In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
We bank with Banca Toscana in Lucca and we only have praise for them. Everyone is delightful and helps enormously. Yes, there are charges but worth the service we receive in return.
Italian Banks
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 11:13In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Well, I'm glad you have had a better experience than I, but charges in excess of £100 a year just to pay a few bills cannot be worth it, no matter how good the service.
Perhaps your bank charges are more reasonable?
We are closing our acct with Monte dei Paschi
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 12:55In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=IRITALIA;102468]I wonder if anyone has had any bad experiences with the Banca dei Monte Paschi di Siena? :veryconfused::no::yes:[/quote]
I have recommended [url=http://www.intesasanpaolo.com]Caricamento in corso...[/url] just a few days ago on this Forum, explaining that we have been paying OUTRAGEOUS charges with MPS for past 10 years but you have to be registered with the Comune as resident in Italy to get the San Paolo Zerotondo, no charge account apart from the State tax of about 8.55 eu a quarter.
The MPS bank's staff are charming but the charges did not change (the staff did frequently). You are on a hiding to nothing if you think you can complain to a banking ombudsman!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Any non residents account with any bank costs alot more than a residents account - the same is true of the MpS. I have banked with the MpS for years, and though they are not the cheapest, the service and internet banking is worth the few euros more. However, if you are transferring money to Mps from abroad bear in mind that since this March any transfer of over 50.000 euros incurs a charge of 0.15% of the balance. Under 50K and its 16 euros.
For the rest, like everything else in italy, its worth getting your residency and then the accounts are fairly cheap and you only wince with the tasse and bollo that must be paid.
Residents are paying MPS far too much!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 13:31In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Caro Ram may I assume that you are Italian and you are of course running a business in Sicily? Therefore you are in a strong position to negotiate with MPS. We have moved well over a million pounds sterling to Italy over the past 10 years and have had residenza since 1998, so you'd think that we could negotiate better terms.....but no. Whilst in Sicily for a month last year, we hadn't realised that we should have told our local MPS that we would be using Sicilian Cashpoints so our Bancomat card was stopped. A very charming young man in Santo Stefano sorted it out but the bank's charge was out of order. As I said in another thread, we paid around 550 eu in charges for perfectly ordinary transactions last year (we only transfer £5000 worth of euros a time) and this year so far the charges are over 300 eu plus 8.55 a quarter unavoidable State tax. We use the MPS online banking and have no need to go into the bank. Despite our attempts to discuss the charges, with the ever changing Managers, over the years little has changed. Now at last we have Intersa San Paolo group's cashpoints fairly nearby and so have changed to an account where we pay next to no charges. Again I thank who ever posted the info here. At last banking in Italy is becoming seriously competitive.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
papstonch - there are two organisations who may be relevant... patti chiari is an organisation to ensure good standards with the banks
the other is ABI - the Italian bankers association
In addition to the charges mentioned above other common ones are :
- monthly charges (you can get an account with no monthly charge)
- internet use
- bank transfers, direct debits, standing orders, cheques
- cash machine withdrawals from other bank atm machines
- each line on a statement (meaning a cost for each time a debit card is used)
However the worst for me is the one mentioned above charging 0.10 - 0.15% on large amounts CREDITED to an account.
I am happy to give details on how to avoid all the above charges.
As Noble says at least banking in Italy is starting to get competitive.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=Noble;102518]I have recommended [URL="http://www.intesasanpaolo.com"]Caricamento in corso...[/URL] just a few days ago on this Forum, explaining that we have been paying OUTRAGEOUS charges with MPS for past 10 years but you have to be registered with the Comune as resident in Italy to get the San Paolo Zerotondo, no charge account apart from the State tax of about 8.55 eu a quarter.
The MPS bank's staff are charming but the charges did not change (the staff did frequently). You are on a hiding to nothing if you think you can complain to a banking ombudsman![/quote]
Yes, I guessed as much! (about complaining to the authorities)
Thanks for the information about the residents' no-charge account, but I'm not intending to take up permanent residence any time in the near future.
alternative banking?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 11:23In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
wow!! Do you really get charged for putting money into your account? Some banks here in america have tried to pull stuff like that but there are banks that operate solely online that allow you to take funds from other bank's atms for free, they don't charge anything for taking money out or putting money in, and they have interest on some checking accounts. If anyone is interested i can give you the link (although i don't know hoe complicated it would be to bank with other currencies besides the dollar) its worth a try though.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=papastonch;102505]Well, I'm glad you have had a better experience than I, but charges in excess of £100 a year just to pay a few bills cannot be worth it, no matter how good the service.
Perhaps your bank charges are more reasonable?[/quote]
Keep in mind that it is not all bank charges. There are some taxes from the Italian government as well and they are quite high. I still think that if you get a reliable service and you do not have to pay reconnections, etc. it is worth the expense. I cannot advise you in your area, but check all the banks within a reasonable distance from your home in Italy. The Banca Toscana is part of the Monti di Paschi group and they are in the "patti chiari" association. Perhaps your local bank at Carrara is a smaller institution and they do not offer any advantages. We also have Internet access to our account free of charge.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=iTALY BOUND;104534]wow!! Do you really get charged for putting money into your account? Some banks here in america have tried to pull stuff like that but there are banks that operate solely online that allow you to take funds from other bank's atms for free, they don't charge anything for taking money out or putting money in, and they have interest on some checking accounts. If anyone is interested i can give you the link (although i don't know hoe complicated it would be to bank with other currencies besides the dollar) its worth a try though.[/quote]
Italy Bound
When I first moved here 5 years ago I tried opening an account with Citibank, all funds being transferred from a UK bank. They didn't want to know.
There is now significant pressure on all banks under the anti-mopney laundering legislation to 'know your customer'.
You end up having to be physically present to sign up and as far as I know US banks neither have a significant network in Italy nor agreements to provide free ATM withdrawals.
I wonder if anyone has had any bad experiences with the Banca dei Monte Paschi di Siena? :veryconfused::no::yes: