Leaving Germany and transferring money back to UK

I am returning to the UK long-term at the end of this month after three years here in Germany and would appreciate any advice on the best way of moving my money.

I have a current account with the German Citibank in which I've saved a fair amount. I intend to close this just before I leave, as I presume I would need a German address to keep it running afterwards (which I won't have). My accounts back home are in sterling (LloydsTSB and Nationwide).

My plan is 1) within the next few weeks to move from the Citibank all but the deposit I need to keep the account 'cost-free' until I close it; and 2) keep my fingers crossed that I can go into the local branch on the day before I leave; 3) swiftly close the current account and the accompanying credit card account (which will have been paid off within the next couple of weeks) -- I've scrupulously checked the fine print, and there's nothing to indicate that I can't do this --; and 4) ask for the remaining balance (which I hope will also include my final month's salary, due to be paid in on that very day) in cash. (I know that keeping this sum in cash probably isn't cost-effective, but my salary is modest, and I'm sure I'll be visiting Euro-land again before too much inflation has taken hold )

I can find nothing on the citibank.de site about international transfers to anything other than another Citibank account. I presume this means that such transfers are above and beyond the free service that comes with this account. From reading other postings here, I have gleaned that LloydsTSB might charge me for transferring Euros into my UK account (not sure how up-to-date or certain this info is, though). Would registering with somewhere like moneybookers.com and making a transfer to myself be a much better option? I have just taken a look at the Moneybookers website, but my head is now spinning: if it *really* only costs less than one Euro to transfer a five-figure Euro sum, then this sounds ideal ...but what about the business of converting the Euros to pounds, wherever down the line that happens: is there much difference between the rates? And are there other charges I haven't factored in? For that matter, are there any more obvious / simpler options which have eluded me?

Any advice via this board or personal e-mail would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks.

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That they do not do, unless they've changed the rules since last week.

I have transferred money to from my german bank to other people in Ireland, Estonia, Holland and France and use the IBAN system which is between Euro Nations ( I Think). On your bank statement it should give you the IBAN and BIC code numbers you need as well as your usual bank account number etc. Any problems the bank should know. Doesnt cost much compared to normal when transferring money. Usually take 2-3 days

Citibank will transfer funds to the UK and you will incur no charges either from Citibank or from your bank in the UK. The funds will arrive at your British bank and they will convert those funds into Sterling using their exchange rate of the day.

At this point you are at the mercy of your bank, although generally speaking the exchange rate is OK. You might want to compare your bank's rate of exchange on any given day with that of Nationwide, who offer one of the best exchange rates. If the difference is significant, you might want to consider opening up one of their current accounts, especially as you can then immediately shift the funds into their linked e-savings account, which offers one of the best interest rates on the market.

Incidentally, I wouldn't assume that you can't keep the Citibank account open. It is worth asking at your branch about this, although you may well decide you have no need for a bank account here. With cash withdrawals from Nationwide free at every ATM in the world, that may well be the case.

Not in my case with re. to Citibank/HSBC UK transfers. Citibank doesn't charge, but HSBC does charge commission (with IBAN/BIC transfer).

NoPlaceLike - why don't you just open a Citibank UK account, do the transfer with presumably no commission charged, and then transfer to another UK bank once your money is in the country.

I already have a Nationwide current a/c linked to e-savings, so this sounds like a good way to proceed -- thanks for all the advice so far! Please keep it coming if you have anything to add.

I did consider opening a Citibank a/c in the UK as an interim measure, and as a way of having easy access to Euros in the future, but the conditions seem very offputting (would they accept me, as I have no guarantee that I'll be earning any kind of salary for some time? Plus their UK Euro account yields no interest at all!) I suspect it would take me some time to do this postally, anyway. It took me long enough to succeed in opening the German a/c but that's another story: details on request!

Must be a different HSBC to whom I bank with in the UK then.
They receive money from my german account every month and credit it in GBP at the going daily rate.
No comission.

They may charge you for closing the account. That happened to me once with one of the big german banks. They give you one last fleecing before they let you go. I was furious about it and said to the clerk, if Id known about this closing fee I would have emptied my account the day before I came in to close it. She replied "in that case we would have to report you to the Shufa!" Nice way to treat your customers.

That happened to me. Postbank wanted DM 10 (EUR 5 for new kidz) to close my old current account with them and I refused to pay.
I reduced the account to DM 0,01 then slid the card across the counter and left.

They reported me to SCHUFA.

But I wrote explaining the situation to SCHUFA and I've since got credit no hassle.

My recommendation would be to keep your Citibank German account open for a while and open a Citibank UK account. Citibank UK allows you to have not only an GBP account, but also a Euro account in the UK.

You can then transfer Euros from Germany to the UK and then between your UK accounts in different currencies.

Be careful: There are limits set by the EU as to how much you can transfer between countries in any one day, even if it's your own money between your own accounts!
You may have to transfer your money over a period of time.

Could just be a different type of account maybe...? or they're havin' a laugh at my expense...

Mine is a standard personal current account with HSBC in the UK so if yours is the same chase 'em up.

HSBC, the least worst of the UK banks.

HSBC -- the least worst of the 'Big Four' UK banks.

Which of the small ones are better?

Co-Op has slightly less dodgy practices and investments
Bank of Scotland, dodgy right wing Xian fundies
Heard bad things about the Halifax.

Not sure on RBS. Nationwide is still owned by its members which is a bonus.

I'm concerned about Malt-Teaser's advice (though grateful for it!):

(quote) "Be careful: There are limits set by the EU as to how much you can transfer between countries in any one day, even if it's your own money between your own accounts!
You may have to transfer your money over a period of time."

Can anyone confirm this / give more precise details of the amount concerned? Would this really mean that I'd have to go back and forth to the bank for a few days (as there's no sign of an online transfer facility for non-German non-Citibank accounts on their website)?

The problem with keeping the German Citibank account open would be that I'd surely have to close it or deal with some paperwork or something in person at some point in the future, and I am not going to be in Germany after the end of this month. They also send statements etc. to my current address every month, and I am not too keen on the idea of the next tenant receiving these -- or worse still, the post office returning them to the sender when my name is no longer on the letterbox! When I first attempted to open the account and the bank insisted on sending me a plethora of letters, secret numbers and cards, they refused to accept my British address (where I was about to go for three weeks!), and I can't see this being any different now...

The free EU transfer is limited to IIRC EUR 12 500 per transfer.

When I had to transfer a larger sum, I just made the transfer in multiples of that but I did them all on the same day.

Well, I don't know if Citibank have different rules as I've never banked there but usually the German banks require 3 MONTHS notice to close an account!!! Nearly everything requires this length of notice here which is a real bummer. So, I'm not sure you could just turn up and demand the balance in cash - maybe that's where a charge is incurred???

Just found out that you can now (as of 01.01.06) transfer up to EUR 50.000 to another EU country using IBAN/BIC for either inland bank charges or in most cases for free.

(In response to MadGibson's last postings) : I thoroughly checked all of my paperwork from Citibank three months ago, having had to give three months' notice on a couple of other things. There is no mention of having to give them any notice. (It is a current account, called 'CitiBest', not specifically a savings account, I should add.) Prior to banking with the Citibank I had a current account with the Sparkasse, which the Citibank 'helped' me to close, free of charge (unless *they* picked up a charge?): there was nothing about three months' notice there, either. Now I'm getting worried, though, as I find dealing with all of these bureaucratic hurdles very difficult at the best of times... Relieved to read the second posting, though. I am well within that limit, but above 12000, which was mentioned elsewhere in a different context.

If you are doing chunkier amounts try these guys:

http://www.fxsolutions.co.uk

http://www.axiafx.com

No limits, and better FX rates than the high street banks of course. Pretty much live spot rates, you only lose maybe 50 pips max on a trade.

Alliance & Leicester and Nationwide probably have the best current accounts on the market. Other products vary from bank to bank, but only rarely do any of the Big Four (NatWest, Barclays, HSBC, LloydsTSB) offer a good deal.

On topic, I've never heard of having to wait 3 months to close a current account.

To compare rates and deals go here:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/

I personally like Alliance & Leicester and Abbey for cheap business banking - but also good for private stuff.

Cahoot is also excellent (owned I think by Halifax) as they offer decent interest rates, not this 0.25% rubbish from the big boys.

@STB

UK Banks aren't so bad. Lloyds give me a free account, and also a saving account where I can move money out and in when ever I want with a 5% interest rate. If I kept more than 4000UKP in the main account (which I don't, cause I would rather get 5% interest on it), I would get free AA cover, free travel insurance, free mobile phone insurance and a load of other extra's.

People would kill for that here in Germany.

I wouldn't want the down side of all theese "free" extras like getting charged £60 a day if your go overdrawn by mistake etc.

I was overdrawn on my Postbank account and got slapped with about 40 euros worth of charges. If I had a over draft this wouldn't have happened, but isn't this the same in the UK too? I'll trade virtually 0% interest accounts with bank charges and no extras for the risk of being charged alot when over drawn any day.

@MonksTown,

I found out that the overdrawn charges in the UK are effectively illegal i.e. not tested in court.

That means if a bank has charged you stupid amounts for going over drawn (You can go back a few years as well) you can write them a letter asking them to refund the amount or justify that the £10 o/d a/c has cost them X to charge that amount. You mention that you are willing to go to court in order to prove this case and 10 times out of 10 they will repay you!!!

It seems that these charges are likely to be illegal but the banks don't want a ruling saying so as they would cut off a great revenue source. So unfortunatley it is only clued-up people who don't pay these charges.

One down side is they may ask you to leave the bank if they want to be arseholes!!!

I got this information on a article on GMTV a month ago!!! The Expert who advised it said he'd had 100% success in getting the money back...

@Hutcho: I agree that all banks in the UK offer better products than the banks in Germany; my point was that everything is relative, and by UK standards some banks offer better products than others. The reason that UK banks can afford to offer better products than German banks is simply due to the fact that there are far more people in debt in the UK -- the 5% interest rate you and I are receiving on our savings is funded by some poor bastard with unpaid credit card bills or a 95% mortgage.

Just heard on the news that the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) are to investigate the UK banks for their O/D charges...it said they want to find out why they do and can charge more than £12.5 for a letter!!!

Probably for the same reason that lawyers charge £50 for a letter -- because they can.