Sterling account

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cathybun

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Does anybody know the best bank to open a Sterling account with? So far, I've only tried BoI, but the charges are huge. Each month, I would be receiving rent in Sterling, paying a Sterling mortgage and may also write a cheque once in a while. I would also like to access internet banking.
 
I have a USD account with Anglo Irish-no charges. There is a likely to be a minimum amount though-£2,000 or so I would have thought. Anglo don't have internet banking.
 
Are you sure you want to open the account here?
Sterling payments coming from/ going to the UK will incur international transfer charges, which are expensive with any of the banks here.
Perhaps a current account in the UK would be a better option. Most (All?) of the high street banks would accomodate, provide internet banking and do not charge any fees. Maybe whatever institution provided your mortgage could also provide this account.
 
I have a sterling hold account with Ulster Bank, it costs me about 120STG a year to run. That includes charges for lodgements, receiving standing order and cheques. Only down side is that there is no internet banking, however you can phone up and ask for a "screen dump" of the account faxed to you.
 
I have a GBP current account with BOI in UK. It cost nothing to set up, the only charge is the quarterly current account fees. I use it for UK investments.t
 
My local AIB branch opened a Sterling a/c for me with one of their branches in London - no set up charges. No online access though but I'm sure in time that will change.
 
Thanks everyone. I originally tried to set an account up in the UK. None of the major banks that I tried could help me because I'm not a UK resident. The reason for me setting it up at the moment, is to arrange the Direct Debit Mandate for my first UK mortgage, but without owning the property, I can't set up the account. It's a catch 22 situation. I might set up a Sterling account here, then cancel it when I actually own a property there. I'll ask BoI first about the account that Theo has
 
Hi Cathybun,

I'm a BoI customer and I had no problem opening a sterling account in their Newry branch with a view to purchasing a buy to let property in the UK.

One thing to beware of is that BoI are obliged to inform the Revenue of the existence of this account. I got a letter from them a few weeks after I opened the account telling me about this.
 
Hi Biggerry, I took your suggestion and opened one with BoI in Newry. It was so easy to arrange and transferring money from our euro account in the Republic is hassle free. They also gave us free banking, a cheque book and online banking, as opposed to the 1.5% fee for every transaction that BoI in the Republic offered for setting up a Sterling account. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Just a quick comment on the efficiency of banks outside the Republic. They were so helpful in Newry I couldn't believe it. I also recently got a mortgage in the UK sorted in two weeks with a UK bank. Our bank here took 3 months. What's going on? Why does everything take soooo long in the Banana Republic?
 
I am in Clare, moved back from UK but want to keep a UK Stg account. Can I just go into BOI and ask them to open one for me in NEWRY and with a Southern Ireland Address? Or do I deal with newry direct?

noah
 
Hi Noah,

I made contact wtih the Newry branch through the BoI UK site. I clarified what was needed to open the account, made an appointment with the person who replied to my mail, drove up to Newry (just took me a little over an hour) and opened the account.

I didn't bother going through my branch.
 
Biggerry

I'm also trying to open up a sterling account although I'm resident in Dublin

How exactly did you contact the BOI Newry through the UK site?

Many thanks if you can help,

eigjb
 
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