Best Bank for Multi Currency?

Martynt74 · 10 Oct 2022 at 14:24

Mainly asking for my parents who live in Spain as they're getting a bit fed up with their current bank. They currently use First Direct for UK stuff, and then Caixa in Spain, and then use Wise to transfer money between them. However, i'm wondering if there are better options.

I had seen that Citibank have a global account which seems decent, but looks like you select which currency each card is connected to, and then i'm not sure what FX rates are used or what fees are

https://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/managing-account.do

They have DD's in Spain so something like Starling wouldn't work for them either. Revolut was another option for spending purposes only but wasn't sure how good that was as a general banking.

krooton · 10 Oct 2022 at 16:04

Revolut fits the bill I would have thought, worked for me when my parents were living in South Africa and I was helping them out.

Gregvivi0401 · 10 Oct 2022 at 16:24

krooton said:
Revolut fits the bill I would have thought, worked for me when my parents were living in South Africa and I was helping them out.

Yes Revolut great bank account I am always using while abroad

teenwolf · 10 Oct 2022 at 16:26

Revolut can freeze your account when they want too

Gregvivi0401 · 10 Oct 2022 at 19:29

teenwolf said:
Revolut can freeze your account when they want too

I never had this experience did you have this done to you?

Vanquish-Storm · 10 Oct 2022 at 20:13

teenwolf said:
Revolut can freeze your account when they want too

So can any other bank

dlockers · 10 Oct 2022 at 20:25

Revolut is good for casual holiday usage but I wouldn't want big money in there. I've converted lots of money through it previously and it said it would "ban me" for ... using exactly the service they provide but not in a way that is profitable to them....

Gregvivi0401 · 10 Oct 2022 at 20:47

dLockers said:
Revolut is good for casual holiday usage but I wouldn't want big money in there. I've converted lots of money through it previously and it said it would "ban me" for ... using exactly the service they provide but not in a way that is profitable to them....

Interesting maybe that's why they offer different bank account witch you have to pay for it.

chrismscotland · 10 Oct 2022 at 20:53

Martynt74 said:
Mainly asking for my parents who live in Spain as they're getting a bit fed up with their current bank. They currently use First Direct for UK stuff, and then Caixa in Spain, and then use Wise to transfer money between them. However, i'm wondering if there are better options.

I had seen that Citibank have a global account which seems decent, but looks like you select which currency each card is connected to, and then i'm not sure what FX rates are used or what fees are

https://www.citibank.co.uk/personal/managing-account.do

They have DD's in Spain so something like Starling wouldn't work for them either. Revolut was another option for spending purposes only but wasn't sure how good that was as a general banking.

I had the Citibank Account for a while and it was decent, one card connected to 3 accounts (£/$/Euro) and you swap the linkage via the App.
Rates were good but it was a few years ago now

Martynt74 · 10 Oct 2022 at 21:30

chrismscotland said:
I had the Citibank Account for a while and it was decent, one card connected to 3 accounts (£/$/Euro) and you swap the linkage via the App.
Rates were good but it was a few years ago now

Cheers, it certainly sounds like it fits the bill. I was interested for myself until i saw the minimum balance requirements and swiftly closed it down!

chrismscotland · 10 Oct 2022 at 22:17

Martynt74 said:
Cheers, it certainly sounds like it fits the bill. I was interested for myself until i saw the minimum balance requirements and swiftly closed it down!

I think the account they do now is slightly different, there used to be a cheaper/free version of it with a much lower requirement (based on annual income) but the premise was the same. I'd imagine the "CitiGold" account probably comes with better rates/features but the key multi-currency thing was very easy to use.

Citi have scaled back a lot in the UK and only try and attract a certain clientele now!

Efour · 10 Oct 2022 at 22:30

Gregvivi0401 said:
Interesting maybe that's why they offer different bank account witch you have to pay for it.

They do. The higher the account grade the more foreign money transaction, crypto stuff and stock trades you can do for free. I just re-read your post, im sure you are well aware

I have no issue with revolut, but i dont use them as a main account because i only have the free one for holidays and rarely some transactions. I use it to pay my Indian YouTube sub for example, the exchange rates are pretty ok.

wildman · 10 Oct 2022 at 22:35

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dlockers · 10 Oct 2022 at 22:38

Gregvivi0401 said:
Interesting maybe that's why they offer different bank account witch you have to pay for it.

I was signed up to the premium account with unlimited FX. I only transferred about $26k and it flagged.

Finners · 10 Oct 2022 at 22:42

dLockers said:
I was signed up to the premium account with unlimited FX. I only transferred about $26k and it flagged.

Just for balance, I tried to move £15k out of NatWest this week and it was frozen until the anti fraud people got hold of me.

Don't think it's that uncommon these days.