best bank account for international students

I'm looking into bank accounts for my daughter who'll be starting in Sept. We live in France but she is a UK citizen. During a recent trip to UK I visited several banks and failed to get any really satisfying answers to my questions !
What worries me about these bank accounts is the hidden costs.. She needs a bank account which is free if possible and which doesn't charge a fortune to receive money from abroad. At the Natwest I've managed to find the exchange rate used when receiving a transfer from France and this is NOT the same as the commercial rate !
I've spent hours searching for the best way to send money over without losing too much in fees. The best way seems to be for her to use her French visa card to withdraw her monthly allowance which will be at a reasonable exchange rate. Up to her then to deposit it in a bank account.
I'm at a loss about paying the fees and accommodation though. Western Union only allow €5000 per transacation and the first installment is above this ! Any deas???

Reply 2

Tanqueray91

22

Original post by galfrom

I'm looking into bank accounts for my daughter who'll be starting in Sept. We live in France but she is a UK citizen. During a recent trip to UK I visited several banks and failed to get any really satisfying answers to my questions !
What worries me about these bank accounts is the hidden costs.. She needs a bank account which is free if possible and which doesn't charge a fortune to receive money from abroad. At the Natwest I've managed to find the exchange rate used when receiving a transfer from France and this is NOT the same as the commercial rate !
I've spent hours searching for the best way to send money over without losing too much in fees. The best way seems to be for her to use her French visa card to withdraw her monthly allowance which will be at a reasonable exchange rate. Up to her then to deposit it in a bank account.
I'm at a loss about paying the fees and accommodation though. Western Union only allow €5000 per transacation and the first installment is above this ! Any deas???

All banks will charge for international transfers, and so using her french debit card is probably the best way to go. Otherwise, if you are transferring money to a UK bank account for her, then its best to do as much as you can and are willing to do at once, as you'll pay the fixed charge as few times as possible.

I know from working there, that Barclays International Accounts for students are free, but for international transfers it is £25/transaction.

Another way to avoid international transfer fees, is to give her the euros in person, where she can visit a post office and pay in ££££ into her UK account - remember the bank's exchange rates are worse than they are if you visit the post office.

I hope this helps, if you need any other advice please let me know!

Reply 3

Thanks for your help :wink:

At the moment we're considering a GBP account here in France seeing the way the Euros going :frown:

Should have anticipated that 6 months ago, still...)
Do you still have transfer fees when receiving GBP money transfer from France?
I spoke to some numbskull from Natwest yesterday who seemed to be making it up as he went along.
I think for fees and accommodation we'll pay by Visa. The university allows the fees to be paid in 6 instalments and our visa only takes a max of 8euros per payment and the exchange rate is almost the market's one :biggrin:

The possibility of Euros in cash is feasible to cover living expenses. Do you just turn up at the PO and hand €€€€£ over the counter and they hand back the £££££? Wouldn't it look a bit dodgy (i'm thinking money laundering). Why is the PO's excgange rate so good??
thanks again for your help.
Btw, as a uk citizen from France could she have a barclays student a/c with an overdraft facility??

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

mougeyma

I'm in the same situation, I'm going to be getting money from a Dutch account on a weekly/monthly basis. From what I understood from their website Santander is the only one that doesn't charge for receiving money from abroad. It's not very clear, but if you scroll down to the question about receiving international payments on this page http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/current-account-faqs it says so. However, I tried to sign up for a basic account, and one of the conditions is NOT being a student, I guess they want to encourage people signing up for the £5 per month international student account. I'm going to call in tomorrow to see what they can do. Let me know if you have any chance with this.

Reply 5

hannah.koestler

Original post by mougeyma

I'm in the same situation, I'm going to be getting money from a Dutch account on a weekly/monthly basis. From what I understood from their website Santander is the only one that doesn't charge for receiving money from abroad. It's not very clear, but if you scroll down to the question about receiving international payments on this page http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/current-accounts/current-account-faqs it says so. However, I tried to sign up for a basic account, and one of the conditions is NOT being a student, I guess they want to encourage people signing up for the £5 per month international student account. I'm going to call in tomorrow to see what they can do. Let me know if you have any chance with this.

Hi there, I'm in the same situation. Did you call them and get a satisfying answer regarding receiving money from abroad?

Reply 6

Original post by galfrom

What worries me about these bank accounts is the hidden costs.

HSBC, open a French HSBC account and a UK account and get them linked, you should get a better exchange rate than you would with Natwest and Lloyds as well as it being free to transfer aka no fees just exchange rate.

Reply 7

VladCa

Hi!

I am also trying to find the best student account for international students. So far I believe that Barclays has the best one (having no monthly fees) ... but still, I can't see too many advantages of these student accounts for international students. I was also interested in having the option to make an overdraft (just in case I will ever need it), but so far I couldn't find a bank that gives overdrafts to students from outside the UK (unless you have lived for at least 3 years in the UK). Does anyone know otherwise ?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 8

I emailed them and got confirmation that there were no fees for receiving money transfers ( at Santander). but you cant get their exchange rates on line !!! when there are no fees i fear you get an awful ex rate. I'm thinking of using Western Union .... small fee but possibly a better ex rate ??? yoy gain on one side and lose on the other.

Original post by hannah.koestler

Hi there, I'm in the same situation. Did you call them and get a satisfying answer regarding receiving money from abroad?

Reply 9

Original post by tehFrance

HSBC, open a French HSBC account and a UK account and get them linked, you should get a better exchange rate than you would with Natwest and Lloyds as well as it being free to transfer aka no fees just exchange rate.

A neighbour's daughter works in Bahrain and transfers money from herHsbc account there to her account in France and pays massive fees - thete again shes not a student

Reply 10

Original post by VladCa

Hi!
I was also interested in having the option to make an overdraft (just in case I will ever need it), but so far I couldn't find a bank that gives overdrafts to students from outside the UK (unless you have lived for at least 3 years in the UK). Does anyone know otherwise ?

Thanks :smile:

i f you're a UK citizen the Co-op Bank offers an automatic overdraft of 500£ whether uve lived there for a week or 5 years...

Reply 11

mougeyma

I've been looking into it for a while now, I think what I'm going to stick with is a TSB accounts (I like the interest rate but any account is fine), and use TransferWise to get the money over from Holland once a month. The website is super clear, the fee is 0.05% and before the transfer it tells you exactly how much you'll get in converted currency (https://transferwise.com/).

That way I'll transfer money from my Dutch account to a British account once a month, and only pay 0.05% with a good exchange rate.

Reply 12

Original post by galfrom

A neighbour's daughter works in Bahrain and transfers money from herHsbc account there to her account in France and pays massive fees - thete again shes not a student

If HSBC to HSBC there are no fees. Are you sure she's sending HSBC to HSBC.

Reply 13

VladCa

Original post by galfrom

i f you're a UK citizen the Co-op Bank offers an automatic overdraft of 500£ whether uve lived there for a week or 5 years...

Thanks for the answer :smile:

but I forgot to mention that I am a EU citizen from outside the UK ...

Reply 14

Yes but she's not a student.

Reply 15

Original post by galfrom

Yes but she's not a student.

It doesn't matter, she shouldn't be charged any fees bar exchange rate.

Reply 16

Here's the email received from Santander

We have had issues in the pass regarding opening the UK 123 student account for someone who does not live permanently in the UK for at least 3 years. The best thing to do would be to come into the branch with identification and any proof you have of the address you use in the UK and we can request that account for you.

With regards to your parents sending you money there is no fee from Santander to receive that money nor do we charge a commission, the exchange rate does vary day by day we can give you the exchange rate on the day of the transfer.

I've got a feeling that it's £5 per month to have an a/c with Santander. Hopefully we can negotiate a railcard worth £120. (that makes 2 years free banking!)

I'm hesitating between Santander and the Co-op (as UK citizen but non resident!)

Reply 17

Original post by tehFrance

It doesn't matter, she shouldn't be charged any fees bar exchange rate.

Les virements internationaux
Virements libellés en devises d’un pays de l’EEE (hors euros) émis vers/depuis un pays de l’EEE.
Seule option de frais possible « SHARE ».
Tout autre virement quelle que soit la devise. Options de frais possibles : « SHARE »,
« BEN », « OUR ».
Virement international reçu ...................................................... 25 €
Virement international émis
- Initié depuis « Mes comptes internationaux(8)(10) ..... par opération 5 €
- Initié depuis « Ma banque en ligne »(8) (Internet et mobile) ......12,50 €
- Initié en agence ......................... 0,10% de la transaction min 25 €

Info correct as of April 2014 at HSBC's French site "Plaquette tarifaire"

Reply 18