Do keep the account details updated. It is in your benefit no matter how unfair it sounds. But this monthly notification is unique only to Portuguese banks especially since I have not transferred a single penny from the time i transferred funds for real estate along with a calculated amount for lawyer fees and renewals. Now i see that eroding with monthly charges.
I was told to be given the physical card when I arrive in PT someday and all the transfers were done via proxy of the lawyer.I have to send an email to the lawyer to check the balance and get the statement of my account.
I think you can check that via e-banking right?I can’t unfortunately.
2 Likes
I thought my experiences with Portugal GV were enough to startle me to the core but finding that someone doesnt have control over their own bank account definitely takes the cake. Ask them to aid u in registering for online banking.
2 Likes
We have opened an account in Millenium BCP without residency cards in my wife’s name.
Mine is still with Novobanco, but is (partially) blocked due to my place of birth, Russia (U.S.S.R, to be precise), even though I have been a U.S. citizen for 39 years - welcome to European bureaucracy!
1 Like
Classic sleeper agent!!
6 Likes
Ah thank you Roman,I think I will try BCP when I get there.
Did you just walk into a branch of BCP and give your passports and some other materials that can show your information and then succeed?Do you need to deposit some amount of Euros,like tens of thousands?
One-size-fits-all management suits all bureaucracies around the world.
I do have a Novobanco app on my phone, which I use very often together with their web portal. It works just fine, and I use it for many bank transfers within E.U. with no issues. Most of my automated payments (EPAL (water), EDP (electricity and gas), Medis (medical insurance), etc.) are still set up with Novobanco. Their web portal is actually very easy to use, though I set mine up in French - one of the languages offered.
I would recommend to try a VPN service if you are having difficulties to login via a web portal. This might be the only thing that has truly changed since 2021. Their web capabilities have only improved since then.
1 Like
BCP was easier to deal with, especially at our branch in Amoreiras. If you get there, ask for Bruno Figueiredo. He speaks excellent English, and is extremely helpful.
The answer is NO - you do not need to deport thousands of Euros up front. They would probably only want a 1K € or even less. However, in the long run, they would want you to keep about 30K € to avoid higher monthly fees.
And YES, you could just walk in with your passport and NIF, and ask to open an account. It would help if you have a valid Portuguese address of either your fiscal representative or someone similar where you can receive regular mail. It is not required, but it would simplify things immensely.
It is your carrier. happened to me I had att used a t-mobile line and got the test apparently it’s a thing. was in portugal and trust me its a mess like you need to go thought the relationship manager on your account to do many things but often they will email back. I get charged the 15 a month too I just think it is what it is at this point
I have a couple of points to add. And to be clear, I’m a customer of another bank, BiG, so some of this may not be 100% on point, but I think it’s relevant.
At some point my bank app disabled login when I arrived in Portugal for a visit. I discovered from their customer support that I need to contact them to tell them every country from which I want to be able to log into their site or app. They didn’t originally have this when I started with them and only my home country was enabled for logging in when they adopted this policy. I don’t know if other banks have put something like this in place, but it’s something to be aware of if you’re running into issues.
I was able to open my account and fund it without ever setting foot in Portugal. I considered a number of banks and every one of them allowed for opening an account without being present. Of course I needed to obtain a NIF, which was also done remotely.
1 Like
Same experience for me. I replied the same day I got the first email requesting to prove my source of funds. I copied my relationship manager who replied by asking me to provide a different document. About 6 weeks later got another email threatening me because I had not replied to the the first one. If this happened in my home country I would have had a robust discussion with the complaints department. However I am getting the impression that doesn’t have any effect in Portugal (so I didn’t bother).