Opening a Euro Account

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ZacharyJohn
ZacharyJohn Posts: 27 Forumite
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in Flights, currency & car hire
Hi,

I go on holiday no more than twice a year (mostly within Europe) but I hate having to carry around a load of cash for the duration.

I was wondering whether it might be worth opening a personal Euro account... is that plausible / are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?

Obviously it would need to come with a debit card - I had a quick look online and only found the Santander Gold Bank Account that seemed to fit the bill. Does anyone know of any others I might’ve missed?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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  • eDicky
    eDicky Posts: 6,574 Forumite
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    edited 26 January 2019 at 2:13PM
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    No, for that purpose it's not worth opening a euro account. Simply use suitable 'travel' credit or debit cards that convert your pounds to euros at the ideal rate with no fees when you use them to pay or withdraw cash. A Starling Bank account is currently the most useful and popular.

    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/


    Always pay in euros if the payment terminal offers the choice to be billed in pounds, and refuse any exchange rate offered by an ATM by selecting 'Without Conversion' or similar. (Because your card needs to make the conversion at the ideal rate.) Some Spanish banks charge an ATM withdrawal fee, others don't (yet).
    Evolution, not revolution
  • InMaHeart
    InMaHeart Posts: 5 Forumite
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    eDicky wrote: »
    Always pay in euros if the payment terminal offers the choice to be billed in pounds, and refuse any exchange rate offered by an ATM by selecting 'Without Conversion' or similar. (Because your card needs to make the conversion at the ideal rate.) Some Spanish banks charge an ATM withdrawal fee, others don't (yet).


    ah! i thought it will be better to pay in pounds so the exchange rate will be done by the english bank/Credit Card provider! thanks for the tip :T
  • benjus
    benjus Posts: 5,433 Forumite
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    InMaHeart wrote: »
    ah! i thought it will be better to pay in pounds so the exchange rate will be done by the english bank/Credit Card provider! thanks for the tip :T

    The ATMs often try quite hard to make it look like paying in the card's currency rather than the local currency is the better option. In reality they are making a tidy little profit from this, which is why they try to lead people down that route.
    Let's settle this like gentlemen: armed with heavy sticks
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  • londoninvestor
    londoninvestor Posts: 1,350 Forumite
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    benjus wrote: »
    The ATMs often try quite hard to make it look like paying in the card's currency rather than the local currency is the better option. In reality they are making a tidy little profit from this, which is why they try to lead people down that route.

    In fairness I think I saw some in Spain where the markup was "only" about 2-3%. So there's just about an outside chance that with a combination of a really bad UK card, and a not-too-bad foreign ATM, the DCC option would be better.

    That should be moot for everyone here, because as MoneySavers we all have the right UK cards for foreign use, and so paying in local currency will always work out better.
  • sandbrain
    sandbrain Posts: 3 Newbie
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    edited 27 February 2019 at 6:22PM
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    ZacharyJohn wrote: »
    Hi,

    I go on holiday no more than twice a year (mostly within Europe) but I hate having to carry around a load of cash for the duration.

    I was wondering whether it might be worth opening a personal Euro account... is that plausible / are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?

    Obviously it would need to come with a debit card - I had a quick look online and only found the Santander Gold Bank Account that seemed to fit the bill. Does anyone know of any others I might’ve missed?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    My wife opened a TransferWise borderless account 3 months ago during which time it's been used a lot and we've been very impressed. Prior to this we always used the Halifax Clarity credit card and still sometimes do, but wanted a way to fix exchange rate in advance in these turbulent times, and also thought an IBAN may be useful as we have family in France. Main features:

    Uses mid-market rate; Small conversion fee depending on Currency (0.34% for GBP -> EUR); Can hold over 40 different currencies; Includes Mastercard Debit card; Up to 200GBP cash withdrawal per 30 days free, 2% charge thereafter; European IBAN; not covered by FSCS, although regulated by FCA.
  • OceanSound
    OceanSound Posts: 1,482 Forumite
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    sandbrain wrote: »
    My wife opened a TransferWise borderless account 3 months ago during which time it's been used a lot and we've been very impressed. Prior to this we always used the Halifax Clarity credit card and still sometimes do, but wanted a way to fix exchange rate in advance in these turbulent times, and also thought an IBAN may be useful as we have family in France. Main features:

    Uses mid-market rate; Small conversion fee depending on Currency (0.34% for GBP -> EUR); Can hold over 40 different currencies; Includes Mastercard Debit card; Up to 200GBP cash withdrawal per 30 days free, 2% charge thereafter; European IBAN; not covered by FSCS, although regulated by FCA.
    I have a borderless account with around a 30 GBP and 15 EUR balance. If I use transferwise borderless debit card online to pay for a ticket worth 12 EUR, will the money be debited from my EUR balance automatically? I mean, does it happen in the background seamlessly?

    Happen to see on transferwise website:
    If you're spending on your card in a currency you don't have in your account, we'll automatically convert the balance with the lowest fee, so you never have to worry.
    It seems if I make a purchase in AUD (a currency which I don't hold), then the GBP account will be debited - because the conversion fee is lower for GBP compared to EUR (0.37% versus 0.41%)
  • londoninvestor
    londoninvestor Posts: 1,350 Forumite
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    OceanSound wrote: »
    I mean, does it happen in the background seamlessly?

    Yes it does.
    OceanSound wrote: »
    It seems if I make a purchase in AUD (a currency which I don't hold), then the GBP account will be debited - because the conversion fee is lower for GBP compared to EUR (0.37% versus 0.41%)

    Correct.

    Also, putting these two scenarios together, let's say your ticket cost 20 EUR rather than 12.

    Then your whole 15 EUR balance would be spent, plus whatever amount of GBP was needed (after fees) to buy the additional 5 EUR.
  • OceanSound
    OceanSound Posts: 1,482 Forumite
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    edited 6 April 2020 at 2:47PM
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    Seems Transferwise borderless has changed:
    ATM withdrawals up to £200 / 30 days 
    to 
    ATM withdrawals up to £200 / month
    Screenshot I took on 19 March 2020 says 30 days. Now when I visit website:
    says "£200 / month". 
    Did anyone receive an email from Transferwise about this change?...I haven't.
    p.s: You can confirm free withdrawal limit remaining within the App by accessing 'Manage card' --> 'see your spending limits'.
    It also says '[my] free withdrawal limit refresh on 1st May' . 
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