Transferwise Borderless account

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fyfin
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Transferwise Borderless account

Postby fyfin » Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:40 pm

My wife and I always had 2 joint UK bank accounts ( we could each access both accounts but liked the idea of separate accounts) but the Norwich & Peterborough closed all current accounts as they had been taken over by Yorkshire B/S which was the one my wife was using. We then discovered that it is actually very difficult to get another UK bank account if you have an existing one and are a Spanish resident.

However, as we have both got accounts with Transferwise and use them for transferring sterling to the Spanish bank account, I had a look at their borderless account which is not a true bank account but gives you a UK sort code and account number, so pensions etc can be paid into it. You can also have a Euro "account" with a Euro Iban and indeed quite a few other currencies as well. No ID or check required as that was carried out when you joined Transferwise the first time.

I was really surprised how easy it is to use and now my wife is happy as her pension will be paid into the Transferwise account and and she has total control over it. It includes a sterling debit card if you require one. You can transfer between the sterling balance and the euro balance instantly, at the prevailing rate and then transfer out to an external account - transferring from euro to euro a/c incurred a charge of 80 cents on a €1,000 euro transfer.
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby gerryh » Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:21 am

fyfin wrote:......but gives you a UK sort code and account number, so pensions etc can be paid into it.
??????
Both my UK state pension and UK company pension are paid directly into my Spanish bank account.
Why do you think they have to b paid into a UK account?
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fyfin
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby fyfin » Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:41 am

At the time that was how they were set up. With state pension there is no problem and that's how we do it. However the others were going to use 3rd party to transfer to a Spanish bank and told us commission and charges would be high. The better option seemed to be to retain UK bank and transfer when needed. My wife's pension is with Royal Mail and they more or less told her the same. State pension is different as no problem whatsoever paying into a Spanish bank
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Free at Last » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:20 am

gerryh wrote:
fyfin wrote:......but gives you a UK sort code and account number, so pensions etc can be paid into it.
??????
Both my UK state pension and UK company pension are paid directly into my Spanish bank account.
Why do you think they have to b paid into a UK account?
Cheers
Gerry
But some pension providers will only make payments into UK accounts - my largest company pension is one such, and if I take any income from my SIPP pension that provider will only pay to a UK account as well. I have no problem with that at the moment as I just make the transfers myself, but I am grateful to Fyfin for the information should I need to make use of it in the future.

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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby gerryh » Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:40 am

We live and learn.
So, as you say, good information from Fyfin.
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Gerry
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Wicksey
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Wicksey » Fri Dec 28, 2018 11:56 am

That is interesting to know. As I mentioned on my thread about transferring euros here, we are stuck with Nationwide who I'm not very happy with at the moment. We are in a similar position to others where we still need a UK bank account and all our income is there, and we have to transfer at least 700€ a month to keep our Spanish account free of charges.

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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Gasman » Fri Dec 28, 2018 6:37 pm

Wicksey - depending which bank you bank with of course in Spain - it might be worth considering changing to an online account which gives you commission-free account with no limit of use or in-put ... we changed ours in BBVA and since we still have access to the local office in case of complications, and previously did most things online with the old account, we really dont notice any difference, except that we can have our UK incomes paid as we want, either into the spanish account, or into our pre-existing UK account. I believe you can do most of it direct online, but do have to pop into the local office to finalise things.

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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby fyfin » Fri Dec 28, 2018 7:53 pm

Gasman, with an online account do you get a debit card? The reason I ask is everything we do is online with our Spanish bank but we still pay an annual fee for a debit card. There are ways round any bank charges with most Spanish banks e.g. a savings account, or take out insurances with the bank (not a good idea in my opinion),or keep a large balance, or have a regular monthly income greater than €600 (Unicaja). I'm not sure I understand what exactly an online account is though.
Gasman, I think the worry is that after Brexit there may be some problem paying UK pensions into Spanish banks, something to do with passporting but will likely be resolved anyway, but a warning was issued by ABI (Association of British Insurers) re annuities. The Transferwise option is very easy to use and we are happy with the way it is working for us.
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Wicksey » Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:32 pm

I've got used to paying in the minimum amount to the Spanish bank and now use that with their debit card for day to day spending. We have all our direct debits to fund anyway for our house and cars, so most months I would need to do that transfer anyway.

When N/Wide was free I used to use that debit card to pay everything else here but have stopped that now. We still need to get the money out of that account and here, hence the need for a cheaper way of doing it.

All transfers, direct debits and the debit cards are free with the Sabadell Expansion account which also saves some money too.

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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Wicksey » Fri Jan 04, 2019 10:54 am

fyfin wrote: You can transfer between the sterling balance and the euro balance instantly, at the prevailing rate and then transfer out to an external account - transferring from euro to euro a/c incurred a charge of 80 cents on a €1,000 euro transfer.
Fyfin, I haven't yet tried to use the account but not sure how I transfer the sterling to euros within Transferwise. It seems the most cost effective way to transfer money to Spain, if they are giving you the full exchange rate. Do I need to open a separate euro account with them too?

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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby fyfin » Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:55 pm

Yes, you need a Euro account (although I suppose you could manage fine without it). It is just like the UK sterling account (not a true account as such), it'll give you a Iban starting with DE but that would only concern you if you had money coming in in Euros which is not the case. You get the euro account by ticking "add balance" as they refer to these as balances, as opposed to accounts. Then transferring between the two is very easy - first click on balances to the left and then use the downward arrow to the right of e.g. the sterling a/c and you can see the detail i.e. sort code, a/c number address etc and underneath three tabs, "send", "add", and "convert". Convert is the one to use if you want to change your sterling balance into euros (or part of it). Of course you could just transfer directly to your Euro bank account from the sterling balance. If you haven't already done so, just click on recipients and add your Spanish bank account details then when you're back in Balances (either sterling or euro, depending which has a balance) just click on the send tab and your Spanish account will be there. Hope this helps and isn't too confusing.
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby fyfin » Fri Jan 04, 2019 6:59 pm

Oops - Wicksey . Just checked and I was wrong, you do need a Euro account if you want to send Euros so as that is what you will be doing the sterling account (balance) will be for receiving, and the Euro account (balance) will be for sending euros. Looks like you can only send sterling from the sterling balance. (I said you could manage fine without it which is wrong)
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Wicksey » Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:39 am

Thanks Fyfin, I shall have a go at that for my first transfer. It sounds the most cost effective way of sending money if they convert at the full rate, then only charge an 80 cents fee to transfer here.

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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Wicksey » Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:34 am

Many thanks Fyfin, your instructions were a great help. Just had a go at sending a smaller amount to make sure all my details are entered OK. A little bit complicated for the first time, but next time should be more straightforward as the accounts are all set up now.

The whole process is made extra difficult as we have lost our phone signal in the house but just about get one on the edge of our plot, so I have to go running out and wave my phone in the air to get their security code to log in!

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fyfin
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby fyfin » Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:53 am

Lol. I forgot about the security code
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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Gasman » Sun Jan 06, 2019 7:03 pm

Fyfin - sorry for delay, this thread got lost ... back up to speed again now
Yes, the online account is exactly the same as the ordinary, set-up-in-office account with BBVA - others may differ but I cannot comment on them. Debit card is available on request, credit card can come with two actual cards drawn on the same account - one to be paid off directly each month or when you set the date - no charge, and the other for larger long-term amounts that you want to pay off over time, with the usual interest rate charges of course for this last one.
The only charges that we are aware of, with no set mount to be put into the account monthly, are for ATM withdrawals that are not in the bank's group and possibly for international transfers, but have not used this recently since we changed over to the online account. You can still receive monthly statements in the post if you want, or get a reminder via email to download an e-statement. AND you still have the option to go into your nearest branch if you hit a snag!

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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby Wicksey » Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:35 am

fyfin wrote:Lol. I forgot about the security code
The first smaller payment has been received OK here so I have been in to transfer the rest but I didn't need a security code just now when I logged in. Went straight in with just my password so hope I was into the proper site :? The transfer I did is still pending and I got a message on the website to say it is taking longer to process :eh: .

Edit: now have the email to say the transfer has been made. Just odd that I have logged in a number of times and never needed the texted security code.

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Re: Transferwise Borderless account

Postby fyfin » Mon Jan 07, 2019 5:16 pm

I think it might be when you have a new payee. I'll have to do another transfer to test it but it makes sense I suppose as you've verified the account is correct that you are transferring to.
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