Is Intesa San Paolo Bank Fee Free and available to non residents?

estherina34 Image
12/08/2009 - 07:47

hi there,i think Intesa Sanpaolo do a free account called Zerotondo by the looks of it on their website...but im a non resident and not sure i qualify to open such an account.......does anyone know please..? same applies to a poste italiano account,i belive you have to be a resident.. reason im looking is,i have a property in italy..and have bills to pay,but my fee for using a transfer company is £12.50 per bill..which adds up!! any ideas guys!!?

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Ciao, I have an account with Banca Intesa ( now part of Banca di Napoli). As a non-resident I pay around 200 Euros annually to service the account. It  includes internet banking (to some extent anyway). Careful use of cash points and payment options could reduce this I expect. I will be looking to change to a lower cost account in future, as regards the Zerotondo I know nothing, but I bet non residents don't qualify! However, I'll enquire at the banca later on this month. Regarding bill payments from the UK you can do better, try TORFX . Ciao for now Billy

In reply to by bunterboy

  thank you your reply..they giving mixed messages as we phoned customer services in milan and they say we can open a zerotondo account as non residents....as always nothing is traight forward there!ha..arrrrgh!!

Hi there,   Not sure if this would be any use to you, but I am about to move out to Italy and am going to look at opening up a Euro Account with HSBC, with whom I bank in the UK. I will transfer a lump sum from Sterling to Euro, and then be able to withdraw in the local currency without having to convert everytime, and probably without charges. Monthly fee is £3. Still need to go into the branch to discuss, but sounds like a good options from reading about it on their site. J

From the HSBC website for Italy; Personal Banking / Commercial Banking HSBC regrets to inform that it does not offer personal or commercial banking services in Italy, at this moment in time. which is what my local Premier branch manager told me as well. Be interesting to see how you get on. Terry

Hi Terry, You could however look at their range of Expat Accounts, or Offshore Accounts, which as a Premier customer, can be set up for no charge I believe. What I am going to look into is having a Euro Account which is linked to my UK Bank Account, but that will allow me to access the funds in Italy. Internet Banking etc should all still be possible I think, the only bit I am unsure about is whether I get an ATM card with these accounts. http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/travel-international For bill payments, that are needed by the OP, something like this could be the solution - http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/current-accounts/more/international-current-account Will check in more detail when I have some time and write back if I make progress. I am only moving to Italy at the start of February, so will do this in January I think. J