FQEVO9 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Hi guys we are in the planning phase for our 6 month European trip covering western and eastern Europe. We currently live in Dubai, are true blue Kiwis with the added advantage of having a European passport. Appreciate if anyone could please advise a suitable bank as a base account for our trip through Europe with minimum fees and minimum balance. Is a Swiss bank account advisable? or set up with a bank in tax free Guernsey? appreciate your advise Thanks Derrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Madge Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 FQEVO9 - 2009-04-13 8:41 AM Hi guys we are in the planning phase for our 6 month European trip covering western and eastern Europe. We currently live in Dubai, are true blue Kiwis with the added advantage of having a European passport. Appreciate if anyone could please advise a suitable bank as a base account for our trip through Europe with minimum fees and minimum balance. Is a Swiss bank account advisable? or set up with a bank in tax free Guernsey? appreciate your advise Thanks Derrick Hi Derrick, Have a look at the Nationwide flexi account a lot of the Brits use it for travelling in Europe and further afield http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/foreigntransactions.htm has the details on foreign transactions. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 You can only open a Nationwide account if you are a UK resident. we tried to open one last year but got the elbow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klyne Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Do you really need to bother with another bank account? If you has Maestro or Delta Cards plus credit cards and can check your accounts online. If you feel it is neccessary to have an additional bank account why not ask you current Bank if they have any partner banks in the UK or Europe which might smooth the process. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordThornber Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 What about HSBC? They're pretty well Global.. http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/about-hsbc Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FQEVO9 Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Thanks Guys. When we leave Dubai we have to change banks as you have to be a resident in Dubai to have a bank accounbt open. We have previously been with HSBC Int in Gunesy Island but they have high minimum balance and a lot of fees. We are looking for a bank account, tax free zone that we can utilise for our travels. Thanks Derrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 FQEVO9 - 2009-04-13 8:41 AM or set up with a bank in tax free Guernsey? I'm no expert so take whatever other advice you think you need. There's good and bad news with regard to Guernsey. The good news is since the colapse of Icelandic banks and the devestation this caused to investors in Guernsey they now have a depositor security scheme valued at £50,000 per person, check out Guernsey Financial Services Commission. Guernsey being tax free depends on your own tax status, not sure how it applies to you on travels, but if you are a UK taxpayer Guernsey will supply details to HMRC of you deposits, this I believe has been extended to many other countries as Guersey did not want to get penalised by any outcome of G20 summit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FQEVO9 Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 cheers, thanks for the advise DR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianR Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Lloyds Bank offer Channel Island bank accounts, if you are nervous about an unknown bank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Hi Derrick, We're Kiwis living in NZ and we travel to the UK/Europe each northern "summer" (3rd time this year) where we tour in the motorhome we store in the UK. We have two accounts with NatWest in the UK, both of which we opened when living in the UK in the 1970s. There is obviously no problem with our being non-residents as our official address with NatWest is our NZ address so they know exactly what our residential status is. One account is a current (cheque) account and one is an on-call deposit account called first reserve. When in the UK and Europe we use the NatWest-issued Maestro debit card for most of our larger purchases and all of our cash withdrawals from ATMs. We've never had a problem. I shuffle money between the two accounts on-line as required to keep the debit card functioning (it draws on the current account). We use our NZ Mastercard credit cards where necessary and only rarely. Not sure why you need a tax-free account - interest rates in the UK are so low you'll earn very little that could be taxed! The only downside to a UK account that I can see is that drawings in Europe incur a transaction fee for the change from Euros to Pounds. That has a cost, but we just put up with that. I haven't investigated the possibility of opening a Euro account with NatWest so don't know if it's possible or if there would be any worthwhile savings in fees. Hope you enjoy your touring. Alistair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FQEVO9 Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 Thanks Alistair for your advise. I'll have a look at Natwest and see if we can open a Euro account. Thanks Derrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 When we moved to France we kept our Barclays UK Accounts. If we need to draw monies in France from those accounts we have to pay a commission fee. We also have a Saga credit card which doesn't charge a fee for using it in the Eurozone which is then repaid from our UK accounts. When we were making enquiries with Nationwide we were told that we could open an off-shore account in any currency we wished even though we don't live in the UK we just couldn't open a normal Nationwide account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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