Bank account for abroad ( EU )

exoticus

The account will be used for withdrawing. I will use my UK bank account to transfer the money. As far as i understood Starling Bank is one of the best , if not the best options i have? Also i have a silly question. Say i open a Starling account, is it going to be cheaper to withdraw the money in pounds and then use exchange bureau or just withdraw in the currency i need them? . Thank you in advance!

eDicky

Starling Bank is ideal for such use. But not if you withdraw your pounds and take them to a bureau for exchange.

Use the Starling debit card for payments and draw any necessary cash from an ATM, making sure that you reject any offer of 'conversion' from pounds by the ATM itself, and always select the local currency on the payment terminal if it offers the choice of billing your card in pounds.

Alexd52

As eDicky says, Starling is ideal for this, I now use it all the time when abroad, and not only in the EU.
Also, you must follow eDicky's advice on withdrawing to get the best conversion rate

exoticus

Thank you.

PRAISETHESUN

Starling, Monzo and Revolut are all excellent choices for an overseas debit card, and have basically the same functionality. Starling and Monzo are current accounts with FSCS protection, whilst Revolut only has an e-money licence so has your money ring-fenced in a Barclays account (supposedly). Starling is my choice primarily due to there being no withdrawal limit for cash at the moment - the others start to charge a small % fee after exceeding £2-300 in a 30 day period.

agrinnall

If you want a bank with a physical presence then Metro is a good option for fee-free cash withdrawls in the EU. I believe you can now open an axxount online rather than having to go to a branch, and while most branches are still in and around London I noticed recently that one was about to open in Solihull.