pauls
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Post by pauls on Feb 17, 2017 20:26:31 GMT
I am a UK based account holder currently investing with 4 Euro sites. To fund these accounts I opened a TransferWise account and use that to send funds. This works satisfactorily and incurs a transaction charge. The transfer is pretty quick with next day Euro account credits. To date I have not tried any withdrawals so cannot comment. Of course this does cause an additional cost that I must overcome in addition to currency fluctuation.
I should also add that for each platform I had to send funds direct from my UK sterling based account and that was expensive. I would like to get around this expense.
My questions are:-
How do you do it?
Are there better methods for UK based investors, particularly the ability to hold some form of Euro account?
Is it possible to set up a system whereby I can withdraw from one platform and send those funds to a different Euro platform (staying in Euros and saving transaction costs)?
How to avoid the initial expense of sending funds from the UK to Europe?
Thanks in advance.
Paul
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Post by wiseclerk on Feb 17, 2017 21:37:29 GMT
Some suggestions: For larger amounts try Currencyfair instead of Transferwise (if you sign up via my blog you get a free transfer; subject to conditions) It is cheaper for amounts of over about 1200 Euro, but process takes a little longer.
As account you can check Paysera, so I cannot really recommend them. Another alternative in future might be N26 bank (currently not open to UK residents, but plan to)
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shimself
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Post by shimself on Feb 18, 2017 10:59:33 GMT
I am a UK based account holder currently investing with 4 Euro sites. ........
Are there better methods for UK based investors, particularly the ability to hold some form of Euro account?...........
www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/currency-account other banks also exist
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JamesFrance
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Port Grimaud 1974
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Post by JamesFrance on Feb 18, 2017 15:19:00 GMT
I see they would charge €6 for a payment in Euros and have their own HSBC exchange rate which could be anything.
CurrencyFair charge €3 for a transfer and you can do a no cost exchange on their market.
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Post by lawyer on Feb 18, 2017 15:29:00 GMT
I am a UK based account holder currently investing with 4 Euro sites. To fund these accounts I opened a TransferWise account and use that to send funds. This works satisfactorily and incurs a transaction charge. The transfer is pretty quick with next day Euro account credits. To date I have not tried any withdrawals so cannot comment. Of course this does cause an additional cost that I must overcome in addition to currency fluctuation.
I should also add that for each platform I had to send funds direct from my UK sterling based account and that was expensive. I would like to get around this expense.
My questions are:-
How do you do it?
Are there better methods for UK based investors, particularly the ability to hold some form of Euro account?
Is it possible to set up a system whereby I can withdraw from one platform and send those funds to a different Euro platform (staying in Euros and saving transaction costs)?
How to avoid the initial expense of sending funds from the UK to Europe?
Thanks in advance.
Paul
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shimself
Member of DD Central
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Likes: 1,170
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Post by shimself on Feb 18, 2017 16:07:11 GMT
I think the OP wants an account where s/he isn't forever changing GBP-EUR and back again,
Thinking about it some more, isn't there an EU regulation that banks must offer a "vanilla" account to anyone from another EU territory. In which case you have a lot of choice (get in during next three weeks before Mrs May signs the suicide note).
In general terms I advise against French banks, expensive and inefficient. I can't think where to ask around for the best bank in all of EU. I kind of think avoid Baltic states in case Mr Putin gets the wink from DT.
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Post by wiseclerk on Feb 18, 2017 16:35:12 GMT
, isn't there an EU regulation that banks must offer a "vanilla" account to anyone from another EU territory. Nearly all banks won't open account for non-residents online (at least if you don't show up in the branch in person). That's why I suggested N26 as one (future) option. They do open accounts for residents of France btw.
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shimself
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Post by shimself on Feb 18, 2017 18:56:13 GMT
, isn't there an EU regulation that banks must offer a "vanilla" account to anyone from another EU territory. Nearly all banks won't open account for non-residents online (at least if you don't show up in the branch in person). That's why I suggested N26 as one (future) option. They do open accounts for residents of France btw. Well EU law says it has to be possible, eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32014L0092&from=ENThis was a big deal for expat Brits who found a need to open a UK bank account and were getting stiffed. Problem now fixed I think. If one doesn't much like N26 who in Germany do you like oh Wise one?
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Post by reeknralf on Feb 18, 2017 19:34:36 GMT
Payoneer is another option. Free to receive sepa payments, €1.50 to make them.
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Post by wiseclerk on Feb 19, 2017 8:27:44 GMT
shimself, I really like and recommend DKB Bank, have used them for 10+ years. Fee free (provided you have some regular deposits), free worldwide ATM withdrawals. According to their TOC they will only open accounts for residents of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
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Post by geoffrey on Feb 19, 2017 10:27:36 GMT
I have a fully verified Paysera account, and haven't had any problems with it so far. Any queries I've had have been answered extremely quickly by their staff (an hour or two by email). Once you have a Paysera account you can fund it for "free" via Revolut, and you get interbank exchange rates from Revolut so long as you exchange on a working day (1% spread at weekends).
Alternatively, Revolut, who have introduced personal account number and sort code for Sterling balances, say that personal IBANs are coming soon, so waiting for Revolut's solution is something you could consider.
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Post by buttchopf23 on Feb 19, 2017 10:28:19 GMT
I can recommend DKB Bank as well. It was easy to open an account online and identify myself through video ident. I live in Switzerland, and DKB was the only foreign bank I found which let me have an account without showing up there. One bad point: I received a GBP payment and they took eur 12.5 in fees for that.... so this I cannot recommend But for EUR to EUR and cash withdrawals it is nice.
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Post by buttchopf23 on Feb 19, 2017 10:30:26 GMT
I have a fully verified Paysera account, and haven't had any problems with it so far. Any queries I've had have been answered extremely quickly by their staff (an hour or two by email). Once you have a Paysera account you can fund it for "free" via Revolut, and you get interbank exchange rates from Revolut so long as you exchange on a working day (1% spread at weekends). Alternatively, Revolut, who have introduced personal account number and sort code for Sterling balances, say that personal IBANs are coming soon, so waiting for Revolut's solution is something you could consider. Yeah, looked at that and wanted to sign up..but sorry our services are not available in your country... sometimes I wish we were in the EU... (not really )
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 22:24:00 GMT
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nick
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Post by nick on Feb 20, 2017 23:17:34 GMT
I opened up a Euro current account with Barclays here in the UK a couple of years ago for the same reason - I had started investing on Bondara and wanted to convert sterling to Euros at a broker rather than a bank. The account opening process at Barclays was straightforward and they don't charge any account fees. I didn't bank with Barclays at the time (and still don't apart from the Euro account) so had to open a normal current account before being able to open up the Euro account. The application was all online and I had my Euro account opened within a couple of days. There are no charges for either account. The other great thing is that you can deposit and withdraw Euro bank notes from the account - useful for dealing with holiday money when travelling to the continent.
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