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Post by Carolina on Feb 22, 2012 9:13:03 GMT
yes car banking and car loans but you need to choose wisely i.e. the bank in Dhahran appear to be exellent good luck!
Carolina
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Post by azraeil on Mar 7, 2012 5:12:38 GMT
If you are a non-UK citizen (or your point of origin is not from the UK) but on the Pound Sterling Payroll
AND
You elect to be enrolled in the Exchange Rate Protection Scheme,
You need to have a Saudi Bank account as one of the requirement is ALL your salary must be deposited to a Saudi Account.
This is not relevant to OP but just for info.
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Post by exploresec on Mar 7, 2012 15:08:15 GMT
Dear the_only_way_is_up,
I would recommend you open a Saudi bank account. It is really useful and the banking system here, I have found, is superior to that in the UK. I am based in Dhahran and have never had a problem with my NCB (National Commercial Bank) account. Where in the UK, will you sit around waiting your turn in the bank, be offered a cup of tea or water? They are wonderful in my experience and I have never had a problem with money disappearing from my account. I hope I am not about to be proved wrong as currently I have a large sum of money in my account here. I use it to pay off my credit cards (Saudi AMEX and Mastercard) and I use their ATM card which is accepted in many different countries and I don't get charged for overseas transactions. I found that I had to get Saudi credit cards as the UK one that I had (HSBC Mastercard) proved to be unusable as they constantly blocked my card despite knowing that I lived abroad. Now, I find my Saudi credit cards work wonderfully well - I get a text message every time I use my ATM and my credit cards in addition to e-mails. If anything, they are over the top in keeping me informed. I believe you will definitely find it necessary to open an account here and you won't regret it - after all, every time you use your UK bank credit card to withdraw money, you will be charged. Best regards.
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Post by rafferty on Nov 20, 2013 19:13:37 GMT
Having a fransi and NCB account, i can safely say to avoid fransi. Nothing agaist them. The staff are quite nice and it is VERY convenient if you work in the al midra building, but thier internet banking is a trainwreck. It often freezes, seizes and spasms before simply crashing. For this reason alone, switching to SAAB. Maybe it will improve in the future. Not enough experience with other banks. There is a samba branch conveniently at al munirah, and they just installed 3 new ATMs at al midra. Alinma, SAAB (not yet functioning) and a third one. Rahji?? There is already a NCB ATM and a 'branch' - but to actually 'open' an account, youll be asked to go to the al mujamma branch....
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Post by chips on Jun 4, 2014 11:59:46 GMT
Some tips for the newbies. I'd advise before opening a bank account - check thier rates. What are you going to use the Account for, but to transfer money back home?
That is, choose the bank with the best rates. They're all as bad as each other anyway, and when it is a salary account, everything is free, whichever bank it is. To get the best rates, you'll need to open 3 accounts. So do it right first time unless you looooove paperwork.
Below are SAR to AUD rates on one day.
torfx (UK) 3.555
Riyad Bank 3.585
bank Aljazirah 3.5853
saudi hollandi 3.5911
ANB 3.6
alrajhibank 3.617
alfransi 3.6321
SABB 3.6554
samba 3.6555
For example - on the aussie dollar, the loss in repatriating SAR100,000 where 100k = x and taking the best and worst rates on offer (x/3.585 - x/3.6555)..... is $538 AUD.
That's a 10 slabs of Tooheys New!
As far as transferring SAR to australian dollars, I see no better option than KSA banks. Bahrain banks will also freeze your account if iqama expires.
You could ship SAR to an SAR A/C at a UK trader like TORFX.They have better rates, but somewhat risky. Small money changers here won't ship much more than US9k.
Best of all is to get the bulk of your cash deposited in your home account and currency. But unless you play with USD, EUR and GBP, you're a bit stuck...
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Post by vpainter on Jun 5, 2014 18:17:48 GMT
I do not know if all countries have this option. Aramco will allow a direct deposit in your bank account back home or off shore account and a deposit into a KSA bank. Then you are not transferring your salary back home from a KSA bank.
So only deposit enough money for living expenses here in your KSA account and the rest in your account back home. No transfer fees that way.
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Post by daveangel on Jun 10, 2014 6:34:45 GMT
My plan is to open SABB account in KSA and HSBC expat account in Jersey. Most of the salary will be deposited into HSBC account in Jersey which is USD denominated so there are no currency conversions needed and only a small portion will be deposited into KSA account denominated in SAR for daily expenses. As SABB and HSBC are affilitated I understand that you can manage your finances though single internet portal etc. soit should offer some additional convenience as well.
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Post by O&GEngg on Jun 10, 2014 17:02:06 GMT
daveangel - that is probably what I'll be doing as well. Not quite sure how to do it though with my current bank here. Close my current Canadian bank account and take a bank draft with me when I move to KSA or close the account after I have arrived in KSA and have my other accounts set up? Thoughts?
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Post by daveangel on Jun 11, 2014 6:50:03 GMT
O&GEngg,
Well, I would not rush to closing all your bank accounts in your home country. Never know when you'll need one again and there are probably(?) no costs for just keeping the account open. I'll still keep a banking relationship open to my home bank as well and when I have the accounts set up in KSA and offshore I can transfer funds online from my home bank to the offshore account.
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Post by azraeil on Jun 18, 2014 11:30:00 GMT
For those who are on the Global Payroll, you have the option to choose how much of your monthly salary you'd like Aramco to send to your USD Denominated accounts anywhere in the world (I think). The preferred bank can be change every month via the intranet here so they are making it easy for staff to get their salary.
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Uman
Senior Member
Posts: 161
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Post by Uman on Jul 9, 2014 15:31:59 GMT
chips,
Excellent info.....I wish you posted that on the other thread.......about transfering money (back to Oz) How did you get the exchange rates of all those banks?
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Post by vpainter on Jul 10, 2014 11:15:01 GMT
Just note: duplicate posts are deleted. Everyone sees the posts no matter where they are posted by clicking on view new posts when you return to the forum. Or you can look at each discussion group and the topics that have posts you have not read have a red symbol instead of a black and white one in front of them.
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Post by O&GEngg on Jul 12, 2014 1:58:55 GMT
So we are in the final preparation stages for the upcoming move (depart Aug. 14). After talking to our Canadian life insurance company they need to be able to debit a Canadian bank account. It has something to do with compliance, apparently. It's looking more and more like we will be keeping the Canadian bank account open. I really hope that this doesn't make us incur income tax...
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Uman
Senior Member
Posts: 161
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Post by Uman on Nov 9, 2014 15:59:03 GMT
For reference......NCB on camp at DH seem to be the best option. Ive been with SABB for 2 years and their customer service is terrible......online banking system is great but dealing with the manager at the local branch is a headache.......the staff are inadequate and inefficient.......and the manager couldnt explain the details of their personal loan to me.....he kept shouting "but the APR is NOT the annual percentage rate.....its different here" that in itself was a signal to change banks.....Im changing to NCB on camp......a world of difference imo.
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Post by bamaster on Nov 9, 2014 18:14:14 GMT
Uman,
As I understand it, the manager isn't wrong.
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