# Info please



## South View (Jan 26, 2013)

Hi there

Gathering more info for our move later this year - planning to rent for 6 -12 months before committing to purchasing a property.

Can anyone advise:

1. Average Broadband speed we can expect (Alentejo/Algarve/Silver Coast)
2. Recommend good language cd's/dvd's to get us started before we arrive
3. Current interest rates on deposit accounts

Thank you
South View


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

1. Will depend on whether you go for PT landline, fibre optic cable or satellite etc and that mostly depends on the exact location of your house.

2. The Rosetta Stone are usually acknowledged to be some of the best but they're not cheap.

3. I was talking to my (millennium) bank manager a couple of months ago and he told me they were currently offering 5% but you lose 1% of that to tax so 4% to you. There might be a slight variation depending on the amount you invest though.


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## oronero (Aug 24, 2012)

travelling-man said:


> I was talking to my (millennium) bank manager a couple of months ago and he told me they were currently offering 5% but you lose 1% of that to tax so 4% to you. There might be a slight variation depending on the amount you invest though.


That's almost double the rate that you get in the UK.

Locking your money up in an ISA (tax -free savings) only gives 2.75%.

A typical saving account will give 0.4% interest PA!

This country, (UK), is becoming more and more of a joke...'wasters' running things, both Politicians and Bankers in the UK!!! 

Check the rates given by the Halifax, to name but one financial service in the UK.
Halifax UK | Savings Accounts | Saving Accounts Interest Rates

Just as well I have most of my money tied up in collectables, at least they have been increasing in value at a rate of 10%+ over the last 10 years and even during these difficult times. In fact they have increased more since the economic downturn...I guess people are looking to put their money into things that give better returns than UK financial packages.

I really cannot wait to get out of this place and get to horrible and bureaucratic Portugal!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Just be aware when moving that some UK saving like ISA's must be frozen or sold up, you cannot still pay into them when not a UK Resident, broadband I'm afraid you need an exact location to check what's available and speed, the only one you can as such guarantee a speed with is satellite and your limitation on that is line of sight to satellite and how much your prepared to spend.


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## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Strewth..... those rates are a joke!

I forgot to mention the Millennium offer those same rates on UKP & USD currencies as well if I remember correctly.

As for PT bureaucracy..... Everyone tells me how bad and slow it is but so far my experiences have been the opposite. 

I went to the PSP offices today to hand in an application & about five members of staff rallied round to help me because of the language problem. They ensured all my paperwork was in order and accepted the application. No one looked for a way to make my life difficult. No one told me they had no paper for the printer/didn't know how to operate the computer/had lost their password/didn't have a vehicle/petrol and no-one asked me for a bribe.

In South Africa where I've spent the last 12 years or so, I'd have got all of those BS problems to slow me down and even when they did accept the application, they'd probably promptly lose it and make to start all over again...... Including asking for a second bribe.

As I see it, anyone who complains about PT bureaucracy has never had the dubious pleasure of similar things in Africa.


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## South View (Jan 26, 2013)

travelling-man said:


> 1. Will depend on whether you go for PT landline, fibre optic cable or satellite etc and that mostly depends on the exact location of your house.
> 
> 2. The Rosetta Stone are usually acknowledged to be some of the best but they're not cheap.
> 
> 3. I was talking to my (millennium) bank manager a couple of months ago and he told me they were currently offering 5% but you lose 1% of that to tax so 4% to you. There might be a slight variation depending on the amount you invest though.


Thanks for the info - will investigate Rosetta Stone - good news about interest rates too.

South View


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## Sonho (Jan 1, 2008)

travelling-man said:


> Strewth..... those rates are a joke!
> 
> As I see it, anyone who complains about PT bureaucracy has never had the dubious pleasure of similar things in Africa.


 I guess it all depends on your reference points. I find the bureaucracy quite inefficient, but the people always pleasant. Makes dealing with it a bit less onerous.


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## robc (Jul 17, 2008)

South View said:


> Thanks for the info - will investigate Rosetta Stone - good news about interest rates too.
> 
> South View


Be careful on the Rosetta Stone Portuguese courses, when we investigated RS the course was Brazilian Portuguese, same as google tradutor on the internet, which is a little different, the BBC do a good course, available through Amazon, we got this and have found it very useful. Also try this link

Say it in Portuguese... / Dites-le en Portugais...

A PT Govt sponsored site that is excellent for pronunciation.

HTH

Rob


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