Key Post Opening a sterling account in Northern Ireland

C

cremeegg

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The easy way to open an account out of Ireland drive to Belfast or Enniskillen, don't forget your passport etc.

If the Govt blocks accounts foreign owned banks in the Republic will probably be affected also. This has happened in other countries in the past. Argentina for example.

The govt is fully funded through to next summer so there will not be a default before then.

Some of the concerns expressed previously seem a little niave. Times to transfer funds are irrelevant. If the govt blocks deposits the first you will hear of it is that it happened yesterday. Bank charges and interest rates, if you are worried about the security of your deposit you are way past these issues. We are not in Kansas anymore
 
Same as that. I opened an account with First Trust using Dublin address two weeks ago, no probs whatsoever.
 
First Trust is in the AIB group, no? Not sure if opening an account with them helps.
 
Bronco Lane said:
Does anyone know or can anyone give a list of countries in the EU where I can walk in off the street with an Irish address, Irish utility bills, Irish I.D. and an Irish bank draft and open an account? I can be there in an hour or two courtesy of Ryanair?
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you can walk in off the street to hsbc in portadown , i did it last week with a percentage of my savings

you can open your account in sterling , euro or dollar

were you to hook up with hsbc offshore , you can open an account in around 20 currencies

a word of warning , if you decide to open an account in portadown or belfast , be sure you transfer your money into sterling 1st , hsbc absolutley hammer you on the currency exchange transfer, the rates they offer are several points below what other banks offer , i lost several hundred euros on the transfer by neglecting to ask bank of ireland to to transfer the money in sterling rather than euro , if you decide to open a euro or dollar account in portadown or belfast , you will have no choice but have them make the transfer as the initial transfer into thier account will end in sterling , baschically , you must have a sterling account aswell as a dollar or euro account so even your get AIB to transfer the money to them in sterling , they will give your a crappy rated if you decide you then want them to transfer it into dollars or euro


p.s , savings are absolutley safe in irish banks now that the bailout is going ahead , thier was a slim chance they were in danger last week , thier is absolutley no chance now , the europeans moved fast as they knew an irish banking collapse would trigger a european bank collapse , thier banks are in debt to irish banks which is why they wont allow them to fail , a bigger concern should be the 100 billion mortgage that the irish people are being saddled with , banking debt was and is being made soverign debt and that debt is not only the bank debts of irish banks , it is the bank debt of european banks

ps , the only reason anyone would want to move money out of irish banks is in the event of us leaving the euro , our currency would devalue
 
Oz bound said:
Hi Godfather,

Where did you add info on HSBC - sorry, I cant find it! Im an irish citizen but want to change my savings to aussie dollars as I hope to move there in a year or so - do you think HSBC is the best option?

I dont suppose anyone knows if an Irish citizen can open an australian bank account?
Thanks!
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hsbc while offering an incredibly wide ranging service are absolute sharks when it comes to transfering money

its ok moving money to one of their domestic banks as you can transfer your money into sterling in your irish bank 1st but in the case of thier offshore ( isle of man and jersey ) dept , you have to 1st open a sterling holding account so afterwards if you choose to transfer into australian dollars - swiss francs etc , hsbc will ride you with the currency transfer , they offer exchange rates several points below other banks

i only opened an account with one of thier domestic banks ( portadown ) last week but foolishly i didnt get bank of ireland to transfer the money into sterling 1st , i left it up to hsbc to transfer from euro to sterling , this is what happened

on the day in question one euro was buying 83 pence sterling with bank of ireland , what did hsbc give me for my euro , 79 pence sterling , i lost several hundred euro

that is how they make thier money
 
farmerette said:
no actually , most of them dont or at least they didnt up untill a few weeks ago
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Through the years many people here have reported opening bank accounts in Northern Ireland with ROI addresses.

Phone the bank in question before you head north.
 
farmerette said:
you can walk in off the street to hsbc in portadown , i did it last week with a percentage of my savings

you can open your account in sterling , euro or dollar
... a word of warning , if you decide to open an account in portadown or belfast , be sure you transfer your money into sterling 1st , hsbc absolutley hammer you on the currency exchange transfer
...if you decide to open a euro or dollar account in portadown or belfast , you will have no choice but have them make the transfer as the initial transfer into thier account will end in sterling , baschically , you must have a sterling account aswell as a dollar or euro account so even your get AIB to transfer the money to them in sterling , they will give your a crappy rated if you decide you then want them to transfer it into dollars or euro
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Hi farmerette. Can you just clarify please - if I want to open a euro account with HSBC, do I have to do it via sterling? I can't just open a euro account and transfer euros into it?
Thanks.
 
damson said:
Hi farmerette. Can you just clarify please - if I want to open a euro account with HSBC, do I have to do it via sterling? I can't just open a euro account and transfer euros into it?
Thanks.
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im not sure , i only have a sterling account but you can open euro and dollar accounts aswell but you may have to start with a sterling account , if that is the case , dont bother looking to get it into euro as they will screw you on the exchange rate when transfering from sterling to euro

here is their number , takes a while to get to speak to anyone

thier are no direct numbers to branches , customer service only

00448457404404
 
Can somebody explain to me the cost associated with moving a large some of money from an Irish bank in Euros to a UK bank in Sterling?

I have €100,000 I'd like to deposit in a UK bank. According to xe.com 100k in Euros is £84,741, but how much of that can I expect to pay in currency conversion charges etc?
 
Posted in 2008 by Galway008 and others

Northern Bank/NIB have worked at making cross border transfers easier, perhaps they are worth a look.

I have a NIB account in the south and a Northern Account in the North, its very easy to transfer between the 2 using interent banking. No charges. You get the exchange rate quoted on their site, it usally ain't great about 3c below the offical bank rate.

You have to visit them to open you first account and bring passport/ESB Bill etc. But after that they will open other accounts for you by email or over the phone e.g. Savings
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Re: UK A/c

Hi,

I have had an account in the north for a few years now and the only account that they would let me open was a current account as I lived in the south. No interests bearing accounts allowed.

Is this true with every UK bank?

Thanks.
 
rogeyspoint said:
Hi,

I have had an account in the north for a few years now and the only account that they would let me open was a current account as I lived in the south. No interests bearing accounts allowed.

Is this true with every UK bank?

Thanks.
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its not true with hsbc , 2. 9% savings rate on sums under 50 k for a fixed term of one year
 
If you have an account in NIB in the Republic and an account in Northern Bank in the North are they each guaranteed separately under the Danish Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
 
cph said:
Is it more beneficient to transfer Euro to Sterling before transfering to the UK, or bring a Euro cheque to the Northern bank

CPH
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if you bring a euro cheque to a bank in northern ireland , it can take up to a month to clear

transfer your money here into sterling 1st and then wire it to the uk
 
Thanks farmerette. Also I have been advised that the exchange transaction here should be more beneficial
 
Re: UK Deposit Accounts

rogeyspoint said:
Hi,

I have had an account in the north for a few years now and the only account that they would let me open was a current account as I lived in the south. No interests bearing accounts allowed.

Is this true with every UK bank?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Farmerette:

With relation to your HSBC fixed term account, how does that work with UK & Irish Revenue? Thanks.
 
cph said:
Thanks farmerette. Also I have been advised that the exchange transaction here should be more beneficial
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its most important you transfer your money into sterling or dollars in ireland before you transfer it to a british bank , btw , the dollar is looking better than the sterling for the next while

i openend an account hsbc in portadown , thier customer service ( and currency services ) while wide ranging is not at all accessable , you cannot ring thier branches direct and thier is no lo call number so contacting them is expensive and very slow , add to that , unless you open a sterling account , you cannot access your dollar or euro account with them by any other means but by telephone , worst of all is thier currency exchange rates , several points below other banks , they will fleece you if you are not carefull , not a very customer orientated bank


ps , surely money in ireland is safe now anyway , i have most of my money still in irish banks , the only risk is a euro exit but if that happens , we will all have to trade in punt nua eventually anyway
 
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