8726 Banca Posta

Hi Everyone. Can anyone help with information on opening an account with Banca Posta. We have a house in Italy but only manage to visit from the UK once a year. I note from reading previous threads that opening an account involves several trips to the post office. However, we are going out for a week in May and would like to attempt to open an account then. We need the account in order to pay 2 direct debits (gas and electricity) and it would be essential to have on-line access so that we can transfer money from the UK. We currently have an account with Monte dei Paschi di Siena which only manages to do one direct debit for us (electricity). We were never able to set up the dd for gas despite trying very hard. The bank is far from satisfactory. We did have internet access to it initially but can no longer get through with our password and have been unable to reinstate it. The bank charges for this one direct debit are outrageous.
Because we are only there for one week does anyone know if it would be possible to open an account with say 1000 Euros and then do all the rest of the formalities by email, snail-mail post, etc? I can see you all shaking your heads but if it is possible, what else do we need other than Codice Fiscale and Passport? We would like to go armed with anything they might need.
Any help you can offer would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Helen Warner

Category
Cost of living - Utility Services

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 02/05/2008 - 02:33

Do you have residence? IIRC you need residence for a postal account. It also costs 40 euros a year or something like that just to own the account.

If you have residence various online only accounts that are either free or close to it. Being online accounts they are intended to be used online only. Problem is I'm not sure if any are open to non-resident.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 02/05/2008 - 05:01

I've put some info on the carte post card and transfering funds via paypal in my winter newsletter.

If you send me your email adress (via a pm)I'll send a copy once its ready later this week.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 02/05/2008 - 06:16

Look closely here

[url=http://www.poste.it/bancoposta/contobancoposta/]Poste Italiane - Conto BancoPosta[/url]
and
[url]http://www.poste.it/bancoposta/trasparenza/FI_CBPF.pdf[/url]

No charge to open, running charge of €30,99 - no matter how many transactions.
Online access free.
If you have a friendly post office you should be able to open it. You will find that it takes a while to open an account and achieve online access as secret codes are sent through the post to achieve activation.

Manopello mentions this card, postepay, I believe it is used by a lot of italians; it could be short-term solution.

[url=http://www.poste.it/bancoposta/cartedipagamento/postepay.shtml]Poste Italiane - Postepay[/url]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 02/06/2008 - 15:54

Had pretty good service from Banca di Roma, admittedly they charge you to sneeze but direct debits not difficult to set up and their website works well. A bit quirkily when you are given your password and use it for the first time you are asked to change it! but then all is OK. Post office bank looks OK but my dear - the queues! Good Luck.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 05:45

Hello Helen,
As everyone has already mentioned to open any account here in Italy they make you pay through the teeth for it. For example an italian bank account can leave you short of 100 euros a year. It's not worth it if you arn't living here.
Best way is to bring some euro's with you and go to any bank or post office with your bill slips and pay direct. It only cost 1 euro per transaction and will save you the running costs of a bank or post office account.
Even paying by direct direct they charge you. If you have a friend who lives near your house get them to collect your bills and pay them. I'm sure for a few bottles of wine they wouldn't mind.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 15:18

Well, by the time you have purchased the bottles of wine for the friends, you have made lots of phone calls to check whether the bills have been paid and you have taken hundreds of Aspirin tablets, all the economies you thought you were making are gone... We have an account with Banca Toscana, no problems setting up direct debits, they charge 1 euro a month to have Internet access and if we have any other difficulties we email a person at the local branch and they fix it... no problems. Sometimes it pays to spend a bit more money, particularly when you live permanently in another country. It gives you peace of mind.... and that has a price tag attached.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 17:32

We wanted to open an account at the bancoposta - low annual cost as already has been said. We went in with our Italian friend who translated all the difficult bits. It took over an hour to go through all the forms etc. We failed to open an account for two reasons: - a, we did not have a codice fiscale card, we had a number but not the official card (though we have got one now) and b, we did not have a card/document to prove we were resident in England. Passport does not count, utility bills from the UK do not count, driving licence does not count. It has to be something like the italian ID card. Head office in Firenze were adamant. Even tried a copy of the electoral role - no - not on official headed paper and our local council here in the UK would NOT oblige. So in the end we gave up and just go in to pay the bills when they come. ICI and rifiuti once a year, when it's working ENEL on line with Visa and water when it comes. We have told the water that we are not resident and they said no problem - just pay when you next come over, we will not disconnect you!!

I do not look on this as a negative - just the 'italian way' :bigergrin:

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 02/07/2008 - 22:45

must depend on the branch...I am not a resident...walked in with my CF number (had not recieved the card yet) and my passport...and a copy of my house contract (I think - I know I did not even have the official Atto yet) and I filled out the form (which was pretty much the same as any form from any bank I've ever opened anywhere) and that was that. I had to go back the next day to deposit money and get my check book...and there was a bit of an issue becasue my husband is not a US citizen and does not have a US passport, but we live in the US...they didn 't know how to enter that in - so took an extra day. but still....only took three trips ;-) so not bad. as for doing everything else from abroad...I haven't been able to manage it :-( takes ages to get online banking and I couldn't do it from abroad (tried, but the bank would not give the code that arrived via telegram to my friend in town - even with written permission) - I've called and emailed and faxed...but can't even get my balance from abroad - so just keep good records so I'm not overdrawn (plese, someone fill me in if there's another way?!) set up online billing with the utilites - could pay them online, but just easier not to think about it :-)

p.s. Enel sends my bills directly to me in the US. Water bills gete sent via email. (so, bank statement is the only thing realaly haven't figured out how to get abroad yet!)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 04:26

There is a section in Rome which helps English speakers access elements of their accounts, even to the extent of filling in online forms on your behalf etc.You can write, telephone or email it. Its address is on the main website. Sometimes they try to telephone you back and write to you saying they tried!! Do persist and you will get there in the end.
Your local post office will hold the online banking codes for you and hopefully in time they will be activated when you return. All our direct debits seem to work like clockwork and the online banking is fine. Useful for recharging telephones amongst other things. Keep in touch with your local post office and they will be very helpful once they know you.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 04:45

The bank will send statements abroad, unless you are having things sent to your friends' address. They will also send them c/o the local post office if you don't have a mail delivery. Again your local postie will arrange this. Your access codes for internet banking can be sent c/o the post office for collection when you return to Italy. You can register online as a Bancaposta user (you can get an email address and box this way) and this user name is the one you will eventually use to access online banking. It does all work. Be aware though that your "internet pin" will be needed in position order for all online transactions - takes a bit of getting used to.