Being paid in Euros

Hi all. I’m looking for some advice. I’m due to start a new job in Ireland next month and they will be paying me in euros but I’m worried that my bank will make a load of money out of me. 
Is it worth changing my bank or opening an Irish bank to send the money over? 
Thanks 
Arron 

Comments

  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,597
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    edited 28 February 2021 at 11:55PM
    You don't say which bank you are with, but unless you are with Starling Bank , your concerns are probably justified.

    With Starling, you can get both, a GBP and a Euro account, so your employer can pay your salary into your Euro account. You can exchange your money into GBP at a moments notice yourself, with mid-market rates and very low charges. There is a single debit card that you can use with both, Euros and GBP, which should come in handy when you want to spend in Ireland.

    Beware, Starling are charging negative interest on Euro balances greater than €50,000.

    No need to give up your existing bank, as you can have as many current accounts as you like.

  • maxsteam
    maxsteam Posts: 718
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    edited 1 March 2021 at 3:25AM
    You should definitely not close your UK bank account but, yes, if you have euros paid into the UK bank account, the transaction will be processed but you will be charged fees (perhaps 5%?). I would suggest that you find out how much these fees are with your first salary and, in the meantime, complete the process to open a bank account with a high street Irish bank. I expect that you will have outgoings in both Euros and pounds so you do not want to, for example, have Euros paid into the UK bank account and converted into pounds then withdraw Euros from an Irish ATM using your UK bank card and have to pay to have the money converted back. Two mainstream accounts will be useful to you but you will not be able to open a mainstream Irish account until you can visit a branch with proof of an Irish address. You may have to manage with just a UK account for a few weeks. I am unsure about the current rules for offshore accounts but, in my view, as you will soon have the chance to open a proper Irish bank account, you should not bother with an offshore account.
  • colsten
    colsten Posts: 17,597
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    edited 1 March 2021 at 9:25AM
    Whatever you do, do not use any mainstream banks for exchanging your Euros into GBP. 

    I also wouldn’t bother with trying to get an Irish bank account when it is dead straight forward to get a Euro account with Starling.
  • PRAISETHESUN
    PRAISETHESUN Posts: 3,681
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    edited 1 March 2021 at 9:45AM
    There's no reason you can't have multiple accounts so I'd leave your existing GBP account(s) open. If you're going to be living and working in IRE then it makes sense to open a local Irish account to receive EUR payments from your new employer. If you insist on using a UK (GBP) account to receive EUR then you're going to lose out not only on the exchange rate to convert to GBP, but also with fees to receive the payments. Starling is a good choice if you want to keep a UK-based account, otherwise it'd be worthwhile having a look at what is available in IRE.


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