NornaBiron
Well-Known Member
Certain, two personal friends are in the process of buying houses here in Greece. Both struggled to open bank accounts despite needing them for house purchase. It was doable but certainly not easy.
Best bank account for the Med
- Thread starter kunyang
- Start date
Certain, two personal friends are in the process of buying houses here in Greece. Both struggled to open bank accounts despite needing them for house purchase. It was doable but certainly not easy.
Davy_S
Well-Known Member
I have a Greek bank account, as far as i am aware you need a tax number to get one, unless things have changed, but i doubt it!
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
That's is very strange , usually it's very easy when buying property , if your buying privately your notary or as in Greece , real estate attorney would introduce you to the bank and the rest is very straight forwards ,
Getting a tax number again isn't a problem .
This is the way it's done in a lot of country if you don't have a relationship with an bank .
But that is a very different account then what we talking about here .
I have to say we had account in every country we stayed in any length of time , ( France , Spain , Portugal , Malta and Greece ) and Greece was the easier .
All involved showing a passport some also wanted an address in the UK ,
no bank asked for proved of the address , Greece was just a copy of passport .
Davy , I wasn't ask for a tax number , although as you know , it's not a problem to get one , but if they was buying an house they would need a tax number anyway
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Davy_S
Well-Known Member
Vic, when we opened a Greek bank account it was for house purchase, my Lawyer sorted it. we used to be with the Emporiki bank before Alpha took it over, so we are now with Alpha bank. i would like to report that Alpha was better, but it is worse than the customer service that Emporiki provided. Although the Alpha web banking is much improved now.
kunyang
Well-Known Member
Seems a few choices. The Nationwide account looks reasonable, but like all these things, is there exchange rate set competitively.
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
Yep your quite right it's done like that in most country , lawyers sort or introduce you to a bank , same as the Uk if you just moved to the UK the lawyers would help with an account , other wise especially in the Uk you wouldn't have a chance to open an account , that why I can't understand why norna friends had a problem .
But as a lot of us know in Greece it depend on who you talk to , same bank on different days talking to two different people and you get two very different answers .
I found Alpha always helpful and the queue is always a lot less then Bank of Greece and moves quicker , not sure why .
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ripvan1
Well-Known Member
We opened Sabadell accounts week two weeks ago, with online facilities and have transferred money over. With regard to address we are using solicitor's (who is english within Spanish firm and is taing care of NIE for us with power of attorney) along with rental contracts - in contact by email if needs arise.
Walked in from street and had accounts opened within an hour with passports and no hassle at all with charming English speaking Spanish lady. Going back in a week to pick up keys for apartment we have rented for a year as a base for house hunting.
PS: have also joined expat sailing club.
Walked in from street and had accounts opened within an hour with passports and no hassle at all with charming English speaking Spanish lady. Going back in a week to pick up keys for apartment we have rented for a year as a base for house hunting.
PS: have also joined expat sailing club.
Carmel2
Well-Known Member
We completed on a place on Thursday, so this will help, before we had no land address apart from Marina contact in Greece.
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
Carmel2
Well-Known Member
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They use Interbank Exchange rate so no underhand fees.
I use Nationwide and it is very good. There is a £10/month fee but you get European breakdown cover, mobile &travel insurance for this.
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NornaBiron
Well-Known Member
I use the standard Nationwide Flex account with no monthly fee. We get charged a small amount when we draw cash from the atm. We only do this once per month so these charges are less than paying for the account which gives free withdrawals. The exchange rate is always competitive, the credit card is free to use to pay for goods and all can easily be managed online.
And I get annual travel insurance included.
sailorman
Well-Known Member
does that travel ins actually cover independent travel too
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
That's interesting ,
Do that it cover you no matter how long your out the Uk ie say your away the whole of the year , or is it one of tho where although it's a 12 months cover you have return back within so many weeks ? If it's for the full 12 months , that's something I be interested in .
I know when I looked into travel insurance before although they state it's 12 months when you read the small print , it turn out not to be .
santelmo
Well-Known Member
The travel insurance that you get free with Nationwide only covers max 31 days and trips must start and finish in your home country.
jimbaerselman
Well-Known Member
People mention "competitive rates".
Here's my take on this. I'm sure a currency trader will put right any errors!
There's only one competitive rate, and that's the interbank rate at any one moment in time. Its "spread" - difference between buy and sell - is going to be around 0.05% to 0.15% depending on the currency.
However, during a week, the underlying rate is likely to jump around by 10 times that much - so timing (and its unpredictablity) has a much bigger effect.
Currency traders I've had the chance to check go for a variable spread depending the amount being traded - above £5,000 it seems to be around 1%. So if you have a $ or € account based in UK, you're doing quite well if you don't pay fees to hold the account. But £100 fees pa is 1% of £10,000 . . .
Specialist travel credit cards often use interbank rates - as long as you pay in local currency. But you then have to take account of card use fees - anything from £2.50 per transaction to 2% depending on the card, and the ATM you're using if cash.
Avoid £ debit cards for a wide range of reasons . . . mainly because local retail exchange rates for small transactions are likely to be used (5% to 10% spread). Local currency debit cards are fine, depending on the ATM if cash.
Buying cash from any source (banks, post offices) means spreads 4% and upwards. Airport Kiosks - 10%! Avoid!
The big certainty is that, as a retail customer, you'll pay 2% or more. It'll be charged, in order of importance, as
(1) Spread
(2) Deal charges/Commission
(3) Card charges
"Zero Commission/charges" means the charge has been shifted onto the spread. Yuk.
Here's my take on this. I'm sure a currency trader will put right any errors!
There's only one competitive rate, and that's the interbank rate at any one moment in time. Its "spread" - difference between buy and sell - is going to be around 0.05% to 0.15% depending on the currency.
However, during a week, the underlying rate is likely to jump around by 10 times that much - so timing (and its unpredictablity) has a much bigger effect.
Currency traders I've had the chance to check go for a variable spread depending the amount being traded - above £5,000 it seems to be around 1%. So if you have a $ or € account based in UK, you're doing quite well if you don't pay fees to hold the account. But £100 fees pa is 1% of £10,000 . . .
Specialist travel credit cards often use interbank rates - as long as you pay in local currency. But you then have to take account of card use fees - anything from £2.50 per transaction to 2% depending on the card, and the ATM you're using if cash.
Avoid £ debit cards for a wide range of reasons . . . mainly because local retail exchange rates for small transactions are likely to be used (5% to 10% spread). Local currency debit cards are fine, depending on the ATM if cash.
Buying cash from any source (banks, post offices) means spreads 4% and upwards. Airport Kiosks - 10%! Avoid!
The big certainty is that, as a retail customer, you'll pay 2% or more. It'll be charged, in order of importance, as
(1) Spread
(2) Deal charges/Commission
(3) Card charges
"Zero Commission/charges" means the charge has been shifted onto the spread. Yuk.
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NornaBiron
Well-Known Member
To be honest, it's an added extra that I don't really take any notice of as it doesn't cover extended trips. I think the cover with the paid flex account is the same too.
Thedreamoneday
Well-Known Member
I have a Caxton MasterCard, the app on my phone allows me to transfer money from my UK account in to euros at any time.
The card was free, uploads of euros and ATMs again, no charge.
All very simple.
The card was free, uploads of euros and ATMs again, no charge.
All very simple.
charles_reed
Well-Known Member
The "best" advice is from moneysupermarket.com.
If you need a debit (cash withdrawal card) Santander or Nationwide appear to be optimum.
However, the Santander 123 makes a monthly charge AND demands a minimum monthly pay-in. You can get much of that back by paying certain set charges (council tax, energy bills etc.) Nationwide have two Flex accounts - Nationwide Flex Direct and Nationwide Flex Plus. The former demands a minimum monthly income (£1000), pays 1% on all credit balances up to £2500 charges 2% + £1 on all ATMS foreign currency withdrawals and costs nothing, but demands you do it all in branch or on internet. Flex Plus charges £10/month, makes no charge for ATMS foreign currency withdrawals, covers mobiles, travel insurance (if you're under 75 and not abroad for more than 31 days at a time), car breakdown cover and needs no minimum payment, and pays 2.5% on all monthly credit balances up to £2500.
In my case the £58pa extra outlay pa was not worth Nationwide Flex Plus, for mobile and breakdown cover, as I'm over 75 and spend 6/12 aboard.
Regarding Jim B's bloater - ALL cash transfers cost - usually missed as a bid/offer spread charge. The least expensive is TransferWise, Mastercard seems to be less grasping than Visa but both are less than any FX and anyone is less than the big 5 banks.
With credit cards it's a whole different task - Halifax Clarity, Nationwide Select, Santander all look good.
Small players Peterborough BS and Capital are the least expensive of all
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Yes, the free account is almost as good but the European Breakdown cover is worth the £120 p a for me.
