Banking abroad

After recently returning from backpacking around Australia I thought I would share my views on the bank that I set up, it may be of some use to somebody! I went with a bank called Westpac, the reason for this was that all banks will charge you to hold an account with them every month, I dont know why, but they do. Typically this charge is about $5, but the Westpac was only $3, so I went with them. Setting up the account was done through my travel agency, but it is not hard to do it yourself, you simply need your travel documents and to go into a branch and they will sort it for you. I had it set up before as I wanted to transfer some of my English money ...  Read the complete review

I'm not sure what use this is, but Dooyoo have a place for it, so here goes. The first thing which struck me when I first walked into a bank here in Sweden, was that it wasn't much like a bank I've ever been in before. The cashiers sit at normal desks, not behind glass - so it all seems a lot more cosy. You are still at the other side of the desk, but if you wanted you could easily join them. This seems slightly strange, literally you can reach over and grab some money when they aren't looking - not that I have. Opening an account was very easy - not like the hassle it can be in the UK. All I needed was my Personal ID number and passport ...  Read the complete review

My partner and I are planning to buy a summer house in France and therefore have been looking for a bank that suits our needs over there. Our needs being those of any other British citizen, we thought of sharing our top 3 with Dooyoo users. Numero Uno: Credit Lyonnais, its all accessible on the web, so we can check and manage our account from Britain. Numero Two: Banquedirecte.com An online only bank with some interesting rates, but no brick and mortar counters, so its quite difficult to deal with them while in France, unless you bring your laptop. Numero Three: Socgen aka Societe Generale, they are outstanding for business ...  Read the complete review

I work overseas a lot. I am now in Estonia and before that I was in Pakistan. I also have friends who work all over the place. Banking is always a problem. Here are the issues :- -SECURITY- Well this isn't just about protecting PIN no's. In the UK we are well protected. If someone uses our card fraudulently and we notify our banks as soon as we find out the card is missing the bank is obliged to refund the charges. Equally if the bank goes bust (and it DOES happen!) we get 90% of our deposits back. Overseas there is rarely this level of protection. The downside from both the above events is significant. -CHARGES- ...  Read the complete review

Because I live in Spain and England, and because of my experience of UK banks (see my rant about the Halifax) I have researched and opened (several) spanish bank accounts. For those hoping to open an account, I can offer pros and cons to Banco Popular, Banco Atlantico and Unicaja. First some general rules: 1 - You dont have to be a resident of Spain. You will need your passport. 2 - If you are not a resident you will need a uk address. 3 - Statements etc can be sent to a UK address. 4 - All offer online banking(but see a later comment!!) 5 - You will need to deposit some money when you open an account, sterling is acceptable ...  Read the complete review