Should You Switch Banks When Moving to Portugal?

Navigating the world of banking can be difficult at the best of times, but when you’re moving to a whole different country it can be almost impossible to work out what to do with your money. Keep the bank you’re currently with and hope they have enough branches to make it worthwhile? Move to a local financial institution and hope that the legal jargon in their terms & conditions doesn’t say anything too prohibitive?

The major cities of most countries in Western Europe will have at least one branch of the larger banks you’re used to: HSBC, Barclays and Bank of America all have local branches across Europe. Unfortunately, Portugal seems to be one exception to this rule. Often it can be easier to just transfer money over to an existing bank in your newly adopted home country, however there are lots of things to take into consideration if this is something you want to do. Will the bank staff speak enough English to understand your consumer needs? If not, do you speak the local language fluently enough to understand some of the more complex financial jargon that’s unique to the finance world? How often do you travel back to your country of origin? And arguably the most important factor: where are you living? If you’re in an apartment in the centre of Lisbon, you’ll probably be OK. But if you’ve just bought yourself a beautiful little place in the most scenic of rural locations, you might find it difficult to withdraw money quickly...

http://www.expatfocus.com/c/aid=1301/articles/portugal/should-you-switch-banks-when-moving-to-portugal/