offshore banking recs

Hi,

I am always changing money over too and until now have never found a bank that won't charge me (ba*tards!). At the moment i have an online account with Natwest (part of RBS methinks) that has a decent onling savings account (tax free of course!) but I have other GB friends who are with HSBC who have similar accounts.

As for 'popping round' they're rubbish aren't they? I had to sort out something with my student loan and they could only give me free phone numbers that don't work from abroad. Duh!

I'm with RBS offshore but you would need to find out if they offer Turkish Lira accounts (they offer 20 different currencies). Also just opened a local Singapore Dollar account which is very easy and has online banking too - would a local account help?

we used to use HSBC and they were fab - so helpful they made it all very easy

Ok, now I used to work for Lloyds TSB but have to say I think their offshore accounts work really well. You can also link it with an onshore account and not pay anything for IMT's which can be instructed over the phone.

*Edited to say ignore this, they only do dollar, euro and stirling offshore accounts, none in Turkish Lira.

Thanks all - will look at HSBC janeyh, they have a local presence too so that might be a good bet. Hitched in Paris, part of the point of transferring money back is so as not to have it in Lira - the political situation here is volatile at the moment (they're about to throw out the goverment) and the currency value might plummet at any time. Might look into RBS offshore though, cheers.

Kate84, thanks - know what you mean about the 0870 etc. numbers, have you seen saynoto0870.com? They often give you a geographical number as an alternative, really handy.

Thanks, memyselfandi - will check them out, a sterling account is what I want (maybe a dollar one too)

Sorry - doh! I thought you wanted an account to deposit your salary into and use for expenses in Turkey as well as UK transactions.

RBS are not bad at all - I had an offshore bond with First Active for 8 years before they got taken over by RBS. I have a number that I can call and speak to a human, which impresses me (although it probably shouldn't!)

Sorry, I hadn't made it clear at all in my original post that I want the money in sterling! I have a local account that my salary gets paid into.

Cool, you can get a Stirling, dollar and Euro account for the same cost as a Stirling, I *think* it's about £5 a month.

Ah, now that would be pretty handy, and 5 quid a month is bearable. Thanks!