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Managing your money in a foreign country?
We're moving to France for a year in January. DH will be earning his salary in dollars and it will be direct deposited in a U.S. bank account. I earn money in dollars as well (although I'm not sure yet whether I'll be working at all, depending on visa issues).
From having spent shorter stints abroad in the last few years, I know that I get hit with crazy fees on my credit card when I make foreign transactions and on my bank account when I make foreign ATM w/d. A short stay in Argentina earlier this year cost me about $200 in fees between both accounts. Eek!
So, what do you do? Do you have bank accounts in the countries where you live? Am I just going to end up paying a ton in fees anyway to transfer money from a US account to a French account and exchange the dollars to euros? Do you have a credit card issued in the country where you live or do you still use U.S. bank-issued credit cards?
Re: Managing your money in a foreign country?
I have both U.S. and UK cards. Some U.S. cards do not have foreign transaction fees, so you just have to check. Often the ones that are tied to frequent flier programs don't have them, b/c they're marketed to people who travel a lot. So I actually prefer to use my U.S. cards where I can here. I kept my U.S. bank account open so I could easily pay my U.S. cards from it.
The U.S. cards I have are Virgin Atlantic AmEx from BofA and the Capital One no hassle rewards, and they definitely don't charge foreign fees in the UK. I'm not sure if they would in France, but my guess would be no.
Lloyds has a Premier International account. You can have accounts in pounds, euros and dollars and move funds between the accounts.
I think now you have to make 50,000 Euros to open it.
Sigh. My card is a Citibank American Airlines rewards card and I was hit with $98 in fees for a 2-week stay in Argentina. Granted, I bought a lot of stuff because I was helping my niece set up her apartment in Buenos Aires, but I imagine I would be spending a similar amount getting set up in France at the beginning.
We also get paid in US dollars, and have a US Bank account.
We have a Capital One card, which has no conversion fees, and we use that for everything. We only use our debit card at ATM's, and we updated our account so that there are no ATM fees. It's worked the best for us, and we haven't needed to open a bank account here.
Dave & Jennifer 10.18.08
My Doha Adventures
We have both UK and US bank accounts. Although we get paid in pounds, which is our local currency. We move money back and forth as need as we have bills in the US too.
HSBC also have a premier account similar to Lloyd that will help set you up in your new home country and do all the paperwork. I think you need to either have $100,000 to qualify or meet your new home country qualify criteria.
$100,000 deposited there or $100,000 in yearly income?
It varies by country. We got it by qualifying in the U.S. first, b/c they have slightly lower requirements. Then when we came here, they just matched it. The service is definitely much better, and it made it so much easier to establish a credit history here.
I use this as well.
I have an acct. in the UK and one in the US. We transfered money to the US for our wedding and also every month for my student loans.
I earn pounds though.
Bio
Deposited.
Per their website, to qualify in the US:
To qualify for an HSBC Premier relationship, you need to open an HSBC Premier checking account and maintain $100,000 in combined U.S. personal deposit and investment balances.
Per their website, to qualify in France:
Ask your US bank if they have any agreements with foreign banks. You might be able to take cash from certain ATMs for free, or maybe they can help you set up a foreign account.
We have a Citibank account in the US and the UK, and it's free for us to transfer money between the two.