Hi newsgroup,

does anyone have any experience with an offshore current account? I'm not looking for something frenzy, just a basic current account with a debit card and a cheque book. I'm wondering about the co-op bank Guernsey account as I had contact with them recently, but are there any comments in general?

Thanks and regards,

Mat

I believe they still don't have any significant banking guarantees in the Channel Islands. You should not bank there if mainstream accounts are available to you, in my view.

Hi Max,

thanks for the comment - compensation schemes are not of importance for me as my savings will be somewhere else, this is truly for banking and as a current account... but thanks for pointing it out, might be quite important for others.

Regards,

Mat

Offshore accounts are designed for people who are not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes, and the income is not subject to UK tax. The Companies offering these types of account are being scrutinised by the UK Government for fraud and money laundering as well as tax evasion.

Skywalker:

the income is not subject to UK tax

If that were true, there would be no need for such accounts to be

Skywalker:

scrutinised by the UK Government for fraud and money laundering as well as tax evasion.

Many expats can open mainstream UK accounts before they move overseas and then fill in the right forms so that they don't pay any tax that isn't due. Whether interest is subject to tax or not depends more on the status of the individual than on the location of their bank.

Off shore accounts are well known to the government as places where people hide money. Often to avoid paying tax. Proceeds of crime, etc etc.

Whether you are aware of this or not.

The only useful thing you said was to confirm that the status (for tax purposes) of the individual is what matters.

Alright guys, nice conversation spun off here, but that wasn't really what I was looking for ;)

So I take it granted that nobody has had any good/bad experience so far...?

Regards,

Mat

A lot of people who used the Channel Island subsidiaries of the Icelandic banks had very bad experiences. There are lots of threads on this.

Hi max,

okayyyyyy... as said before:

"thanks for the comment - compensation schemes are not of importance for me as my savings will be somewhere else, this is truly for banking and as a current account... but thanks for pointing it out, might be quite important for others."

Should hear from them soon, so will find out myself the hard way ;)

Regards,

Mat