Is there any advantage to maintaining an account in a former country of residence?

From more banking fluent individuals that me:

Say three years ago I left a different EU country where I was living, and on the assumption I would be returning shortly (but didn't), kept that account open.

So years have passed and I'm continuing to pay account maintainence fees, without really using the account (apart from their online saver which has interest rates comparable to here).

Is there any additional advantage to having another active account in another country?

Especially when via Raisin and online banks, one can avail of superior deposit and savings interest rates from overseas banks, anyways?

Sidebar point - are you ensuring your account is kept active? I have had savings account here marked as inactive after 1 year, and to restore access had to attend in person with proof of address, ID etc.

I kept an account in another EU country when I came back to Ireland - it has proved extremely useful in terms of debit/credit cards, online investment services and all for what I consider a reasonable cost

But it really depends on what you need and how much it costs to keep it open

In the fine print it probably says the bank reserves the right to close the a/c if you no longer live or work there.

There is money laundering and tax evasion risk from non-resident account holders and more importantly you're not going to be a source of profits for them as you're not going to take out a loan.

BrokeBroker said:

Is there any additional advantage to having another active account in another country?

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The only advantage is deposit rates which are probably higher than Ireland at the moment.

But it doesn't make much sense to be paying current account fees just to maintain an a/c open.

jpd said:

I kept an account in another EU country when I came back to Ireland - it has proved extremely useful in terms of debit/credit cards, online investment services and all for what I consider a reasonable cost

But it really depends on what you need and how much it costs to keep it open

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I pay 60 euros per year, 5 euros a month, including 2 euro non-resident fee.

They called me and I confirmed I'd be returning, so they added the 2 euro fee.

In what ways to you find it useful specifically? Were you using cards you wanted to keep separate for some reason?

What investment services does it provide additional benefit for?

I can avail of an annual saver of 1.9% (which applies to the full amount immediately), but will pay DIRT on that interest of course (same rate as here). And having to pay 60 euros maintain on top of that really knocks the benefit of 1.9% minus dirt, down again.
Again I can't see how there's additional benefit to that in contrast to Raisin?

.....

Can anyone here see additional benefit?

If it's a Euro denominated account, probably not. If it's £ or another currency and you are likely to visit it regularly then for convenience and to avoid currency fees, then possibly yes but you'd want to be spending a fair bit to take advantage of it

NoRegretsCoyote said:

In the fine print it probably says the bank reserves the right to close the a/c if you no longer live or work there.

There is money laundering and tax evasion risk from non-resident account holders and more importantly you're not going to be a source of profits for them as you're not going to take out a loan.


The only advantage is deposit rates which are probably higher than Ireland at the moment.

But it doesn't make much sense to be paying current account fees just to maintain an a/c open.

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That's my thinking.

Re the first part, that's why they called me with a fairly irate tone I'd imagine, but they seemed happy to allow me to continue after I explained I'd be returning (adding additional CA fees of course).

Yes, deposit rates at 1.9% for 12 months, but as above minus DIRT and minus 60 euro per year for maintenance.... cue the final sentence.

That's why I'm thinking if I transferred that to Lightyear, 2.75% no maintenance fees...... more advantageous.

BrokeBroker said:

Yes, deposit rates at 1.9% for 12 months, but as above minus DIRT and minus 60 euro per year for maintenance.... cue the final sentence.

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There is probably no charge on a credit card though.

But in general I believe it makes sense to have a single current account at a bricks and mortar bank in your country of residence.

NoRegretsCoyote said:

There is probably no charge on a credit card though.

But in general I believe it makes sense to have a single current account at a bricks and mortar bank in your country of residence.

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There was.
So base residents fee is 3 euro per month.
Add 2 euro non-resident fee
And 2 euro for credit card maintenance (which I canceled cause I never used it anyways).

For sure regarding the final sentence (inferring that it serves no additional purpose to maintain a 2nd current account in a country of non-residence?).

For online banks like Lightyear, I believe they only allow transaction to and from one initial current account (at least in some cases, maybe that's only with Bunq?).