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I need some advice on international finance management.
The house is in escrow, and my wife and I, after years of discussion, are moving in January from Los Angeles to a small apartment in Paris, which will be our home base for world meandering.
We have a Barclays account at a local branch in Paris, which links to a credit card, because the French have that "smart card" chip and there are some locals who will take no other kind of card.
But, since we still intend to work as writers and be paid from the US (we can't "work" in France, under the terms of our residency visa) we'd like to keep an account in a US bank, with a debit/credit card.
We'd like the following features, which our present bank, B of A, won't offer:
* No Forex charges
* No wire transfer fees, ever
* ATM use in other countries with NO FEES for cash withdrawal in the local currency.
Are we dreaming, or does anyone use a bank that has these features?
Taking the leap,
--Richard
On Dec 5, 2010, at 3:28 AM, Cherie @Technomadia wrote:
> We love the Visa Signature Concierge service... We also carry a Cap1, for when we embark on
> international travel.
> - Cherie
> http://www.technomadia.com
>
Not sure what most of those features are :)
But for the last 3 years or so I've been working for British Clients
from NZ (and Australia, the EU etc) - and just get them to pay money
into my UK account (First Direct / HSBC) and if I need to transfer money
to the country I'm in, I just withdraw it from an ATM.
There are fees I guess... mine seem to be about 1-2%... ie: $5 for
withdrawing %500. I've always just written this off as a cost of doing
business.
Nick
Hi Richard,
January may not be the best month to enjoy Paris, I would recommend
that you book a flight to a warm country for the winter and come back
in spring :) Air Asia has just announced its arrival in Paris, so
you'll be able to fly to Malaysia or Indonesia for cheap.
> We have a Barclays account at a local branch in Paris, which links to a credit card, because the French have that "smart card" chip and there are some locals who will take no other kind of card.
Indeed, there are no debit card in France, but you can use you
credit card (which is not really "credit", per se) to buy a few €
worth of food in pretty much any supermarket. You will need cash to
buy your croissants, though :)
> But, since we still intend to work as writers and be paid from the US (we can't "work" in France, under the terms of our residency visa) we'd like to keep an account in a US bank, with a debit/credit card.
>
> We'd like the following features, which our present bank, B of A, won't offer:
>
> * No Forex charges
> * No wire transfer fees, ever
> * ATM use in other countries with NO FEES for cash withdrawal in the local currency.
I don't know what US banks offer but if you want to have accounts in
France and the US, I would recommend looking for a bank with branches
in both countries. We opened an account with HSBC when we started
traveling two years ago and we highly recommend it. No fees in HSBC
(or partner banks) ATM anywhere in the world. Good service, on the
phone or by e-mail. And I guess if you'd have accounts in different
countries, you wouldn't pay wire transfer fees between them.
Anyway, welcome to your new life (and Paris :).
--
Eric-Olivier
Another thing about First-Direct (an HSBC web-only bank) is that they've
been particularly kind at bailing me out of the terrible cockups I tend
to get into, when drunk, abroad - eg: spotting that my card has been
skimmed, and ringing me up and checking before the charges have gone
through; extending overdraft facilities when everything gone haywire
etc. That sort of thing. They have nice people from Scotland on the phone.
On that note, I'd recommend having several cards from different banks...
ideally at least 3. Don't keep them all in the same place.
Nick
The best bank I've found for these things (and most international
travel) is Charles Schwab. They don't charge any foreign currency
conversion, and not only do they not charge ATM fees, they reimburse
you for any the other bank may charge, even internationally.
The only feature they don't have is wire transfer fees, though I've
never seen a place that doesn't charge those. Although, if you deposit
your checks directly into the account (in whatever currency) and
withdraw/transfer them without any currency conversion fees, you
shouldn't have any need for wiring.
Cheers,
Chris Dame
TravelTrue.net
I agree: Charles Schwab does a great job. Highly recommended.
I rarely travel outside the U.S., so I can't speak to those services.
But for banking, I've been using Charles Schwab almost
exclusively. My only other "bank," a credit union, is quite good,
but Schwab makes mail deposits available more quickly, and Schwab's
customer service is flawless.
>The only feature they don't have is (no) wire transfer fees ...
Note that Schwab does not charge for transfers to or from your other
bank accounts. To transfer between Schwab and my credit union, I
just entered the credit union routing and account number into
Schwab's web site, and now I can transfer between them anytime.
Richard, you'll want to confirm you can do that with the non-U.S.
bank of your choice. If so, Schwab may be a good bank for you.
--Richard
Sent from an iPad; make Steve Jobs richer.
Thought I'd check in with the financial news, just to update the group mind. Your suggestions were helpful to me some weeks ago.
My wife and I sold the L.A. house; escrow closed Friday, and we are in a motel outside LAX waiting to relocate next Friday (with cat and less than a third of what we owned--a good start to paring it all away) to a flat in Paris a third the size of the former home. We have a one-year residency visa, and plan to travel a great deal throughout Europe.
Schwab sounded like a great alternative for us, and we had two conversations with a personal advisor who was quite enthusiastic about investing our house proceeds. Then, during conversation three, she suddenly said, "Oh, you're MOVING to France?"
I replied, honestly, "Yes."
She put us on hold, checked with three higher-ups, and came back on the line to tell us that we could not work with Schwab, they are forbidden to work with people who live in France, and gave us "the bum's rush," getting off the phone so fast it made my head swim.
So, part of the reason for staying an extra week is that we are meeting with Merrill Lynch tomorrow (Tuesday PST), which WILL work with us, and since we are Bank of America customers already, and the two are mutually owned, it should be an easy transition. We will fight tooth and nail to get the kind of perks from B of A (No ATM fees, No Forex Fees, No Minimum Balance) that Schwab was willing to give until they suddenly bailed. We hate B of A, but we are now running short of time in the States, and need to invest somewhere before we leave.
Thanks again to you and to the group mind of this forum.
--Richard
I heard over a year ago that ATT would waive the leftover amount on one's yearly or two-year contract if one was leaving the country.
Not true. They rescinded that policy slightly less than a year ago.
Hence, when I called to cancel (I had not heard they rescinded the policy) my wife and I just paid $400 extortion to ATT to get out of a contract that had lousy coverage in the first place (four drops per call in L.A. was the average, I kid you not). I asked for the supervisor to make an appeal, and not only was she colder than Dick Cheney's breast milk, she said there was no one higher in the company who would talk to a customer on this issue. Judge, jury and executioner in one woman.
Which leaves me naught to do but warn others and urge them to stay away from ATT's lousy coverage in the first place.
--Richard, now loving Paris.
Richard