# Banking Advice/Experiences.



## escapos (Sep 18, 2011)

Hello all, hope you are well,

My wife and I are a couple living in UK, just sold our house and wanting to move to Portugal for some time now.

It has seemed like an eternity to get to this point, my question is just to get some rough advice and peoples experiences on the money side of things.

We want to rent in central Portugal to start around Tomar, starting in Feb 2012, whilst we look for a place to buy.

I am wondering how people handled the financial side, we will have a lump sum from house sale in UK sat in UK bank or possibly 2 because of the 80k guarantee clause!

Have people doing similar to us just transferred all their cash to a Portuguese bank into euros from their house sale or left it in England until they found a place and done it at time of purchase?

We could also transfer a small amount to PT in euros to live off during renting, I have also heard of transferring your money through a broker can be advantageous when 'playing' the exchange rates, but wouldn't be wanting to take stupid risks!

Have any people used Barclays which I believe have standing in Portugal, we could become Barclays customers whilst in UK if this would make things simpler for us moving to PT.

Really looking for the safest, smoothest and simplest way to handle our money


Any help and feedback much appreciated, thanks.


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## robc (Jul 17, 2008)

Hi escapos and welcome to the forum.

Blimey that is a lot of questions so brace yourselves for lots of differing replies.

With regard to which bank to choose I think that the same criteria as one would apply in any country should be useful. (branch coverage, cash machines, transaction charges, etc). The other thing to consider is multibanco, at the risk of teaching granny  it is a system where all sorts of bills can be paid electronically. 
It is most useful. I would want to make sure that whoever I was banking with offered that service.

Regards to transferring money to Portugal, we are in a slightly different position in so much as we are having a house built in PT, so the money is drip fed out to pay the builder. FX companies are I believe good but I guess that will depend on their fees as well. 

The Bank you mention is our UK bank, we transfer money to Portugal in £'s sterling and then do the exchange in PT. We bank with BES in PT. The choice was one we made a few years ago and cannot really remember why we chose BES over others. It may have been the currency rates and costs to exchange that swayed it for us. 

I hope that helps, ask away if you need more information.

Rob


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## MrB (Jun 2, 2010)

There are several Barclays branches here in the Algarve, but I heard that it actually isn't a subsidiary of Barclays, more a franchise operation, which has put me off it.

I bank with them in the UK.

I have to check it though: just something to watch.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Barclays UK & Barclays Portugal are two separate Banks with no liaison or preferential treatment for Barclay UK customers.

Large amounts of money or even a couple of thou you'll get better rates through a broker, I don't and have never paid a fee, brokers will also transfer monthly amounts set up like a standing order.

All Portuguese banks have or operate Multibanco cards, you can use any card any machine..
Banks always a personal choice we had BES & Millennium and closed BES as we found Millennium better, good English internet option, and transferring from UK zero cost, reasonable exchange rate. Can also internet transfer to UK & elsewhere.

As your renting I would keep funds in UK until reguired unless the exchange rate was favorable, in which case I'd take advantage. 

To open a Bank A/c you'll need a Fiscal (NIF) number, it's far easier to open the a/c as a UK Resident, then when you move even to rented accommodation change address. You reguire the normal proof of ID, employment and address like utility bill which if you've sold might be a problem. 

You really need a Portuguese Bank a/c it's ok coming on holiday with UK debit, C/C or prepaid Euro cards but works out very expensive otherwise.


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## omostra06 (Sep 11, 2007)

its not a great time to be moving pounds across to euros, maybe the rate will get better in the future, who knows?
leaving your money in the uk might not bring you a good return as the best instant access non fixed term accounts are around 3% , you will get no better in portugal, so really the interest on the amount is not the issue, but when to move to get the best exchange rate, not at the moment i feel.

Bpi bank do offer upto 5% if you tie the money up for 9 months or more.
I would steer clear of barclays in portugal, have never heard a good report.

I recently used world first to make a few transfers and they were very good, great service and a much better rate than you can get from a bank.


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## escapos (Sep 18, 2011)

Thank you all very much for your input.

I havn't been a fan of Barclays and glad to rule out that option.

Thanks for the heads up on transferring now, there is plenty of euro turmoil at the moment, I'm sure that Greece will be defaulting on it's debt and I'm sure they will be printing more fiat paper to cover their debt this week. I think we will leave money in UK as long as possible

(hello Derick think we met on a previous trip over, looked at some lovely places, hope you are well, we are actually able to move now! be seeing you in the new year I feel 

You have all helped me clear up some major questions there, and the help is much appreciated and brings some clarity of though to me.

All the best
Christian


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Hi Christian and a big welcome to the forum

I have banked witih Santander in the UK for a long time and still hold an account with them
I also hold an account with Santander Totta here in Portugal.
I have found the most advanatgeous way for me to transfer money acrooss it to send it from my UK Santander account to Santander Totta in the UK (the sort code is a UK one - whilst the account number is my account number here in PT)
There are NO transfer charges this way and the rate when send here is the official back rate of the day.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Big problem with Santander is they have no English internet banking options for Portugal.

Just a point on UK accounts, think carefully what *your future UK Banking* needs will be, as when you move and become a Portuguese Resident you'll find it just about impossible to open an account with any UK Bank or Building Society or to make substantial changes to existing accounts, some banks and B/S will not accept an EU address and you'll create problems by using family or friends.


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

canoeman said:


> Big problem with Santander is they have no English internet banking options for Portugal.


Explain please.

I have online banking with Santander UK and again with Santander Totta.
I transfer funds ONLINE from Santander UK to Santander Totta in the UK.
The account funds are transperred to in the UK is a UK sort code with my PT bank account number.
Takes only 3 days to reach here from start to finish with no banking costs.

I also have NO problem using my PT address with them., either for my current account or my creidt card. All replacement cards are sent here if and when necessary.
The same goes for an account I have with Nationwide and my M&S credit card
ALL have my portuguese address


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## robc (Jul 17, 2008)

siobhanwf said:


> Explain please.
> 
> I have online banking with Santander UK and again with Santander Totta.
> I transfer funds ONLINE from Santander UK to Santander Totta in the UK.
> ...


I am with you on this Siobhan.....................I have absolutely no transaction fees with moving money to PT from UK and that is from a well known UK bank to BES in Portugal and I get the fx rate of the day.

The same bank in the UK also offers International Banking with multiple, different currency current accounts, full online banking in a choice of languages, savings, deposits, etc.etc. and statements anywhere in the world plus a dedicated worldwide account manager. 


Rob


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Santander Totta Portugal has internet banking, the point I was making was that it does not have an English version option, something that can be very important for newcomers.

I transfer funds to my Millennium a/c from *any* UK bank, similar procedure, UK sort code, A/c no+ my a/c no. no fees, exchange rate of day, and takes 24hrs max depending on time of payment/transfer.

Some Portuguese Banks don't have arrangements with a UK Bank for transfer of funds. So other methods are required.

The point I brought up about UK Banks & B/S* some* will not accept Portuguese addresses, nor will some store cards but the major thing is that when someone changes their Residence from UK to Portugal, yes their existing Banks & B/S, store card might accept a Portuguese address for the account but they won't alter the existing a/cs or open new ones.

So like a friend who knew better had a UK account dependent on salary being paid in, closed by bank when he retired here and found himself with no UK Banking facilities and unable to open any because he was no longer a UK Resident.

All I'm advising it that people should look at the sort of UK banking they will need and close and open accounts before they move, not realize when they've moved that for example a joint account would have been better or paying for NWest's Advantage Gold Card if you can't make use of benefits or any of the other choices available. 

Yes Rob there are UK banks that offer all dancing international a/cs but I bet you can't access the Multibanco system with it except to withdraw money.


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## robc (Jul 17, 2008)

Hi Canoe........I am not sure about the full access to Multibanco.................I am exploring the viability of one of these International Accounts so as and when I have more info I will report.

Rob


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

You can only access *all the services* of the Portuguese Multibanco system with a Portuguese Bank Multibanco Card or Credit Card.
There are a few options for types of Multibanco Card some for instance you can only use in Portugal, the only downside with them is that presentlly you can't(except with difficulty) use them on the internet, so a C/C is also needed.

You can access Multibanco with Debit or Credit Cards from other countries but only to make cash withdrawals.

As a Resident here this is where the offshore accounts with UK banks offer little benefit, as on a day to day basis you need a Portuguese Bank, and unless you really need an international multiple currency account the same applies.

I could never see the point in paying say TSB for the privilege of having a Jersey or IOM account so I could transfer to a Euro account that is still of zero use in Portugal and all it really means is that money has to be transferred twice, as none of these UK or offshore accounts can be used for D/D's, cheques etc, etc


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## robc (Jul 17, 2008)

canoeman said:


> As a Resident here this is where the offshore accounts with UK banks offer little benefit, as on a day to day basis you need a Portuguese Bank, and unless you really need an international multiple currency account the same applies.


The point must also be raised regarding flexibility and security.
I am not happy having all my money in either the UK or PT or both. The financial marketplace is fragile and as has been seen already events can move very quickly.

I feel more comfortable having spread my money around several institutions in several countries and this is where an International Account may/should come in handy. It will not replace an "all singing, all dancing" current account in one country but should the worst happen and that Institution or Country seize up financially a la Iceland, Lehman, Northern Rock etc. then at least I have not got all my eggs in one basket.

Rob


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Security of funds is really a separate issue, I'd agree about flexibility and that's why I'm making the point of looking at_ future_ banking needs, because if that's not built in before move it becomes a real issue later.

The OP question was about banking and transferring funds, as I said we all have our preferred Bank for me that means in Portugal my day to day banking requirements met, English Internet Banking option and easy transfer of funds from or to UK.
Equally I also need similar options with our UK Banks.


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## robc (Jul 17, 2008)

canoeman said:


> Security of funds is really a separate issue,


Agreed but I do not think it does any harm to remind people that Security is paramount. There is no such thing as a "free lunch", just ask those individuals and organisations that invested in the Icelandic Banks 

Greed is not always good.

Rob


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Last time I looked at an international account they wanted a minimum balance of 5000STG in the account at all times!
Must agree Canoeman that I do like the english language option on Millennium internet banking.
I had forgotten that Millenniumbcp in London also offered banking transfer. That is where I/we opened out Millennium accounts.


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## escapos (Sep 18, 2011)

Thank you all very much for the input, most useful


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## chewmagna (Apr 4, 2014)

As a newcomer now a Resident in Portugal, I simply want to know which buttons to press when I use the Multibanco cash machine? Perhaps I am a bit thick, but I cannot work out how to pay a bill via the cash machine. I have all the relevant details of the payee. It would be helpful if someone would translate the Portuguese instructions that come up in each window! Help!


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Far easier to do it online but that said try this after entering card and PIN

Pagamento por Multibanco 
Key in the entidade, the 5-digit Reference Number in the box on the bill
Key the referência, the 9-digit bill and customer reference number
The montante, amount in €'s (comma between €'s & cents *not* a *.*) key in the figures and press "Confirmar"


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