cards/#revolut1

dont_use_vistaprint

Revolut is good. One particular feature I like is you get live interbank rates between FX trading hours rather than an opening spot.

This is very useful for large transactions or just planning your cash withdrawals. Outside of FX trading you get 0.5% above the interbank rate.

There is some misunderstanding about the rolling monthly cash limit , it doesn't prevent withdrawals when you hit it but charges you a 2% fee, up to your monthly limit is completely free. This is a fraction of what regular banks charge and the silly FX rates they offer.

PRAISETHESUN

I'd second Revolut. The Transferwise Bordlerless account may also be worth looking at. I'd recommend staying away from all the high streets for Forex stuff, even if they advertise "no fee" they still make their profits through an inflated exchange rate

londoninvestor

The useful thing about the Barclays euro account is that it's FSCS protected (since it's UK-domiciled), it's free to receive SEPA transfers, and it's free to make outbound SEPA transfers if you do them online.

I wouldn't recommend using Barclays for the FX conversion itself, but it's worth considering keeping the euro balance in Barclays, and just sending it to Transferwise (or Revolut or whoever) to convert it when you need to.

dont_use_vistaprint

londoninvestor wrote: »

The useful thing about the Barclays euro account is that it's FSCS protected (since it's UK-domiciled), it's free to receive SEPA transfers, and it's free to make outbound SEPA transfers if you do them online.

I wouldn't recommend using Barclays for the FX conversion itself, but it's worth considering keeping the euro balance in Barclays, and just sending it to Transferwise (or Revolut or whoever) to convert it when you need to.

Revolut is also free for SEPA and has EDPS protection for up to GBP 85,000

londoninvestor

dont_use_vistaprint wrote: »

Revolut is also free for SEPA and has EDPS protection for up to GBP 85,000

So the situation right now for Revolut is that it's an "e-money institution". The money you put into your Revolut account is required to be put in a ring-fenced account at a custodian bank. If Revolut should fail, the administrators give you back your money from that account.

That's a lot better than nothing but it's not quite the same as a deposit protection scheme. The reason is that you're reliant on Revolut actually putting the money into the ring-fenced account. If in an insolvency it turns out your money wasn't in that account, whether through accident or fraud or whatever, you won't automatically be reimbursed.

Contrast that to the FSCS (and equivalents in other countries) where the reimbursement of your deposit isn't conditional on the bank correctly following processes - you get it back (up to the £85k limit) whatever the cause of the failure was.

I said "right now" because Revolut is applying for an banking licence in the EU. Upon getting that, it would hold money as true insured deposits rather than e-money, so they would be protected by the national deposit scheme of the country where it registers. Lithuania looks to be the current favourite. So if that happens, your deposits would be protected by the Lithuanian scheme.

Regarding the "EDPS": while there is an EU directive which harmonises schemes across countries in their scope and the amount of protection, the current situation is that the schemes are still country-based. So the scheme contributed to by Polish banks won't compensate depositors in Lithuania, say. The European Commission is clear that it wants to introduce a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) which would effectively pool protection across the EU and reduce that reliance of a failing bank's depositors on the specific national scheme - but that doesn't exist yet.

So if Revolut becomes a bank in Lithuania before there's an EDIS, depositors would be dependent on the resources of the Lithuanian scheme.

I wouldn't lose sleep over having a few thousand with Revolut, or Transferwise, or similar large e-money institutions - and I use Transferwise Borderless myself - but I can see why people would prefer an FSCS-protected account if it involves minimal extra cost.

rajeshk4u

Thanks for clearing that up. I was not sure if transfer in/out with SEPA on Barclays were free or not.

I will use the combo Barclays / FX transfer as suggested.

I could not install Revolut on my older flagship smartphone. Their app will not install on an tablet (it only installs on Smartphones).

TransferWise supports multi-platform web, phone and tablet. So that was the deciding factor.

Funnily, TransferWise, have a 'compare our prices with competitors'. They beat most of the traditional banks, except for Western Union. However, Western Union have lots of 1 star reviews.

londoninvestor

rajeshk4u wrote: »

TransferWise supports multi-platform web, phone and tablet. So that was the deciding factor.

It was for me too. I think Revolut would work on my phone, but I prefer not to depend on the phone and to be able to use my PC too.

I might still get Revolut when I get round to it, (a) as a backup, (b) to get another £200 a month of free ATM withdrawals.

londoninvestor

londoninvestor wrote: »

I said "right now" because Revolut is applying for an banking licence in the EU. Upon getting that, it would hold money as true insured deposits rather than e-money, so they would be protected by the national deposit scheme of the country where it registers. Lithuania looks to be the current favourite. So if that happens, your deposits would be protected by the Lithuanian scheme.

Regarding the "EDPS": while there is an EU directive which harmonises schemes across countries in their scope and the amount of protection, the current situation is that the schemes are still country-based. So the scheme contributed to by Polish banks won't compensate depositors in Lithuania, say. The European Commission is clear that it wants to introduce a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) which would effectively pool protection across the EU and reduce that reliance of a failing bank's depositors on the specific national scheme - but that doesn't exist yet.

So if Revolut becomes a bank in Lithuania before there's an EDIS, depositors would be dependent on the resources of the Lithuanian scheme.

Update: Revolut has now got its banking licence in Lithuania, so what I described above is what will soon apply.