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Best way to bank between UK and France?

My daughter will be doing her 3rd year in a French University (Perpignan) What is the best way to regularly transfer money and minimise charges and exchange rate costs from UK to France, are there any banks that have branches in both countries that have any sort of scheme in place?

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  • 9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    I know this method will seem strange but it is a possibility.

    Let her set up an account in UK which will provide her with a pre-loaded Matercard. (I use the one provided by FairFx - issued by the Newcastle Building Society and highly recommended by newspaper travel columns). I use it for holidays in France but it could be used for your requirements. You set up the account and are issued with a Mastercard and PIN. You then load the card from you own account using the internet. The card is preloaded in euros which means that there are no charges in France because there is no exchange needed. (The Mastercard would, of course, be in your daughter's name.) Another advantage of this method of taking money abroad is that, should the card be lost or stolen, the finder/thief would only be able to use it to remove money up to the amount loaded on the card - and then only if he knew the PIN.

    Then, each month, for example, you would be able to reload her card from your account on FairFx's website. FairFx also promise to give you the best possible exchange rate when you reload the card. The card can be used like any Mastercard in shops, restaurants, etc. and can also be used at ATM's to withdraw cash.

    As I said, an unusual method - but it could work for you.

  • 9 years ago

    we have a home near perpignon ..we have a bank account with local french bank ..banque.populaire ..barclays in uk ..we just transfer one to the other ..we allso have local bank credit card

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