Who do you bank with?

[SFchick]

I am relocating to London from the US. Can someone please recommend a good bank? Also, my husband will be traveling a lot through out Europe. Which bank has the most branches across Europe?

[Mrs R]

I'm with the Halifax but to be honest they are all as bad as each other. You may be prob best with HSBC as they are the biggest banking organisation (i think).

[Ethel]

I strongly recommend Nationwide - it is the very best for using the debit and credit cards abroad, with far less fees than others.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/de fault.htm

[Fitzer]

I would suggest Citibank, although they do not have many branches pretty well everything can be done on-line and cheques and the like can be paid in at Lloyds banks as well. The reason I suggest them is that as well as a Sterling current account you can have Euro and Dollar accounts as well and switch money to those at will. You get a USD cheque (check) book that clears through New York so that you could easily pay the folks back home for things and the like. When your husband is in Europe he can switch his ATM card to a Euro account and not get penalised with exchange rates etc. Switching currencies between your accounts online gets you very close to the bank mid-rate as opposed to the tourist rate you get when you change money elsewhere. Just my two pence, cents etc.

[Romaz]

I would also recommend Nationwide, especially if you travel a lot as they do not charge for withrawing money from ATM's, even when abroad.

[spudqueen]

Personally I would choose one of the clearing banks (NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds or HSBC). If you bank at any other bank you will find that when you pay in a cheque it will take a lot longer to clear as those banks (including Nationwide, Halifax etc) have to clear all those cheques through the clearing banks. In fact they have accounts at a clearing bank to clear the cheques through! I don't know about branches in other European countries, but you should be able to use a debit card from any of these banks in a cash machine abroad and obtain cash.

[SFchick]

Thanks everyone....very helpful!

[dzug]

If he is going to travel in Europe a lot, then Nationwide for sure. No ATM fees, and no loading on the exchange rate for credit card purchases.

In any event you don't need to worry about the bank having or not having branches in Europe - in most cases it makes no difference. You can use any bank in Europe and the fees (levied by the UK bank) will be the same.

[jaybee07]

Personally I swear by First Direct, online and telephone banking. They are unfailing courteous, helpful and accommodating. You can draw cash anywhere worldwide with their debit card. The online facility has worked extremely well for me, but when I feel the need to speak to anyone, they are brilliant. I have an identity theft issue, and speaking to them yesterday was put straight through to their very helpful Fraud Dept.