italian free banking?

estherina34 Image
12/02/2009 - 15:36

Hi, just  wondered if there is an italian bank that doesnt charge per month just to have it open please?many thanks in advance!

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hi there,i think Intesa Sanpaolo do a free account called Zerotondo by the looks of it on their website...but im a non resident and not sure i qualify to open such an account.......does anyone know..?same applies to a poste italiano account,i belive you have to be a resident..reason im looking is,i have a property in itsly..and have bills to pay,but my fee for using a transfer company is £12.50 per bill..which adds up!! any ideas guys!!

The Post Office does have banking services - Banco Posta e, but it isn't free. The annual charge for an account is €30,99 and they'll pay you a current interest of a whopping 0,25%. Your monthly statement costs €1,00 each month, and 'on line' transfer of funds cost €2,50 each time you use it....There is no  such thing as 'free banking' in Italy and they have - as long as I can remember - offered the lowest interest rates of any country! 

I'm not sure if they are free of charges (as they seem to suggest) or if they are open to non-residents but they are worth a look: webank.it - online only, so the problem will be getting cash unless you're near where the banks in the group are Poste have what looks like a new offering here There are some free services around. I use a prepaid credit/bancomat card from MPS (Monte dei Paschi di Siena). There are no charges for day to day transactions, except a 2 euro charge each time you charge it. You can put a max of 10k euros on it. You can withdraw cash from their machines but I'm pretty sure you can't use it for paying bills online, though over the phone should work, I would think.