Offshore / $$$ bank account / euro withdrawls

[dbom]

I've just been reading a thread relating to the Nationwide no longer offering free withdrawls on their 'Flex' account that i currently have for that reason. I was going to make a post on there but instead wanted open a new thread and ask for any advice that any of you guys could offer on my current situation:

I am soon heading off to work offshore on a 28/28 rota and during my time off will be spending a large proportion of it living aboard in Spain. I will be paid in US dollars and therefore need to transfer money into both pounds in order to pay bills in England and euros for living on in Spain. Ideally i would like to hold the money in dollars in order to just exchange what i have to and then wait for a decent $-£ exchange rate to transfer larger sums.

So, my question is; can anyone recommend a suitable bank or a better alternative method of achieving the above? I've already asked Nationwide for a offshore / foreiegn $$$ account as that would've suited me with my free withdrawls, business exchange rate and ease of transferring currency internally but as i've now learnt this is soon to come to an end i'm trying to find a way / bank that would be able to do all this for me in a cost effect manner.

I've browsed the internet already and Santander could be an option. Does anyone have any experience with them who perhaps are in a similar situation to myself?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Regards

Dbom

 

[saltwater_gypsy]

I believe the Santandar bank charges outweigh any advantage of banking with them.
Is an American bank account a useful option??

 

[PlanB]

Have you thought about opening an internet offshore dollar bank account with a UK bank? Then you could move the money as and when you want. Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays do this to my knowledge, so most of the other major banks will offer a similar facility.

 

[michael_w]

Try Citibank. They have accounts in lots of currencies. I've got them in GBP, Euro and US$.

 

[fliti]

We found opening a bank account without a permanent fixed address onshore and proof of salary all but imposible anywhere in the Iberian peninsula last year. Fortunately, we stumbled across a chink in the armour in the form of Barclays branch in Ayamonte where they accepted the marina contract and some other bumf and we got a euro account opened, saving a lot of money. Funnily enough, we are anticipating the opposite problem after we cross the Atlantic next year i.e. is there any sensible way to fund a cruise around the islands without paying horrendous commission each time you plug a card into the wall? I have'nt been there for 10 years but the problem is presumably still that each tiny sland has its own rinky-dink pseudo dollars so the universal panacea of a euro bank account for Med cruising is not an option. Any ideas, anyone (apart from stick to French islands)?

 

[johnabbott893]

I have found this site http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money a good place to start for info on reducing the amount the banks take. Foreign exchange dealings for tourists is a bit of a cash cow for the banks so there is no point in them changing the system.

 

[silas]

we are in a similar situation to yourself and used to have a bank account with Abbey international (backed by santander). Had 3 currency accounts and used a debit card for no charge all over europe (as long as a minimum balance kept). Very happy with service and ability to contact bank. They were also very efficient when we had our account hacked in Morocco and stopped everything before we lost any money. Recommend them highly.

 

[KellysEye]

We have offshore dollar and Euro accounts with Barclays all done by Internet tranfers. Unfortunately currency tranfers aren't cheap. However get the timing right and they can be profitable.

 

[Lumber Joe]

Along with numerous advantages offshore bank accounts have, there are some points that make their usage quite inconvenient:

1. Despite the fact that many reputable offshore financial institutions (such as HSBC, LLoyds TSB, Barclays and many others) claim that "offshore bank accounts are for everybody", this is not true. They place minimum annual income restriction that is usually placed to open offshore bank account is that a person must have annual income of $20,000;

2. Secondly, offshore banks require their customers to keep certain minimum balance on their offshore account. Usually something like 5000 euros or $10,000. Quite painful, isn't it?

3. Offshore bank accounts tend to have high fees.

 

[charles_reed]

Looks like the Nationwide Flex account is still the best value for money for drawing € out.
It's going to cost £1.50 for each withdrawal + a commission of 2% on the sum withdrawn.

Nearly everyone else is between 50 and 250% more expensive.

If you use credit cards for cash-withdrawal the Halifax 'Clarity' card could be cheaper, but the saving is marginal, even if you pay off in full and only withdraw near to the end of the billing month.

For outright credit-card purchases you still can't beat the Nationwide Gold Visa in Europe.

I shall demand a 2% discount from all those Greeks who want me to pay them in cash (for large sums) - that should make for an interesting life.

 

[DownWest]

You might try Jyske in Gib, I used them and found them very helpful.
A

 

[Andy and Lyn]

Have a look at CAXTON fx - very flexible way of exchanging pound/dollar/euros - used quite extensively in the aviation business . No commision and very nearly the bank rate for tranfers - all done on line and then access to cash or pay bills through card, again in dollar , euro etc.

 

[maxi77]

Another possibility is these folks https://www.fairfx.com/. They give you a prepaid matercard you load from your UK account at very reasonable rates. They do both Euro and Dollar cards and so far seem to work reasobaly well both for cash and for payments.

Today they are giving 1.2025 on the euro.