Euro bank accounts

[bergeroo]

Wondering if anyone can advise.

Am in the market for a UK based Euro bank account. My previous euro bank account  with C___bank UK was doing great until they decided to close it down and not give me a reason. I know they aren't really a fan of gambling so I would imagine that's why they've decided to do that but that's another story and there is no point in me getting annoyed about it.

I've been into two different Barclays branches to try to set up a euro account as you can't do it online and I have failed twice. All staff look terrified when I mention it and they botched my application twice in two different branches.

Anyone have experience of HSBC or Lloyds euro accounts. Perhaps another bank offers them? Thanks.

[tikay]

Drop a PM to Simon Galloway, he is pretty clued up on such matters, & extremely helpful.

[titaniumbean]

Wondering if anyone can advise.

Am in the market for a UK based Euro bank account. My previous euro bank account  with C___bank UK was doing great until they decided to close it down and not give me a reason. I know they aren't really a fan of gambling so I would imagine that's why they've decided to do that but that's another story and there is no point in me getting annoyed about it.

I've been into two different Barclays branches to try to set up a euro account as you can't do it online and I have failed twice. All staff look terrified when I mention it and they botched my application twice in two different branches.

Anyone have experience of HSBC or Lloyds euro accounts. Perhaps another bank offers them? Thanks.

I set one up with Barclays. All they did was try and fine me soon after. When I attempt to sort the fines out by following instructions on the Barclays letter head going into my branch, they just shrugged and said nothing to do with us regardless of what it says/how/where I set it up. However they would take payment for any fine......


abs scummers dont use Barclays if you have any choice.

[bergeroo]

It is crazy that euro accounts are not really common now, but I suppose they are mostly for business and most people hate the Euro.

Yeah my experience in the branch was similar in that they don't want to have anything to do with the account in Barclays, even though their bank offers it.

Thanks TK, I will do that!

[Simon Galloway]

Don't rush   I'm not sure there's much help I can offer, I would expect most branches to have absolutely zero clue and went through similar when looking for a USD account.  How you set yourself up will depend largely on what you want to use the account for, and what, if any, destination currency you will need.

[bergeroo]

Ideally I want an account with a debit card and also the ability to pay in and withdraw euros at branch. It's all the more complicated by the fact that I am never in the UK to actually sort these things out.

I will keep researching the options!

[Simon Galloway]

Not going to happen in Barclays   My experience was the bank manager told me it could be done, when I asked about withdrawing, he said "no problem, you can get £ from the cashier and then take it to the foreign exchange window"  I made him sit down with a pen and paper until he finally admitted his stupidity.

Eventually I found an American bank that would happily do it and it works a charm, but I have to travel into London for a branch, so there is hope that a European bank that will do the equivalent, I'm just not in a position to recommend one.

[Tractor]

Not sure if this is any good but i am sure a friend of mine was talking about a similar thing not to long ago and i am pretty sure he was with Santandar.

Just did a quick google and this is the link.

http://www.santanderpb.je/banking/accounts

[Rupert]

Got a Lloyds Offshore account comes with a visa debit, min balance of $3.5k equivalent or you get $20 charge. They can set up in branch but they are clueless, try do it online. Might need to be creative with some of the questions.

[pvas2]

I tried with HSBC and they assured me it would be alright and I thought it would be best to be upfront about playing poker and needing to send money to/from casinos in Europe but then that counts as a "business" transaction somehow and I need to get a different sort of account where they would charge extortionate rates for everything, so if there is an easy solution with online banking too I'm all ears.

[jezza777]

Not sure it's what anyone is looking for but metro bank have free European transactions.

[bergeroo]

It is actually free to transfer money around Europe with Sepa transactions and usually gets there the next working day.

I'm looking for an account in euros with a UK based bank.

I'd never heard of metro bank before, but a quick look and I can't see a euro account.

Rupert, Paul - thanks for the firsthand experiences. I will certainly investigate Lloyds Offsure further.