Need Advise-Looking for Bank Best Rates For Receiving Funds in €

wmb194

Gypsy_Tart said:

wmb194 said:

Gypsy_Tart said:

MasterplanC said:

Gypsy_Tart said:

MasterplanC said:

No experience with France, but I have used my German bank account to send money to my UK Revolut account, where you can exchange up to £1000/month for free, and then transferred it to a UK bank account.

Does your German account charge you fees for sending money to the UK? I have looked up the terms and conditions and all UK banks require proof of residence to open an account, which I do not currently have.

No, Revolut gives you an IBAN and it's a simple SEPA transfer in EUR, they have a European banking license and I think the seat is in Lithuania. I see your problem about opening a UK bank account while not living here, but from your original post it sounded like you might have an account. I think you can open Revolut account from other countries (like France), but not sure about the differences. 

Which means that your money is not safe.

BTW I do have 2 bank accounts in France; an online one and a classic one. However, both of them will charge horrendous fees for any international transfers. I'm going to investigate and see whether it's possible to open an account with Boursobank as apparently there are no fees and you can also use a UK mobile.

I still have the issue of opening a UK bank account without having proof of residency. I'm sure there must be ways around this. Surely, I'm not the only person coming back home to the UK who hasn't first purchased a home before coming back?!

Sepa transfers aren't free with them? To the banks they shouldn't look like international transfers e.g., if you use a Wise euro account they'll look like an intra-EU transfer to Belgium. In my experience with EU banks these are usually free.

I wouldn't worry too much about sending money to Wise. It should only be there for a moment before you transfer it out again and it's a profitable London listed company that's easy to research.

I'm not worried about Wise as they are regulated. However, I will not be able to use them with my current online French bank as I won't have a mobile to do the transfer. They require a French one and not an UK one.

Why can’t you keep your French mobile? Can you convert it from postpaid to prepaid and keep it? This is what I did with a foreign mobile when I moved back.

xylophone

You will be a UK resident - try Cynergy?

https://www.cynergybank.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/personal-current-account-in-euros/

Gypsy_Tart

wmb194 said:

Gypsy_Tart said:

wmb194 said:

Gypsy_Tart said:

MasterplanC said:

Gypsy_Tart said:

MasterplanC said:

No experience with France, but I have used my German bank account to send money to my UK Revolut account, where you can exchange up to £1000/month for free, and then transferred it to a UK bank account.

Does your German account charge you fees for sending money to the UK? I have looked up the terms and conditions and all UK banks require proof of residence to open an account, which I do not currently have.

No, Revolut gives you an IBAN and it's a simple SEPA transfer in EUR, they have a European banking license and I think the seat is in Lithuania. I see your problem about opening a UK bank account while not living here, but from your original post it sounded like you might have an account. I think you can open Revolut account from other countries (like France), but not sure about the differences. 

Which means that your money is not safe.

BTW I do have 2 bank accounts in France; an online one and a classic one. However, both of them will charge horrendous fees for any international transfers. I'm going to investigate and see whether it's possible to open an account with Boursobank as apparently there are no fees and you can also use a UK mobile.

I still have the issue of opening a UK bank account without having proof of residency. I'm sure there must be ways around this. Surely, I'm not the only person coming back home to the UK who hasn't first purchased a home before coming back?!

Sepa transfers aren't free with them? To the banks they shouldn't look like international transfers e.g., if you use a Wise euro account they'll look like an intra-EU transfer to Belgium. In my experience with EU banks these are usually free.

I wouldn't worry too much about sending money to Wise. It should only be there for a moment before you transfer it out again and it's a profitable London listed company that's easy to research.

I'm not worried about Wise as they are regulated. However, I will not be able to use them with my current online French bank as I won't have a mobile to do the transfer. They require a French one and not an UK one.

Why can’t you keep your French mobile? Can you convert it from postpaid to prepaid and keep it? This is what I did with a foreign mobile when I moved back.

Because my plan is to move to the UK and be a resident. I have limited funds and do not want to keep anything in France unless I have to have a bank account.

Gypsy_Tart

xylophone said:

You will be a UK resident - try Cynergy?

https://www.cynergybank.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/personal-current-account-in-euros/

Do you know anything about them? Thank you.

friolento

Gypsy_Tart said:

xylophone said:

You will be a UK resident - try Cynergy?

https://www.cynergybank.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/personal-current-account-in-euros/

Do you know anything about them? Thank you.

Cynergy was previously known as Bank of Cyprus UK. They are a bonafide bank, although with a weird way to log into online banking, and nobody has reported that they are great for exchange rates, or for current accounts.

You still need a UK address to open an acct with them.

Can the friend you stay with initially add you to their utility bill as a temporary measure? Can you register on the Electoral Roll at the friend’s address?

Gypsy_Tart

friolento said:

Gypsy_Tart said:

xylophone said:

You will be a UK resident - try Cynergy?

https://www.cynergybank.co.uk/personal/current-accounts/personal-current-account-in-euros/

Do you know anything about them? Thank you.

Cynergy was previously known as Bank of Cyprus UK. They are a bonafide bank, although with a weird way to log into online banking, and nobody has reported that they are great for exchange rates, or for current accounts.

You still need a UK address to open an acct with them.

Can the friend you stay with initially add you to their utility bill as a temporary measure? Can you register on the Electoral Roll at the friend’s address?

I don't think that I can be added to her huge utility bill. I also don't think that a registration on an electoral roll would work.

HeparGirl24

I too would recommend BoursoBank.  My OH has a French pension of 33€ a month and although it was going into Bourso before we moved back to the UK, they had no problem changing the address to a UK one, even a temporary one as we moved between various relatives before finding someone permanent.  We had to get the relative to do the "Je declare sur mon honneur Monsieur  xxxx est herberge chez moi" attestation thing but that's all.

One thing to remember is that Bourso is only free if you don't have their carte bancaire or if you do, you must use it once a month on it or they charge you 5€. That's not a problem for us as we don't bother transferring such a small amount between banks anyway  - we  just spend using the CB here as there are no commission charges.

I hope you find a UK bank. We didn't have any problems when we moved back as we already had an existing UK account but our friends who moved back 3 months ago had to physically go into a branch (Lloyds I think) to open an account. 

Gypsy_Tart

HeparGirl24 said:

I too would recommend BoursoBank.  My OH has a French pension of 33€ a month and although it was going into Bourso before we moved back to the UK, they had no problem changing the address to a UK one, even a temporary one as we moved between various relatives before finding someone permanent.  We had to get the relative to do the "Je declare sur mon honneur Monsieur  xxxx est herberge chez moi" attestation thing but that's all.

One thing to remember is that Bourso is only free if you don't have their carte bancaire or if you do, you must use it once a month on it or they charge you 5€. That's not a problem for us as we don't bother transferring such a small amount between banks anyway  - we  just spend using the CB here as there are no commission charges.

I hope you find a UK bank. We didn't have any problems when we moved back as we already had an existing UK account but our friends who moved back 3 months ago had to physically go into a branch (Lloyds I think) to open an account. 

The more info I obtain, the more complicated it sounds. I have also been told that Lloyds will open an account even if you don't have a UK address.
It would seem that BoursoBank would be the best bet as they don't charge for transferring funds.

HeparGirl24

My friends said they opened a Lloyds account about a month before they moved. They were told by Lloyds that a branch visit was necessary as the bank had no other way of identifying them  - i.e not on the electoral roll and no history with the credit reference agencies. They pretended they were staying with her father temporarily who has a current account with Lloyds so maybe the family connection helped but no actual proof of them staying with him was asked for (they were actually staying in a caravan on a holiday park until their UK house completed). Her father was OK with this - he lives in a tiny flat with no room for even the proverbial cat. Their bank cards etc were delivered to his address.

Incidentally Lloyds have no problems with using French mobile numbers. My friends registered both of theirs initially and I had my own French mobile number registered with Lloyds as a power of attorney for years before I moved back. Actually I still have mine as we have relatives in France and it's free for them to call another French number! 

lon_don

HeparGirl24 said:

One thing to remember is that Bourso is only free if you don't have their carte bancaire or if you do, you must use it once a month on it or they charge you 5€. 

I hurried to check my Bourso statements after reading this and can confirm that I have not been charged anything despite not having used my (Visa Premier) card for a couple of months. Now it is a free-of-charge card that I got many years ago (post 2016 though) which at onset did not require minimum spending, which might not be on offer anymore (but still grandfathered). I actually opened this Bourso account because at the time it was the only online french bank account that could be opened and maintained with a UK address (the opening process from UK was very manual and lengthy so I would advise the OP to open it -if he wishes to do so- before leaving France).

I seem to vaguely recall that when I opened my Chase UK account they only required a UK mobile number, a scan of the passport, and a selfie, but no proof of residency (at least no such thing as a copy of utility bill or a bank statement was explicitly required). Maybe the OP could get a PAYG UK mobile number and try to open an account with Chase UK to test...? Although he might not pass a credit check if Chase does one.
Forget that, just remember the OP doesn't want an app-based only account.