67 Italian Banks

Hi,

I had no problem opening my account with Unicredit Banca. I live here in the UK and only needed my Codice Fiscale, 2 utility bills, and my passport. The biggest hassle about it was the fact that I had to make a day trip to London to present them in person as they wouldn't accept them through the post and also needed to get a signature from me. Still, it was hardly torture.

One thing to note about non resident accounts though: they are only intended for moving money, you don't get a card or cheque book and can only make a withdrawal by going to the bank and asking for the money in person. These accounts also pay no interest and have a monthly standing charge of around 9.25 euros. The banks will also charge you merrily for deposits and withdrawals.

Hope this helps. :roll:

unicredit is [url]www.abbeynational.it[/url] no?

but I still dont understand - are you saying that I have to deposit my euros in the Italian bank account then when I want to buy the house I have walk upto the counter and draw out X Thousands of Euros in cash?

I don't know if Unicredit is [url]www.abbeynational.it[/url] or not.

To answer your question : no, what you have to do is open the account, then when you're ready to transfer a large sum of money over, do it via one of the many international exchange companies here who will give you a very good service with zero commission and a much higher exchange rate than your UK bank will. When the time to complete on your house comes around, go to your Italian bank where the transferred money should now be waiting in your ( very expensive ) non residents account and ask them to make out a bankers draft for whatever amount you have to pay. Hand that over to the vendor in the presence of the Notaio and hey presto, you have a house.

Needless to say, don't try to do all this in a day. Allow a few days for the international transfer as things move slowly in Italy and make sure you go to your italian bank at least a couple of days before the completion date.........just in case.

I've not heard of the need for residency bit about opening a working bank account before either.
I understand the temporary account for the house buying process, but what happens in our case after we have bought the house and live in it straight away.
We will need some sort of acount to pay to have services connected, our pensions transferred and day to day living etc.and this will all be before we get our residency sorted.

We heard a lot of people say the cheapest form of day to day banking is at the Post Office but I believe that you definately need residency for a Post Office Account, so we had intended running a 'normal bank ' account until we get residency and then swopping to the Post Office.

Alex is actually at our bank as we speak, so it will be interesting to see what 'gems' they come up with as Alexs' pension has to be paid into a UK bank account as his company have not set up a system to pay direct to foreign bank accounts yet ( although they are working on that at the moment-----as they already have several pensioners living abroad)

Any thoughts,experiences, as usual , greatly received.

Lyn ( not so near to Puglia as she thought !!!)

Where does one begin with Italian banks!!!???? If you do not have residence then you can only have an Estero account. Once resident you are in a better position. Charges for bank accounts are terrible but for non estero accounts they seem to be negotiable. Be careful if you are going to open an account with the intention of closing it, Italian banks charge to close accounts.

We have just opened a Nationwide flex account in the UK as they allow you to draw cash from hole in the wall machines abroad free of charge and at the banking system exchange rates. Since the account is on line we can manage it from Italy. this might get you over the problem of your husbands pension as an interim measure.

Susi

Thanks Susi,

I had no idea we wouldn't be able to have an Italian Bank account straight away....need to mull the options over now and decide what to do....
Cheers
Lyn

I managed to get a PostePay account with just a passport and Codice Fiscale - that at least gives me Visa Electron, but I am limited to a daily withdrawal of 250 Euro, and daily paying in limit of 2000 Euro

They charge for each ATM transaction 1 Euro, and you get a cheque book to use for free.

Plus internet access.

I have applied for a full BancoPosta account at another branch of the post office but the woman that sorts it out wasnt there on the Saturday when I went there - I dont hold much hope!

Still I managed to arrange a bank account that has a limit on fees set at 20 Euro every 3 months. Again just needed Passport and Codice Fiscale. That was at a high street bank in Italy.

There is no residency requirement for a Banco Posta account. Perhaps you need to try again or get someone fluent in Italian to assist. We have an account with bancomat card. You will find the eurogiro network very fast and inexpensive for the transfer of funds. Good Luck.

Hi. We have opened bank accounts without having Italian residency. We have a BancaToscana account (very high charges, card and cheque book available), and recently opened an account with the post office. We opened both accounts in person, with just passports and Codice Fiscale.

Hello, I currently have a bank accountwith Monte dei Pasche di Siena with very high fees. Can someone tell me the fees for the Post Account as I would like to be able to use this service. Also, can you have any amount of monies in this account, like a checking account and or savings account. Can one arrage to have their electrical and telephone charges withdrawn from this account, do they also give you checks? What are all the fees one would incur? Sorry, for my ignorance...just relocating to Italy next month.

Thanks you.

Banco Posta does pretty much everything a normal bank account would and the charges are much lower (it seems up to a maximum of 30.99 euro a year). for normal operations - you get a current account, a debit card and can arrange to have bills paids through it

hi all there seems to be alot of confusion about wether you have to have a residency permit to open this type of account, unfortunately i cannot shed any light on this, i have been told by my italian solicitor that it is not possible to open a post office account until you are resident or you state your intention to be resident, which you can do and then have up to 18 months to move your main residence to italy. going back to the main point the post office account, that people say they have been able to open are these limited accounts for paying in or are they full accounts, and does the post office operate regional policies regarding the opening of accounts, any ideas would be appreciated. ciao marco

We are trying for an offshore account with HSBC Can anyone give advice whether this works?? I amtold it does with a special bank slot card... You have really worried me with all these problems... Have a reel of questions to ask the bank in UK Janet

I am also with Monte dei Pasche di Siena, when I took out the account the bank manager advised me to pay bills via the post office as the bank is expensive, as I cant get a full Conto Corrente (current account because I am estero/foreigner) I have the Electron VISA based account that you can walk upto to the counter and take away with you the same day. It offers internet banking - but it has limits of €2000 per day that can be paid into the account and a limit of €250 that can be withdrawn per day. So I am planning it for all my bills.

I wouldnt have said Monte dei Pasche di Siena is particularly expensive, they have individual fees for things but the total cost of basic banking is guaranteed not to exceed €20 in 3 months. So I shall just use it for my more major transactions.

A Bancomat card cost €15 per year and a Full credit card €30 per year

sorry just to Clarify - I cannot get the Post Office current account but can get their mini Electron VISA account with internet banking

Cassini is right I had problems opening a BancoPosta Account, went back with my cousin who speaks fluent Italian... It was sorted out straight away all I needed was an Italian address, obviously I could use my cousin’s address.

If you need to move money over to Italy I can recommend FX Solutions on 01689 601111 ask for James Spencer, highest rate, no commission, transfers over £15000 are free and my transfer to BancoPosta Account only took 24hrs.

[url]http://www.fxsolutions.co.uk/[/url]

[QUOTE=Masca]Hi. We have opened bank accounts without having Italian residency. We have a BancaToscana account (very high charges, card and cheque book available), and recently opened an account with the post office. We opened both accounts in person, with just passports and Codice Fiscale.[/QUOTE]

We also have a Banca Toscana account which we opened with our Codice Fiscale and passports. I agree, charges are high also the representaton of Banca Toscana in the UK is most amusing as far as I can tell it consists of one man sharing an office in another bank with a lot of other people all briefed to say he is busy, he takes lunch from 10am to 3am, or at least if I call within those hours I am always told he is "at lunch."

BaTo did mange to lose a payment of £50,000 at one time, which made me feel sick. Fortunately after a lot of complaining the money turned up in Firenze and was eventually transferred to our account. We have only tried to set up one direct debit arrangement (RID) and a year later it still isn't operational and we still pay that bill at the post office. Cheques are limited to a book of 10 but that seems common to all banks, one of our business partners runs a multi-million business and he is still limited to 10 cheques at a time by the bank.

The good news is that we were able to use our account to pay for the house, taxes and the notary fees - no restrictions on the value of withdrawals.

It's important to get practice of how to write a cheque - you must write NON TRASFERIBILE on the face of the cheque to "cross" it, otherwise it may get traded from person to person as cash.

At last - I have got my BancaPosta up and running complete with a Maestro card!

It is funny - I went to one post office and they said I couldnt get one because I am a Foreigner but I went to another and I got it!

So keep trying!

Hi, its the first time i'v used a forum so i don't know if i'm doing this right.
Anyway I live in Pontefract west yorkshire, my wife & i bought a Trulli in Puglia last August. We tried lost of banks in Pulia to open an account & non of them would do it. So the agent that we bought from just took us to the Banca Posta. Hey no problemo, He just told them that we needed an account so we could pay our bills. They were so happy to let us be a Banca posta account holder. It took a few week before we got our Maestro card & dont forget to activate the card at you Local Banca Posta before you use it.

Mark

I have a Non-Resident account with CARIFANO. They have provided me with a Credit Card and BANCOMAT. But, the account attracts no interest.

[QUOTE=tumshie]I have a Non-Resident account with CARIFANO. They have provided me with a Credit Card and BANCOMAT. But, the account attracts no interest.[/QUOTE]

Hi Tumshie

Are there any charges with "Carifano" Or is there such a thing as free banking?

I want to subscribe to SkyItalia and I live in the UK every things fine until I use my UK visa card, has anyone overcome this kind of problem.

cheers

Try contacting Sky Italia's helpdesk, I subscribe using a UK visa card, but I live in Italy, I had to do the transaction using one of their service advisers though, not possible from the site.
Free Banking....Ohh, I remember that from an earlier life, I won't even have a Bancomat card here.

[QUOTE=ronald]Banco Posta does pretty much everything a normal bank account would and the charges are much lower (it seems up to a maximum of 30.99 euro a year). for normal operations - you get a current account, a debit card and can arrange to have bills paids through it[/QUOTE]

I phoned ACI in Rome and was told that as an EC citizen (resident in England) frequently in Italy but not resident that I could register a car in my name at my Italian address provided I could demonstrate that I had a permanent address in Italy. However, local ACI office say that nothing bar residency would do. This seems to be similar to the confusion over Banca Posta: some people having no problem opening accounts and others been told that without residency it was not possible. What constitutes an "officialised address" ... ownership, rental agreement or as in UK: utility bills going back 6 months? Any thoughts anyone?

As I said (I think before) the first Poste said no - and the second said Yes!

I think the confusion at some banks and some post offices is between residency and having a domicile. The latter should be all that is required for EC citizens but (as Michael Caine used to say) not every one knows that.
The same confusion happens with car registration.