Buildings, contents insurance, Egyptian bank accounts

[mulberry]

earthquake

Looking at earthquake web sites there was a quake Egypt area Dec 07
go search Egypt eartquake

 

[queenie40something]

Hi most importantly is to make sure you are covered for earthquakes. Intasure policy automatically covers this risk.

 

[queenie40something]

Any new quotes??

Hi all

Has anyone else had any quotes from any company other than Intasure for Insurance.

Also has anyone opened up a bank account online with HSBC, if so was it easy.

Thanks

Alison

 

[wayne_harris]

Hi
Im not very clued up about bank accounts abroad! But do we need one in egypt to pay the utility bills and maintenance or can we do it all from UK?


Dawn -x-

 

[queenie40something]

Personally Wayne I think the easiets way is to open an online account with HSBC in Egypt - presumably you wlll then be able to transfer funds from UK into it online??

Anyone opened one and done this yet. I have 2 Egyptian accounts but they are not online banking which I now think will be easiesr.

Does anyone out there know if the bills can be paid somehow from the UK and what the charges etc are??

 

[lyndsay552]

I just went in to HSBC to find out about opening an account and found this -

The one off fee of USD 200 is levied on a "per account basis" upon receipt of completed account opening documents by Egypt International Banking Centre.

This is for an international account.

I've applied online for a normal current account but you must have an average balance of £500.

Lyndsay

 

[queenie40something]

Exchange rates

You can check Central Bank of Egypt current exchange rates here
Central Bank of Egypt

National bank of Egypt National Bank of Egypt :: ExchangeRate

 

[queenie40something]

Online Banking

All

Here is a link to all banks that are licensed in Egypt for online banking.

Banks Licensed to carry out E-Bnking

 

[propertastic]

I just went in to HSBC to find out about opening an account and found this -

The one off fee of USD 200 is levied on a "per account basis" upon receipt of completed account opening documents by Egypt International Banking Centre.

This is for an international account.

I've applied online for a normal current account but you must have an average balance of £500.

Lyndsay

Just wait until you come out here and open an account rather than trying to do it remotely. It only takes 30 minutes.

I thought that it was $500 and GBP300 that they needed for the average balance, but I might be wrong.

In any case, they only require this average balance (in each account if you have multi-currency accounts) to avoid paying bank charges (which aren't that high anyway).

 

[scooby21]

Hi
we tried 2 years ago to open an account with HSBC when we were in Cairo and they would not open one for us unless we were a customer in the UK first, I opened a UK account online with HSBC and it took a couple of months for it to be completely set up, they will however open an account for you in Egypt from here for £100 which knowing the system (Sometimes) in Egypt could be worth it to save yourself the hassle and I understand that transfering money between the UK and Egypt sterling account does still attract some fees but much more reduced than normal about £8 in total if I recalll correctly, which as one time we transfered sterling from Royal Bank of Scotland (and also Lloyds) to be recieved into an egyptian bank sterling account as sterling and we were charged about £70 in total due to intermediate bank charges, none of the banks could advise how much this is going to be they only find out after the money has arrived - so one to watch out for
However you can easily open a local currency account or sterling account with any of the main egypt bank without to much trouble but I personally wouldnt want to keep too much money in them, usually the money is safer in the UK
hope this is of help

 

[lyndsay552]

I got an email yesterday from Property Hotspots Worldwide reference contents insurance for Regency Towers. If we take it through them it will be £40 for 1 bed and £50 for a two bed and it covers you for renting the apartment out.

Sounds good, as I was quoted over £100 for a one bed.

We also get buildings insurance which is paid for out of our yearly maintenance fee.

Two less things to worry about.

 

[wayne_harris]

Hi Lyndsay
Is that price per year for the contents?

Dawn -x-

 

[lyndsay552]

£40 for a one bed and £50 for a two bed