#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Thailand and Asia News >  >  > Business, Finance & Economics in Thailand >  >  Lloyds offshore account

## Bung

Anyone use this account? I've looked around and seems ok to me and easy to open. I'm with HSBC USA, would like to get the money out and now I am paid in Euros I need $US as well as euro account which they do. I wouldn't mind using HSBC off shore but they charge 20 quid a month if a "relationship balance" of 25 000 quid drops below that. I'm quite happy with HSBC USA, they have been great but no chance of a euro account with them.

Trouble is the more I look into it the more confused it gets and lots of people slag them off (as well as all the other banks)

The Lloyds account is only US$ 7.50 a month and $100 minimum so pretty good compared to the others. I don't need a "relationship manager".

Alternatively (and preferably) I would like to open a similar account in singapore. I've looked around online and it seems possible but it appears I would need a sing $ account to run the US$ and EU$ from as well as a local address.

I just need somewhere to keep US$ and EU, a debit card, internet banking and send money to my Thai account to keep me going there.

Any ideas appriciated.

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## Bung

This is the account

Lloyds TSB Offshore International Banking, International Account

can have a $US and bang on a EU account for free.

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## EmperorTud

I have a Lloyd's offshore account.

Never had a bother with them really.

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## Bung

As long as I can use it the same as a normal bank I will go for it. Lots of people complaining but then again they probably did something stupid.

Tales of not being able to use ATM's, over the top internet banking security, non existant phone support and lost transfers.

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## Happyman

Got a Lloyds TSB Offshore account in GBP and another in US$
Isle of Man accounts
No problem in 10 years

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## Bung

Ok cheers. Seems to be a positive experience then.

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## Happyman

If you go for the Lloyds TSB   PM me first .
they give a 25 gbp introductory payment to existing customers that introduce a new one!
I introduce you and we go 50% 50% on the bonus !
gotta be worth a few beers !!!! :Smile:

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## Bung

^ Absolutely!

I'm going to go for it but I will have to wait for the mrs to send out a bank statement for proof of address first.

I'll PM you.

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## frank barber

I use them too. After set up they are very good.

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## mrsquirrel

Are you not worried about Lloyds exposure to HBOS now?

HBOS dropped 41% yesterday Lloyds 12%

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## Butterfly

Thanks for the link,

HSBC offshore is a total ripoff, bad service and super expensive,

US banks are usually cheaper and a bit better than those "offshore" banks, surprised they don't offer Euro accounts

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## Whiteshiva

> Thanks for the link,
> 
> HSBC offshore is a total ripoff, bad service and super expensive,
> 
> US banks are usually cheaper and a bit better than those "offshore" banks, surprised they don't offer Euro accounts


I have used Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore for more than 15 years and have both S$, US$ and EUR accounts with them.  Top service, never had a complaint.  Unlike the Isle of Man and the channel Islands, Singapore is actually a place I visit from time to time.  In fact, I am actually planning to close down my Guernsey account with HSBC as I have found them to be completely useless.

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## Bung

> Are you not worried about Lloyds exposure to HBOS now? HBOS dropped 41% yesterday Lloyds 12%


I have no idea what that means....Lloyds shares dropped 12%?

I would like a Sing account as I too visit there from time to time but will need a debit card to use world wide. I guess I would lose a bit using Sing $ in the US and Europe?

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## frank barber

All you guys using Lloyds TSB be aware.

I had two apparently genuine e-mails earlier today asking me to upgrade my internet banking security etc., fortunately when I clicked on the llink supplied, my anti-virus thingy told me it was a known fraudulent site.

Lloyds TSB has a scam reporting facility and I forwarded the mails to them.

Please be careful out there.... :Sad:

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## Butterfly

Singapore is quite a good place for banking, unfortunately, at least in the last 3 or 4 years, they have been demanding in terms of compliance for opening an account. Non-resident can't open an account unless they are sponsored by a local. Some banks plainly refused to open an account with me.

I had to wait another 6 months to get an International Credit Card, service is OK, but it's still better than the "offshore" banks,

no maintenance fee for minimum balance, and Internet Access

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## Bung

Do you know if in Sing you can have a US$ and Euro account and have a debit card off that or do you need to have a Sing $ account? Is it at all possible to open account without a local address?

Cheers for the heads up Frank, always need to be aware when internet banking or any web based thing that requires payment. ebay is a classic scammers playground for example.

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## nikko

Not sure if op is a US citizen-- think it is quite difficult for such to open an account in singers if not resident there with WP.  Never used them but know that Everbank (online bank- post count too low to post link but easy to find) in the US does foreign currency accounts- assuming that "offshore" is not also a goal.

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## Whiteshiva

> Singapore is quite a good place for banking, unfortunately, at least in the last 3 or 4 years, they have been demanding in terms of compliance for opening an account. Non-resident can't open an account unless they are sponsored by a local. Some banks plainly refused to open an account with me.


One may only wonder as to the reason why, Butters.... :Smile: 

Anyway, here are the actual requirements for opening accounts with Std Cht bank, Singapore, with links to the relevant web sites:

Cheque and Save Account - Standard Chartered Bank Singapore

Check & save Account:

Account opening requirements
Nationality: Singapore Citizen / Singapore Permanent Resident / ForeignerAge: Minimum 21 years oldInitial deposit: Minimum S$5,000Documents required: Identity card / Passport
Foreign Currency Cheque and Save Account - Standard Chartered Bank Singapore

Foreign Currency Cheque and Save Account

Account opening requirements
Eligibility 
Individuals aged 21 years and aboveNon-profit / Charitable organisations, clubs, societies and associations

Also, if you have a total amount of more than 200,000 S$ in the bank, you get "priority banking" with a dedicated "minder", which greatly speeds up and simplifies everything.

I guess Butters dropped in with the equivalent of a ladyboy's barfine and was told to get lost..... :Smile:

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## DrAndy

The only reason you may have to be careful with any of the offshore accounts in IoM, Jersey etc, is that they are not covered by the minimum loss agreement by the UK government

so if the bank goes, so does all your deposit

In the UK, at least you get up to 50K guaranteed now

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## Butterfly

> I guess Butters dropped in with the equivalent of a ladyboy's barfine and was told to get lost....


you wish  :Smile: 

other banks (didn't try yours) didn't say specifically on their requirements you couldn't open, but in fact you couldn't, they were all citing some silly MAS directive,

anyway 15 years ago things were different,

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## William

With the British Govt. purchasing 40% of LTSB/HBOS today, account details (re Inland Revenue) of offshore accounts may make interesting reading  :Smile:

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## Bung

> The only reason you may have to be careful with any of the offshore accounts in IoM, Jersey etc, is that they are not covered by the minimum loss agreement by the UK government so if the bank goes, so does all your deposit In the UK, at least you get up to 50K guaranteed now


You sure about that? I think I read that Lloyds offshore was covered up to 35k stirling. I'll try and find it...

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## Bung

^^ They wouldn't be interested in a poor old Aussie living in a rice paddy in Thailand would they?  :Smile:

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## EmperorTud

> Originally Posted by DrAndy
> 
> The only reason you may have to be careful with any of the offshore accounts in IoM, Jersey etc, is that they are not covered by the minimum loss agreement by the UK government so if the bank goes, so does all your deposit In the UK, at least you get up to 50K guaranteed now
> 
> 
> You sure about that? I think I read that Lloyds offshore was covered up to 35k stirling. I'll try and find it...


The Facts About The Savings Guarantee - 29/09/2008

Apparently you are not protected.

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## Bung

Well done Tud, I couldn't find it. Something to bear in mind. It is usually something you would never have to worry about (haven't had to in my lifetime) 

Until now...

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## Bung

Would this not include Lloyds offshore?

The UK government said it would inject up to £37bn of taxpayers cash into Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS 

Link-http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7667342.stm

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## Bung

I'm going to sign up with Standard Bank (Isle of Man) on the advice of companies finacial advisor. Seems ok to me...

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## Fuzzy Bob

The IOM banks arn't covered for single penny. If you have a lump sum put it in an Irish bank for 2 years.

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## Bung

Funny, the advisor told me they were and I have read the same while researching. Channel Is. banks arn't covered.

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## Bung

^ WTF?

Anyway, back on topic,

Depositor Protection
The Isle of Man has a depositors’ compensation scheme ("DCS2). The DCS partially compensates you if a bank or building society (deposit taker) in which you have deposited money fails. To pay compensation, a DCS fund is created (when needed) from contributions made by other deposit takers in the Isle of Man. Deposit takers are banks and building societies. 
A summary of the cover provided by the DCS is as follows: The DCS compensates people who have money in current and deposit accounts in the Isle of Man with up to £50,000 of net deposits* per individual depositor per deposit taker, if this bank or building society fails. This means that a maximum of £50,000 compensation is payable per individual.* Net deposits: Loans may be netted off against any deposits you have with the same deposit taker. If two or more individuals share a joint account, they would each be entitled to up to £50,000 in compensation. However, if either individual has any other accounts with that same bank or building society, these balances would also need to be taken into consideration, as compensation is limited to £50,000 per individual.

Depositor Protection - Isle of Man Government Isle of Man Finance

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## William

> I'm going to sign up with Standard Bank (Isle of Man) on the advice of companies finacial advisor. Seems ok to me...


Bung, is this Standard Bank or Standard Chartered Bank? Standard Bank is actually a South African bank and is not the same as Standard Chartered Bank - although they were one, Standard Chartered had to sell down its South African operations in the 1980s - for political reasons (as did Barclays).

If it is the South African Standard Bank, then I doubt the deposits will guaranteed by the British government.

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## Bung

Standard (South African) bank.....

I'm still wondering why he recommended it, said it had good customer service ie if a problem with your card while in Thailand you could actually call and speak to a real person and it is easy to set up as I am on a boat and not have to worry about proof of address stuff. he does a lot of accounts for yachties, probably knows someone. He also mentioned Abbey and Nationwide.

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## Butterfly

Can you define "financial advisor" ? do you pay him or does he give you "free" advice ?

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## maciex

I've just came accross this discussion,
I don't have time for reading all the posts, I just wanted to let you know (whoever wants to open the Lloys Offshore account) that exactly today I've sent the letter asking to close the account. I'm absolutely dissatisfied with Lloyds TSB Offshore service.
Probably, I'm just not the right person for this account...... 
But, the decision to open this account I consider as totaly unfortunate....

Probably you will be amused by the following text (I'm not an experienced person in banking and stuff) but this is a part of the letter to the bank explaining my reasons for the requiest of closing the account:

"    The reason for my request is simple. Lloyds International Account has not met/satisfied any of my needs. I opened the account to be able to spend in Spain, where I am currently working,  the money earned in UK. This (the account) was supposed to be comfortable and money-saving way to do that. However, I was meet with an unreliable and slow customer service which tends to ignore its clients. The cost of withdrawing the money from Lloyds Offshore Currency account, in my case,  is comparable with the cost of withdrawing the money from my Lloyds TSB account. Of course, you do not take any charge for the withdrawal but the charge taken by Spanish bank is 9 EURO for 600 EURO withdrawal, while the charge by Lloyds TSB for withdrawing the same amount of money is around 7.5 pounds (no charge from Spanish bank). Taking into consideration the fact that the entire transfer of money from my Lloyds TSB account to my Lloyds TSB Offshore currency account is approx 1 week, its not worth the effort at all. Let alone the fact that I have applied two times for the Phone Banking without any success, the transfers need to be made by phone. Without the Phone Banking service, making the transfers is more than troublesome. Additionally, one such phone transfer, in my case, was made wrongly and I had to repeatedly call Lloyds TSB Offshore and ask for the money to be returned, which took approx 5 days and was quite humiliating. 

  I was extremely satisfied with Lloyds TSB service and I would and I did strongly recommend opening account in this bank. However, I will definitely absolutely discourage any person to use Lloyds TSB Offshore service. "


Best regards from Barcelona
ML

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## Bung

Got my Standard Bank accounts running and so far have had very good customer service. I have always got straight through to someone and have phone and internet banking up and running in one day.

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## William

^I've had Standard accounts in SA for about 10 years and I've never had a problem with them. Standard Chartered are also very good.

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## Offshore Guru

Most of the banks in the IOM are covered by the same protection as accounts in the UK, i.e. £50,000 single account holder £100,000 joint accounts. 

Choosing the right bank, and account within that, depends on exactly what you are using it for. For example, most retail banks hide their true costs in currency exchange rates and other services.

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## NLo

I think that info may be wrong.

AFAIK the IOM has their own guarantee scheme. The amount protected may be the same although I vaguely remember it's less. 

Worse .. the scheme works such that all IOM banks pay into it and it will only pay out funds held so if a bank collapses you can expect your money to be paid over the coming 10 (20?) years ... with (without?) interest? Usually the IOM offshore accounts have some link to the details of the scheme. Anyway it's not the same as UK protection where the government will pay you what you had in the account up to 50k.

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## Begbie

Re Singapore I received a letter a while back from HSBC stating that all deposits were guaranteed by the Singapore government to the full amount of the deposit.

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## DrAndy

> Well done Tud, I couldn't find it. Something to bear in mind. It is usually something you would never have to worry about (haven't had to in my lifetime) 
> 
> Until now...


 
gawd, it is so difficult being rich

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## Thetyim

> Funny, the advisor told me they were and I have read the same while researching. Channel Is. banks arn't covered.


Tread with caution.

I had money in the Channel Isles and when things went bottom up the FSC said I wasn't covered for compensation because the account was offshore.
When I tried to claim from the offshore compensation scheme I was told that the business was not registered there and was only an offshore office of the UK company and therefore not covered.
The bastards wriggled and wriggled.

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## Butterfly

^ not surprised by this, Thetyim, never trust the English Islanders with anything of value

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## Offshore Guru

It may take a while to get funds from the compensation scheme, but here are some of the details from the IOM website. I hope it is useful:

The Isle of Man has a depositors’ compensation scheme (DCS). The DCS partially compensates you if a bank in which you have deposited money fails. To pay compensation, a DCS fund is created (when needed) from contributions made by other banks in the Isle of Man. A summary of the cover provided by the DCS is as follows: 

The DCS compensates people who have money in current and deposit accounts in the Isle of Man with up to £50,000 of net deposits* per individual depositor or £20,000 for most other categories of depositor. Cover is calculated per depositor, per deposit taker, if this bank fails. 
This means that a maximum of £50,000 compensation is payable per individual and a maximum of £20,000 for companies, trusts etc.The Isle of Man’s DCS covers depositors irrespective of which country they live in or are incorporated in.Compensation is paid out of levies collected from other deposit takers in the Isle of Man, from sums that are loaned to the DCS by the Isle of Man Government and from any other sums that may be borrowed by the Scheme Manager for this purpose. The legislation does not specify when compensation will be paid, but the Scheme Manager will pay pay the full entitlement or part of the entitlement as soon as possible. The timing of payments may depend upon the size of the bank which fails. The payment period will also vary according to when liquidation proceeds are collected from the failed bank and how much is recovered. There is no "standing fund" of compensation (i.e. money is not collected before a bank failure).All licensed banks in the Isle of Man are members of the DCS, except those few which are listed in the Schedule at the end of the Regulations. Building societies in the Isle of Man are not participants in the DCS. The specific banks listed in the Schedule do not take deposits on the Island from the general public.Deposit compensation schemes in the UK, Ireland or elsewhere do not cover deposits with banks or building societies in the Isle of Man.
I hope this is of assistance!

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