3588 No such thing as free banking?

Did you ask for a bancomat card, they frequently sting you for the privilege of having one whether you use it or not, the agent should have been more honest with you, the banks aren't like English ones in any way, no real competition over here...

Is there any reason you can not just use your English account? There are internet banks, but from what I have heard they are nothing but trouble. Like George says, they do charge you for everything and don't tell you unless you ask. When I opened my account, I was asked if I wanted a credit card. It did not turn up and I did not think about it until I noticed the charge for it on my statement.

[QUOTE=yorkshirelass]We've had an account with Banca Toscana for a couple of years but it is little used yet as we are unable to spend any great amount of time in Italy.
However, notwithstanding that we use the account infrequently we are 'stung' for around 30 euros per quarter. The most recent statement showed charges of 45 euros!
We don't mind paying reasonable costs but these seem ridiculous. Quite frustrating when we were told by our agent that the Italian banks charge very little.
Has anyone any experience of a low cost or zero charging Italian bank? Pigs might fly?[/QUOTE]
IF you live here you suffer this and more,we complain about it nationally,locally in the bar and at home it appears according to consumer association research that ON AVERAGE a current account in italy with a normal amount of operations on it costs the holder Euro 638,00 per annum against around 315,00 in Germany and Euro 38,00 UK quite a difference no?
dreams are very expensive these days.

[FONT="Book Antiqua"][SIZE="3"]The reasons for such high fees are??

I presume lack of competition.I remember back in the bad old days paying for a bank account here but now I have 3 or 4 all free and even my biz account is free with a building society.

I thought I had the answer with the post office accounts but they seem to charge about 1.5 euros per transaction! Plus an amount to get your debit card.No wonder so many Italians keep their cash in the mattress.

becky[/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE=Markcarter]Is there any reason you can not just use your English account? There are internet banks, but from what I have heard they are nothing but trouble. Like George says, they do charge you for everything and don't tell you unless you ask. When I opened my account, I was asked if I wanted a credit card. It did not turn up and I did not think about it until I noticed the charge for it on my statement.[/QUOTE]

Mark
you are spot on, I use the Nationwide.
Online you can check your account, also no fees when you withdraw cash abroad.

Any large amount of money I would only use the post office "libretto di risparmio postale" pays interest with instant access and no charges, only problem you will need to go along to your local post office to get your cash.:D

Basically the banking system in Italy, although one of the first in the world, has become very disparate and there have been many problems in the past going back to unification.
In the last century all the banks were in a major crisis after the war and to avoid a complete collapse all banks were nationalised from what I've read.
It was only relatively recently that banks have come out of state control which would probably explain the lack of competition issue.
Don't forget that whichever bank you're with there is a state tax of €8,55 that will be charged to each current account each trimester.This doesn't apply to savings accounts.
But then you have the monthly fee that is just for the privilege of having a bank account and then many banks want to charge you an additional fee if you want to service your account online. They might want to charge for a Bancomat card too.
The trick seems to be to negotiate with your bank manager. I understand that they have a certain amount of leeway in how they can run your account and it's possible to persuade your bank manager to waive or reduce some or all of these fees (except the state tax). You would be in a stronger position if you could tell him/her what sort of balance you will be maintaining and how much and frequently you would make deposits. The more and higher the better of course to persuade them to waive fees.
It's important to do all this before you open the account, as although it's getting easier to 'divorce' your bank and close your account, it's still a very tedious and probably costly affair. Better to have it all sorted out with your manager before you open your account.
I think as well that if you're not resident in Italy there may be further charges. Whether these are state taxes or fees imposed by the individual banks I'm not sure.
Even after you've paid your monthly fee for the privilage of having an account, there may be more fees after that! Many banks allow you a certain amount of 'free' transactions per month (deposits or withdrawals), usually 10. If you make any more, they will charge usually €1 per transaction unless it involves a high amount of money in which case it will most likely be a percentage of the sum involved!
I decided to go with UniCredit Banca as they have a mortgage arm which they bought from Abbey in which they will conduct all matters in English. I wanted a euro mortgage and this seemed a sensible way to go. I also like that it's a national bank (most aren't) and so when I travel around I can get my money from the ATM without fees - most banks charge if you use another bank's ATM.
They also allow me to bank online for free (again many charge for this), and my Bancomat card was free too. The monthly fee is €4 because I want to use the branch for deposits otherwise I could have an account which is only managed online for €1 per month.
I hope this rambling post (much longer than I envisaged!) has been useful.

As I will soon be moving to Italy full-time from Australia:) , I would like to be in a position to open a bank account as soon as possible after arrival. Having read many posts on banking, I admit being a bit confused:confused: . Could anyone advise me of a suitable bank for the following purposes:

1. Receive monthly pension payments electronically in Euros from Australia.
2. Make cash withdrawals at teller machines.
3. Pay bills on the internet.
4. Deposit cheques over the counter infrequently.

I would of course be wanting to minimise fees. I won't need a cheque facility or a loan. I'm assuming that I could arrange a credit card facility independently of the bank. I'll be located in northern Tuscany, near Barga.

UniCredit Banca as recommended by mailrich sounds like it could fill the bill at an annual cost of 48 euro, or 12 euro if I was confident that no-one was going to give me a cheque! That is, of course, assuming that they don't charge for receiving overseas funds.

I had also wondered about the Post Office Bank. Does anyone know how it would compare, or have any other suggestions?

John

John
I think all banks will be able to do everything on your list.
Personally I've received several payments from overseas into my account at UniCredit of small and large amounts and so far they have never charged me to receive money - but never say never in Italian banking!
I know that some other banks do charge - it would be interesting to hear other people's experiences.
I won't name the bank (but they're big in Marche), but my parents have banked with them for years and have lately been receiving periodic funds from overseas. Each time their bank has stung them for some pretty horrendous fees for receiving the money, some of the fees are a percentage of the amount involved, so could end up being considerable.
As your pension will be arriving from Australia (welcome to Italy by the way!) you should choose a bank very carefully and make sure that before you sign the papers (of which there are many) to open an account that they guarantee not to charge you to receive funds from overseas. If necessary get someone to translate for you if possible.
Regards
Richard

Richard -

Thanks for that, the fee for receiving money from overseas is certainly something I must check on, as the thought of losing a percentage of my only income to my bank is not pallatable!

John

Banca Intesa charge to recieve monies from overseas even if you send it in Euros. Actually there seems to be a charge for almost everything! But atleast we have web access so can check and pay bills etc.

Well we would if we could read Italian and knew what we were doing! ;) :D
Such a lot to learn!

I have an account with unicredit banca. So far I've found it impossible to register online to use it and it costs me 9.25 euros a month in fees. They also charge for every single transaction I make whether it be a deposit, withdrawal, bill payment or whatever. To be honest I'm not at all happy about it and feel that it's pretty damn well useless to me. I used to have a German bank account when I lived there. It was equivalent to having a UK bank account.........easy to use, flexible, no fees if you were in credit and super fast service. I just cant understand why Italian banks have to be so crap and make everything so difficult. Is it all down to corruption or something?

Sigh..

If ya don't like it.. you can esily close your account. I'm sure you were all sensible and smart enough to read the terms and conditions before you opened the account - so why all the b*tching about charges after?