who do you bank with?

[shirt]

i am told my residency visa will be here tomorrow so whilst things are still quiet at work i want to work through the list of things i need to do to complete the transition. first up is banking. it seems that banking with the same firm as back home [barclays] is of no consequence as they are seperate entities. i've also been told by every brit i've met to avoid emirates.

i'm looking at uae bank websites now and have to raise a smile at the 'special features' of a debit card and chequebook.

the company i work for bank with standard chartered so that is my first choice [salary clears same day, plus our PRO has been like superman so far and he knows people there]. all i really want is a global debit card, a competitive rate on a car loan and as minimum fuss as possible.

any recommendations?

[dxbtiger]

No experience of standard, I'm with hsbc, missus works for lloyds, suspect they can all be as wk as each other.

Banking with the same people as your employer has the benefits you mentioned plus the co. will listed with them which means a starting point for car finance.

What, more importantly, are you buying?

[shirt]

that's too big a question for the time being, i can't narrow it down! i need to get up to ras and have a look around.

my tastes are for classics, so initially i thought i'd get a 40-50k wrangler and look at getting a weekend car in winter. however if i can find a 60s yank muscle car i can bank on the US aftermarket for a bolt in ice-cold aircon solution. i just have no idea who sells what outside what i see on SZR.

then again i quite fancy a z4 m coupe, or even a z3 breadvan. nissan 350z's are cheap and i'm also tempted by a cayman. a guy at work has a minty guards red 964 turbo that puts even the aston v12 and 997 gt2 in the car park to shame, so that's also a very tempting option that covers all bases. all on this last paragraph would also be trackable.

did i say i can't decide?

[dictys]

I bank with standard and they have been good, any errors have been sorted within a day and money transfers back to uk are done within the hour if within banking hours. Everything done online, with the personnel banking guy coming either to my house or office when I need to sign stuff.

[Asterix]

I have RAK Bank & HSBC accounts here. Rarely go to the branches and do everything online.

They're all as crap as each other so go for the one that has a main branch nearest to work/home.

It's not really the bank's fault - they're completely hamstrung by the federal bank rules and regs plus robust Emiratisation requirements.

[shirt]

i saw an ad for the RAK 'bling' card and immediately put them in the no pile

[Harris_I]

Ditto all the comments about the utter uselessness of banks in the UAE, even the ones with international brands. In the words of Basil Fawlty, "It would be quicker to train an APE!"

[IanUAE]

NBAD, but then that is who the company I work for bank with.

[jezzaaa]

I'm with HSBC, and as a Premier Account holder, they set my UAE saving accounts and cash card up for me before I arrived here...I just had to turn up one day with my Residence Permit to get the current account and credit cards set up. I haven't had any problems with them really, but I think that's because the Premier Associate I deal with is a nice English lady :-) if you can get Premier (entry requirements are probably less harsh than you think) I would say it's worth it, particularly for the global banking iBank features which integrate seamlessly with your other worldwide HSBC accounts if you have them.

[shirt]

i asked at barclays before i came out and was told they couldn't do anything as they are seperate entities.

i likely qualify for private banking now but not sure what the benefit would be for me. i am going to run my UK account purely to serve the mortgage and collect rental income, UAE one will now become my main account.

passport hasn't arrived [shame as christ i'm bored reading product manuals, need something to do!] but so far std. chartered is looking good.

[rickybouy]

Hi there I'm with standard chartered for 6 years and non problems, online banking is also good. I set up an offshore with lloyds few weeks back and was very impressed.

[85Carrera]

HSBC. They're a fking disgrace. But, as has been mentioned above, the others appear to be as bad so I can't be bothered changing (and all the hassle that would entail).

[Gentleman Geoff]

shirt said:

going to run my UK account purely to serve the mortgage and collect rental income, UAE one will now become my main account.

I hear it's not a good idea to have too much of your money in UAE banks. If you have any savings, I would keep this offshore and just use your UAE account for day to day living expenses.

[85Carrera]

Gentleman Geoff said:

shirt said:

going to run my UK account purely to serve the mortgage and collect rental income, UAE one will now become my main account.

I hear it's not a good idea to have too much of your money in UAE banks. If you have any savings, I would keep this offshore and just use your UAE account for day to day living expenses.

Agree with that. I only keep my spending money here; the rest is elsewhere (although not with HsteBC offshore after they "lost" my flat deposit for a few days last year). If things go wrong here, it can quickly unravel and you don't want money stuck in banks here if you have to leave.

[shirt]

offshore as in where? i said main account would be here but once i'm past the spending stage and start saving i will be looking to keep a float and investing the rest but that needs careful investigation as to where/what/how.


edit: blame beer for the very long sentence

Edited by shirt on Tuesday 3rd May 21:21

[85Carrera]

you can either open an offshore account in channel islands or IOM (iirc IOM has better depositor protection) or you can use your UK bank account - get a non-tax coding and you don't pay tax on money in it if earned over here (unless interest and other UK derived income exceeds personal allowance)

[shirt]

still not sorted this. have the right letter from work now, just started looking at banking charges!

anyone know what the min. salary requirement is for barclays premier? need to transfer cash back to my UK barclays account and they do this FOC [std. chartered want 100dhs per transaction].

it's going to be barclays or hsbc. std. chartered seem to charge for everything.

[85Carrera]

who do your company bank with? you may get a better deal with them/have less hassle than going elsewhere

[shirt]

std chartered. i was thinking the same, but they charge even for taking money out of a non SC ATM, and 100dhs for an international transfer, so they can go fk themselves on principle

[yorky500]

jezzaaa said:

I'm with HSBC, and as a Premier Account holder, they set my UAE saving accounts and cash card up for me before I arrived here...I just had to turn up one day with my Residence Permit to get the current account and credit cards set up. I haven't had any problems with them really, but I think that's because the Premier Associate I deal with is a nice English lady :-) if you can get Premier (entry requirements are probably less harsh than you think) I would say it's worth it, particularly for the global banking iBank features which integrate seamlessly with your other worldwide HSBC accounts if you have them.

+1 on their linking and on-line facilities, otherwise, they are as wk as any of the banks here.