Skip to content
EnjoyCompare
EnjoyCompare
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Ed Testing
  • Greg Test
  • Home
  • Mortgage

Keep Your Bank Account When Moving Overseas

Money Transfer / By Edavieswork

Overseas Banking

Making a move overseas is always a stressful experience – packing up all of your belongings, giving up your current accommodation and having to take care of whatever financial responsibilities you might have. In fact, one of the main concerns of any expats, when they move, might be their access to money since the rules of opening an account in a foreign country may be different from what you’re familiar with at home.

One of the biggest mistakes expats make when they move overseas is closing the bank account at home and cancelling their credit card accounts. This is because you never know when you may be required to come back to your home country and that it may not be as easy to open a new bank account as soon as you like. While you would likely open a new bank account when you move to a new country, there are some compelling reasons for keeping a home bank account as well.

Our Money Transfer Top Three

[ec_multiple_list ids=’8640,10268,8625′]

Reasons to keep a home bank account

Paying ongoing subscriptions and bills

Depending on your situation, you may have ongoing bills/services/debts you have to pay for. For instance, if you have a house in your home country, you’ll likely need to continue servicing your mortgage. Having a home bank account for this is definitely preferable compared to paying from an overseas account as you’ll likely incur a huge amount of fees by interbank transfer. Or perhaps you are renting out your current place and require your tenants to pay rent to a bank account. Again, paying it to a local account will help you save on transfer fees, as well as the cost on foreign exchange.

However, do remember to check that your bank does not charge you any fees for maintaining an account with them. If so, switch to one that’s free of charge. You might also consider switching to a bank that allows for multicurrency bank account or has branches both in your home and new country.

Before you leave, remember to change your mailing address to a trusted family member/friend’s place since the letters can be confidential. If not, you can always request for online correspondence.

Convenience when you come home

You might be gone for an indefinite amount of time, but most expats pay a visit home once in a while, or you might even go home more frequently if you haven’t moved too far away. Keeping a home bank account means it’ll make things easier when you go home – being able to withdraw cash for usage in local currencies without extra fees or to pay with a local debit card when you are out shopping or dining.

Maintain credit history

If you are going to be away from home for a while and decide to cancel all your bank accounts, you may face difficulty with opening a bank account when you come home. For certain countries, they may be more stringent with their account opening criteria, especially if you’ve been away for some time. When you come back, it could be difficult to open credit lines so if keeping a bank account at home incurs no cost, you might want to keep it there for future convenience.

One less thing to worry about when you move back home

Moving overseas can impose quite a bit of hassle, but the same goes for making a move back home. Imagine that you’ve cancelled your bank account at home and you want to transfer your funds from a foreign country back to your home country. How would you do that without an existing bank account? While going through third-party services may work, there could be substantial fees involved in the transfer, as well as incurring exchange rate loss. It’s also not wise to bring with you a huge wad of cash back home with you physically. Thus, having a bank account in place to use for credit purposes, moving money and paying for things at home will definitely help in the transition.

The above makes some compelling reasons to keep a bank account at home if there are not much of a cost involved to maintain one. It’d also be wise to get an online access to ensure you can carry out transactions between both countries.

Post navigation

← Previous Post
Next Post →

Recent Posts

  • Best Standard Chartered Credit Cards in Singapore
  • Best Citi Credit Cards in Singapore
  • Best American Express Credit Cards in Singapore
  • Advantages of an Online Money Transfer Service
  • Tips for Finding the Right Home Loan

Recent Comments

    Archives

    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • September 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012

    Categories

    • Broadband
    • Credit Card
    • Home Loan
    • Insurance
    • Money Transfer
    • Personal Finance
    • Personal Loan
    • Savings Account
    • Travel Insurance
    • Uncategorised
    • VPN

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
    Copyright © 2023 Helen Pritchard
    Website by Built By Ed