Offshore bankig - basic questions
Thinking about it.
Did they give you a debit card so you can get your money from any branch in the world without transfer costs?
When converting from currency to another currency do they have any charge or fee? are exchange rates according to the market?
In general, is it worthy the headache?
Wow, that is really high fees. My bank charges 50 dollars for a wire transfer of any amount. Taking out money with my debit card is only a five dollar fee. Maybe next time you are home, you should look at changing banks or something.
I hope my problem was how to hide 100K EUR
:)
War looking for peace,
is like fornication looking for virginity.
Your way is more or less how Im doing now.
I have my account in my home country and I have a QNB account here.
Problem are the fees. To get money with my home debit card in Qatar is as expensive as 8% (minimum 15 EUR) (I have not even thought about getting the cash with the credit card).
And wire transfer are around 5%.
Sometimes, I take advantage of some of the trip going and back to my country so I bring an amount of money enough for a couple of months here in Qatar. But Im tired of carrying cash money, and I dont like... I dont feel safe.
Thats why I was thinking about offshore banking, but as far as I understand from comments above and everything I read it looks like I was wrong and it doesnt fit to my needs...
War looking for peace,
is like fornication looking for virginity.
Your story sounds a bit strange. If all you want is access to your money anywhere in the world, you can just use the debit card for your bank as long as it has a cirrus or interac symbol on the back of it. The exchange rates from ATMs are about as good as you can get and the fees are minimal or nothing to use the ATM.
Getting an offshore account really isnt worth it unless you have over 100 000 dollars to put in. HSBC may not even open an account unless you have this minimum amount. Even if you do have that, offshore banks charge a lot of fees for money transfers, etc. Also, you have to keep your money tied up in the account because you cannot go below the 100 000 dollar limit without getting hit by more fees.
Furthermore, it is not wise to be far from your money. Offshore accounts generally do not insure your deposit. So, if that bank goes under, you are screwed. This is in contrast to domestic banks that would insure your deposit because it is backed by the government.
The only reason to have an offshore account would be because you want to hide a large sum of money/investments from your government, business partner, wife, etc. You might also use it if you were a citizen of a country like Nigeria or something that is unstable and not trustworthy.
The only other reason I can think of is if you were a true expat who was unable to open a bank account/credit card in your home country and in the country in which you are residing.
Personally, I just use my home bank account because it is in a stable country. My QNB account is used just for local payments/credit cards. I get cash for day to day living from home via the ATM here in Doha. If I need a large amount, I get it wired from home to my QNB account.
Well, obviously it was not my idea to use offshore banking for daily payments.
My country is not unstable, neither Qatar (I think).
I cant evade taxes as they are deducted directly from salary and Im receiving only the nett.
My idea with offshore banking, was to take advantage to get access to my money here, there or anywhere in the world. Avoiding as mucha as possible fees and optimizing the exchange rates.
Meanwhile, it could be nice that while money is in the bank would get me something: nice interest rate, or time deposits...
Maybe Im asking for too much?
War looking for peace,
is like fornication looking for virginity.
So far as I know, you will have to pay some sort of fee to access an account from outside the country where the account is held - fees vary, check with your bank.
Exchange rates are according to the particular bank, they are usually similar to other banks in that country on that particular day - so yes, they are "market" rates but in that country.
Signature line > "You can't fix stupid"
best talk to one of the relationship managers of hsbc. they specialize on international acct opening and offshore accts
Why would you use your offshore account for your daily cash?
Then, how d'you get your cash?
War looking for peace,
is like fornication looking for virginity.
Never asked for the debit card.
There is no charge on currency exchange. Generally market prevailing rates are applied.