Looking for an international account for Euro and GBP, fee-free spending, joint account

[Deleted User]

I'm looking for an account with the following features:

- Euro and GBP balances
- Fee-free ATM withdrawals in the UK and elsewhere
- Fee-free spending in the UK and elsewhere, good rate on foreign currencies
- Debit card
- Free account
- Joint account with my wife

My wife doesn't have much credit history in the UK, but I have decades of it. I have other accounts, always pay any credit card spending off in full, never use my overdraft and don't need one on this new account. I already have a Halifax Clarity card for overseas spending, but it is GBP only and I want to spend some of my Euros.

The closest I found is Chase, which seems to tick all the boxes except for supporting joint accounts and Euro balances. Revolut seems to have lots of sneaky fees, Wise is 0.35% on overseas spending. Are there any other options I missed?

[Deleted User]

I checked Starling as well, seems to tick all boxes except that you can't make non-Euro purchases with your Euro account.

wmb194

Have a look at Fineco.

https://finecobank.co.uk/public/banking/

eDicky

[Deleted User] said:

I checked Starling as well, seems to tick all boxes except that you can't make non-Euro purchases with your Euro account.

I don't think you'll find a UK account with fee-free spending in GBP from your euros, without converting them to GBP first. It's possible weekdays with Revolut but fee-free limits per month are relatively low.

With Starling Bank you can convert at the interbank rate with a reasonable 0.4% fee. Fineco UK costs less, only slightly off the interbank without (I think) fees, but their cards each relate to a single currency and maybe there's a fee for more than one.(I don't have a Fineco UK account so I'm not sure how it is with them now, but worth a look.)

wmb194

eDicky said:

[Deleted User] said:

I checked Starling as well, seems to tick all boxes except that you can't make non-Euro purchases with your Euro account.

I don't think you'll find a UK account with fee-free spending in GBP from your euros, without converting them to GBP first. It's possible weekdays with Revolut but fee-free limits per month are relatively low.

With Starling Bank you can convert at the interbank rate with a reasonable 0.4% fee. Fineco UK costs less, only slightly off the interbank without (I think) fees, but their cards each relate to a single currency and maybe there's a fee for more than one.(I don't have a Fineco UK account so I'm not sure how it is with them now, but worth a look.)

Yes, with Fineco the first debit card - a choice GBP or EUR - is free but a subsequent card has a £9.95 annual fee and conversion from GBP to EUR and vice versa incurs no additional fee. Its website UI is very strange but overall it's pretty good.

[Deleted User]

eDicky said:

[Deleted User] said:

I checked Starling as well, seems to tick all boxes except that you can't make non-Euro purchases with your Euro account.

I don't think you'll find a UK account with fee-free spending in GBP from your euros, without converting them to GBP first. It's possible weekdays with Revolut but fee-free limits per month are relatively low.

With Starling Bank you can convert at the interbank rate with a reasonable 0.4% fee. Fineco UK costs less, only slightly off the interbank without (I think) fees, but their cards each relate to a single currency and maybe there's a fee for more than one.(I don't have a Fineco UK account so I'm not sure how it is with them now, but worth a look.)

To clarify I mean I want to spend my Euros outside the Eurozone, with no fee. There are some banks that offer that.

[Deleted User]

wmb194 said:

Have a look at Fineco.

https://finecobank.co.uk/public/banking/

I had a look but they have a 0.2% fee on Euro transfers, although I suppose to be fair that is low.

It's actually kind of a pain to find a good Euro account now. Brexit seems to have made the situation worse, as it usually does. I have a KBC Ireland account, but they are closing their Irish operation at the end of January.

Daliah

[Deleted User] said:

The closest I found is Chase, which seems to tick all the boxes except for supporting joint accounts and Euro balances. Revolut seems to have lots of sneaky fees, Wise is 0.35% on overseas spending. Are there any other options I missed?

Chase does not offer Euro accounts, joint accounts, or electronic payments to accounts outside the UK. Revolut and Wise are not banks, meaning there is no FSCS protection. Fineco is good for electronic payments to and from the Eurozone and other currencies, but is a bit of a weird account where everything seems to take twice or three times as long as it does with other banks (e.g. no Faster Payments). I would say Starling is the best fit for your requirements.

[Deleted User]

Yeah, might have to settle for Starling. It's a shame because the Euro is doing better than the pound against the Yen, and I want to buy stuff in Yen.

Daliah

[Deleted User] said:

wmb194 said:

Have a look at Fineco.

https://finecobank.co.uk/public/banking/

I had a look but they have a 0.2% fee on Euro transfers, although I suppose to be fair that is low.

This must have been introduced in the last 5 weeks as I made lots of EUR to EUR, and EUR to GBP transfers at Fineco in August. Never got charged a cent  or penny. I also haven't received any notification of a change in their fees - but introducing new fees without notification might just be part of their weird operation. The major downside I found with Fineco is that getting money into and out of your account is treacle slow - everything takes 2-3 working days, which comes as a real shock if you are used to Faster Payments.

Daliah

I checked the Fineco fees, and it's all still the same as was. You can still do free EUR to EUR transfers, as well as free GBP to GBP.

The EUR to EUR Instant outgoing is an option if you need a fast / instant transfer but it only works with an EU bank which allows instant incoming transfers. Not many are doing this yet. I don't believe you can use it for instant transfers from Fineco to Starling as the service Fineco uses isn't Faster Payment but some similar EU service. AFAIK, the way this EU service has been implemented requires that you pay the sending bank (in other words, there is no free faster payment in the EU).