Overseas Current Account

De_

Hi there,

I'm looking to open a simple current account but from overseas. I would appreciate any recommendations. Basically what I'm looking for is one which is nice and easy to set up (ideally can be done online), requires little or no initial deposit and doesn't have any monthly charge. Let me know your suggestions, thanks.

eskbanker

Are you a UK resident for tax purposes?  If so, there are plenty of options, but if not, none that I'm aware of....

Edit: just realised the thread title is 'overseas current account', are you perhaps trying to open a non-UK account?

born_again

Perhaps it might help if you explained why you want to open a O/S acc?

De_

eskbanker said:

Are you a UK resident for tax purposes?  If so, there are plenty of options, but if not, none that I'm aware of....

Edit: just realised the thread title is 'overseas current account', are you perhaps trying to open a non-UK account?

Yeah I'm trying to open a non-UK current account. I have recently gained Spanish nationality alongside British nationality so if there were a Spanish option that would be fantastic but otherwise any international one would be fine.

De_

born_again said:

Perhaps it might help if you explained why you want to open a O/S acc?

I'm going to be travelling a lot and would prefer an international account, also because of brexit uncertainty. It wouldn't be worth it though if i were having to pay extra monthly charges for it though

eDicky

In what way do you expect an 'overseas' or 'international' account to benefit you? Do you mean a euro account, or one which has no fees for transactions in various currencies, or what..?

colsten

If you are a UK resident, you can open a Starling GBP and a Starling Euro account.
If you are a Spanish resident, it's best to ask people familiar with the Spanish banks.

sal_III

Sounds like you are in the marked for a Transferwise borderless account for your travels and currency conversions and a local bank account in your local currency in your country of residence for your everyday use.

If I understand correctly you now live in Spain - get a Spanish Euro account and Transferwise borderless to hold your GBP and feed them to your Spanish Euro account if you need to. For spending while on a visit back in the UK - use the Transferwise borderless card.

colsten

sal_III said:

Sounds like you are in the marked for a Transferwise borderless account for your travels and currency conversions and a local bank account in your local currency in your country of residence for your everyday use.

If I understand correctly you now live in Spain - get a Spanish Euro account and Transferwise borderless to hold your GBP and feed them to your Spanish Euro account if you need to. For spending while on a visit back in the UK - use the Transferwise borderless card.

You should never hold money in a Transferwise account for any length of time as they have no FSCS protection. They are ok for on-the-spot transfers as they have good rates and usually fast transfer times but I would never use them to hold money for any length of time. Besides, they are not paying any interest.

sal_III

colsten said:
You should never hold money in a Transferwise account for any length of time as they have no FSCS protection. They are ok for on-the-spot transfers as they have good rates and usually fast transfer times but I would never use them to hold money for any length of time. Besides, they are not paying any interest.

Is my money protected?

The simple answer is, yes. But it's not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), instead Transferwise is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to issue electronic money.

This means that all of your money is safeguarded in a separate Barclays or Wells Fargo account, and so if Transferwise were to go bust you'd get your money back, however, if the bank holding your cash went bust you'd lose it - though this is of course highly unlikely.

DCFC79

Just open a Starling account, when more is known about Brexit then you can make a decision then as to if you need another/a better option. Its not good to have your money in 1 account, should spread it around.