CHOPPER

How easy/difficult is it to get British cheques cashed into a Portuqese bank once you have an account? Thanks.

jdr

If its anything like Spain dont think about it.
My daughter had some for her wedding gifts and the amount of charges was disgusting.

CHOPPER

Thanks for that, the reason I asked is that we are coming out next week to have a look at property between Tavira and Manta Rota with a view to moving permanently, we have premium bonds which ERNIE say they will send any winnings ( I wish ) to our Portugal address, but if it is that much hassle we will be as well cashing them in.

jdr

Why dont you keep the UK account open with a few quid in it just in case you win ;-)

Cleri

We sometimes put an english cheque into our portuguese account.
It varies bank to bank,but ours takes about 3 weeks to clear and costs about 3 euros.
Cx

CHOPPER

Thank you, that sounds better. How are you on medical matters? I put a thread in on the 21st Jan and still waiting for a reply, it is under MOVING TO PORTUGAL.

Cleri

We have private health care and we are in the portuguese health system.
Private care,depends,ours is about 1100 euros per year for the 2 of us,age 53 and 46,we then pay 10% of any costs,ie consultant 70 euros so we pay 7.
Im sure there are loads of policies to choose from.

Local health centre,I pay 2 euros for a prescription (the piece of paper I mean),and then take to pharmacy where I pay a drastically reduced rate for drugs.
Havent had to see a doc yet,but I believe it costs 2 euros.
If you are not in the system you will pay a lot of money for drugs over the counter,Everyone has to pay for prescriptions.

Havent used the system myself as I said,but know people who have and they cannot praise it enough,dare I say,they think its better than Uk.
Dentists: I had a filling recently which cost 45 euros,I have lost touch of prices in Uk,so dont know how that compares.

Some people I know who live here,if they get ill,just present their passport and get treated for a minimum charge ie 2 euros or something.
Hope that helps
Cx

CHOPPER

Thanks Cx, if we can get all the right answers to the medical side then there will be no holding us back. Oh by the way, my dentist went private years ago and I pay £40 for a 10min scale and polish. Also if anybody is thinking of moving from Central Scotland, we have had 3 quotes so far from removal companies starting at £5000 ( self packing ), £3500 and £2200 this does not include storage. AH the hidden costs of paradise !!!!!!!!

Mattiespeople

Hi Chopper
We bank in Portugal with BPI and can walk in with a UK cheque any value up to a sum equal to 500 Euro's they give a very good exchange rate. Do not charge for the transaction and within 5 minutes the money is in the account and you can draw it out from the MultiBanco machine!!! (this is a daily free of charge transaction limit - higher value cheques go to Lisbon to be cleared and do cost not sure how long to clear and how much) -
Like light years ahead of the Uk system.
Cheers

TouristTrap

Banking in the USA is SO ANTIQUATED......it is like being back in the stone age.....

My ma came over on holiday to the States a few years ago, from S.Africa. Well, her bank had run out of traveller's cheques, so they gave her an international bank draft - she banked at a Portuguese bank in S.A. that had a branch in Portugal. Well, they arrive here with the bank draft, present it at my bank, to open an account and you should have seen the looks on our faces when the manager tells us that it will take six months to clear as it has to go back to Africa for approval. My mother proceeded to blurt out, 'Are you sending it by slow boat?' We picked the cheque up, I came home and called the New York office of the bank, sent them the check by priority mail and 2 days later the money was in my account.

My parents couldn't believe it.

I should add Matties, that South Africa had the most amazing banking system bar none, when dealing internally in the country. You'd deposit a cheque at the ATM and the entire amount was available immediately. Here, if you deposit by 2 or 4 pm (depending on the bank) you get it the next day. If you do it after those hours, you get it 2 days later! - so backward!

CHOPPER

Thanks to everybody for this info, now that we have done our homework we now come to the field trip. We fly out on Wednesday to look at areas before we make the big decision ! YES/NO?

Cleri

Good Luck

dollydimple62

wow never even gave a second thought to my bonds!!! I shall look into this.. maybe it will be wise to keep a british bank ope anyway to have the funds in if we are lucky enough to win!

Dolly