opening European savings account

[slaveofone]

Just looking for advice, opinions, whatever relevant information or thoughts you might have.

I’m a permanent resident of the U.S. I visit Europe for several weeks every three or four years. I thought it would be nice to open a savings account with a European bank in Euros. The idea is I’d let the money sit there and gain interest in the foreign account over time while I'm away. Then whenever I head to Europe, I’d have immediate access to funds and ATMs without the need of conversion. In addition, since I wouldn’t be touching the money except when I visit EU countries, I wouldn’t be tempted to spend the money and it could become sort of a small long-term investment as well. Can anyone help out with the logistics of this idea? What are some really big banks that have branches and ATMs in many different countries? Is it possible to do something like this without being a resident? What about fees? I’ve heard that bank fees are a lot more in the Eurozone than they are in the U.S. and that would probably defeat the purpose of holding money there. Anyone with experience doing something like this? Anyone thought about doing it themselves?

[Little Shepherd]

Savings accounts are crappy investment plans. Seriously. Look into mutual funds or something -- anything but a savings account. For having a foreign account, you're looking at extra work for no return on the effort.

[slaveofone]

Savings accounts are crappy investment plans. Seriously. Look into mutual funds or something -- anything but a savings account. For having a foreign account, you're looking at extra work for no return on the effort.

The savings part of it is only an afterthought. What I would really want is an account in Euros that I can draw from whenever/wherever I go in the Eurozone. I would do the mutal fund thing if I could pull up to an ATM in England or Scotland or Ireland or whateveryou and instantly pull out money from my mutual fund without having to go through the whole conversion process and without incurring fees.

[Telleriab2]

The thought has crossed my mind, actually.

So has buying property in France.

Maybe someday.

[damienl]

I'm not sure all countries make it easy for non-residents to open bank accounts. Your best bet is probably Luxemburg or Belgium, where there are many foreign workers.

Here's a couple websites to get you started:

http://www.ing.be/private/topics.jsp?topic=expats&docid=036187_EN&menopt=the|exp|non
http://www.ing.lu/public/servlet/navigation?SPAGE=/webpages/chap5/c0501010101.jsp&LANGUAGE=EN
http://www.dexia-bil.lu/webquotes/index1.asp?h=1&lang=fr&menu=spar&href=htm/part__home.asp?lang=fr

[nickcopernicus]

Just looking for advice, opinions, whatever relevant information or thoughts you might have.

I’m a permanent resident of the U.S. I visit Europe for several weeks every three or four years. I thought it would be nice to open a savings account with a European bank in Euros. The idea is I’d let the money sit there and gain interest in the foreign account over time while I'm away. Then whenever I head to Europe, I’d have immediate access to funds and ATMs without the need of conversion. In addition, since I wouldn’t be touching the money except when I visit EU countries, I wouldn’t be tempted to spend the money and it could become sort of a small long-term investment as well. Can anyone help out with the logistics of this idea? What are some really big banks that have branches and ATMs in many different countries? Is it possible to do something like this without being a resident? What about fees? I’ve heard that bank fees are a lot more in the Eurozone than they are in the U.S. and that would probably defeat the purpose of holding money there. Anyone with experience doing something like this? Anyone thought about doing it themselves?

I have an account in Germany, but it's an American bank. What you can do is open a bank account in Switzerland.

Cheers,

Nick