mdoe

Which Bank for primary checking account is best for an American moving to AD? Something where I can easily convert my AED to USD to pay bills back home or where I can transfer money out of the account freely.

mikewot

You are asking this question on the BritishExpats website????

mdoe

@mikewot I'm sure I am not the only american that uses this site for information

mikewot

You are possibly not but your question is oriented very much towards those from the Virginian Colonies and I'm certain would be much better answered by your fellow countrymen on a website specifically for them, as opposed to a British website

Sorry I probably did not sound especially helpful. To translate your question and give an answer (because yours is the type of question which has been asked about 1,000,011 times previously) most people do not use the banks to transfer money back to their home country (or elsewhere) because you do not get the best rate. You can open an account at any bank (they are generally all as bad as each other, have a search) and use a transfer company such as GCEN to get a better rate.

mdoe

In my search I didn't come across this answer, thanks for being helpful in your second response I will look into some transfer companies.

If there was an American site equal to this I would been on it. :-)

mikewot

We British are quite experienced at colonising the world, happy to pass that on to you whippersnappers.

norsk

Citibank are probably pretty good for Americans (and others that already have accounts in their global network). Also they give better forex rates and quicker transfers than most banks here, probably because they are not a local bank. I have even found that they sometimes have better forex rates (shock horror) than GCEN and the like for my monthly transfers.

flares

Nbad

'not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good' as someone once rapped

mikewot

And there speaks one of the original colonisers of the UK, who taught us all we needed to know before going back home and inventing Lego and Volvo cars.

norsk

From a people perspective you are right of course. My ancestors did massacre and colonise your island(s). You should indeed be grateful of course as you received plenty of culture and bloodlines in return for our visit (blonde women etc).

However. Lego is Danish and Volvo is Swedish so not quite a direct hit on me as a Norwegian. Instead you could have pointed out that Norway owns approx 1% of all publicly traded stock globally. Not bad for a small country of less than 5 million inhabitants....

mikewot

Indeed, thank you very much.
But still of the Scandanavian family
With a huge oil reserve not too far away

Can you suggest anything to do in Bodo? I have a work trip there for a few days. In January!!

norsk

Layers is the key to getting dressed in the Norwegian winter. Much better than just wearing a thick coat as you can take layers off if the temperature changes instead of sweating like a pig....

Winter in Northern Norway is awesome! Cold, but beautiful scenery. And Northern Lights (if you're lucky). Do you ski? There is plenty of that going as you would expect. Ice fishing is also pretty cool if you haven't tried it before.

Check this website: Bodo.no

Or you could just drink. After all the bars are usually full all winter up there (despite the prices).

Brains1983

Some of the banks offer a card that gives you discounts in restaurants. That'll save your average American a fortune I would imagine...

Tramps_mate

Actually norways oil is in serious decline, the two shell fields I work on there are virtually finished and they don't own any more!

Secondly Mike. What banks would you recommend a Brit moving to AD to go for..? Ease of opening etc, can it be done from UK before leaving like I did with an Aussie account? Cheers

mikewot

Do Maccie'ds and BK offer a discount?