Getting paid in euros but live in UK

njrb

Hi, I’ve been offered a new job in Dublin. I have the opportunity to move over there (I currently live in England) or work remotely and stay living where I am, with the odd trip over.  It’s a maternity cover so I’m thinking I might go out there for the year as a bit of an adventure but I’m still undecided. If I stay here though I’m clueless about the best way to handle my income. I know there will be fluctuations in the exchange rate but I’ll also probably need to set up a new bank account and possibly a way transfer my salary to my uk account? What are the best ways at the moment? Any help will be much appreciated whilst I’m deliberating and keen to make an informed decision. THANK YOU 

Daliah

You can get them to pay you into a Starling Bank Euro account. You can open that account in no time, there's no hard credit check, you get immediate app and online access, and your Mastercard debit card arrives within a few business days. You get an IBAN that you give your employer to send your money to.

You can then exchange your Euros to Pounds in seconds, at a very favourable exchange rate. Your Starling GBP account is a current account like any other UK current account (although Starling would say they are better ;-))

You get full FSCS protection up to £85K but be aware that Starling charges negative interest rates on large Euro deposits. I believe it's currently on anything above €50,000.

Marchitiello

FIneco UK would be a better alternative in terms of getting more GBP for your euro, albeit with few frustrating delays. When Starling first launched, there were 0 fees to convert into and out of the Euro account, but then they introduced fees and it became less attractive. I have tested over the last two years few times converting the same amount from Wise, Starling and Fineco, and Fineco was the one always giving me the more actual value in the converted currency. The exchange rate may be slightly worst then what is advertised by the competitor (for example 0.01 worst, but as they do not add any additional fees (the fee is built in the rate), you end up with more converted currency.

this is on their website:

PRAISETHESUN

I'd either open a local EUR account in ROI, or look into one of the options above - I've used Starling in the past but I don't know how competitive they are these days. I've also used Wise (formerly TransferWise) in the past and would recommend them for currency conversions. In any case I definitely would recommend you don't let your UK bank handle any currency conversions - that's probably the worst thing you could do!

[Deleted User]

You can open a Euro account with some UK Banks and convert when you like e.g. Barclays and HSBC.
Wise, Starling and Revolut are all options too.

eDicky

Deleted_User said:

You can open a Euro account with some UK Banks and convert when you like e.g. Barclays and HSBC.

At the cost of ~3% margin on the exchange rate.

Daliah

Deleted_User said:

You can open a Euro account with some UK Banks and convert when you like e.g. Barclays and HSBC.
Wise, Starling and Revolut are all options too.

The HSBC Euro account is pants - e.g. unfavourable exchange rate, difficult to manage. I believe they are planning to relaunch at some stage.

The Barclays one needed a minimum holding of £5K last time I looked, and can only be opened in Branch - how very 1990s 

Starling and Monzo are way easier to set up, more functional, and much easier to manage than either Barclays or HSBC. Even the somewhat clunky Fineco, which was mentioned above, is ahead of Barclays or HSBC IMO.

Neither Wise nor Revolut are UK banks - - they might be ok for the occasional money transfer but they don't have FSCS protection. Nonetheless, all three are easier to set up and more functional than HSBC and Barclays, and also easier to manage. Revolut does not have a good reputation for CS, though.

If, however, you felt you needed Branch access for some reason (that I can't think of), only HSBC and Barclays would be viable options.