I am planning, along with my Ukrainian partner, to move to the outskirts of Kiev at the end of the year. I have heard some horror stories - from residents in Kiev and people I already know, that sometimes the banks refuse outright to give money from your own personal account. Some banks have been accused of stealing money, holding on to money and the list goes on. I don't think I can trust any Ukrainian bank at present, unless you guys can tell me different? I will have all my pensions transferred from the UK as well as the Netherlands, so your help on this would be greatly appreciated.
We already have some nice houses to pick from at an affordable rent and we are planning to "Seal the deal" when we come over again in June for family visits etc.
Any advice would be appreciated and I know that in forums in general, there will always be some form of bickering as to which is the best, but hey, I will be ok with that. I am thinking really of large international banks that will let me draw what I need and pay the bills on a monthly basis.
I am open to your personal experiences - and horrors too! Give me the gory details.
Alan.
Banking and receiving money in general from the UK
Money are never easy.
I keep my money abroad with my old bankers. I transfer the money I/we need to my wifes card in Privatbank on regular basis. I use a system called Transferwise. It is cheap and efficient and you avoid the deflation by keeping your savings in EUR or other currency at a bank outside Ukraine that you trust.
Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately, once we leave the Netherlands, we have to close the bank account. I do not have a UK bank account, but the UK Government does have an agreement with Ukraine that money transfer is OK. However, all money is then changed to UAH so we would lose out a little on the exchange rate. We'll wait and see what the banks say, as I have written to a few of them - well, the ones I can trust of course!
Alan
I question that this info is correct. I come from Denmark and transfer Dkk to Uah directly, saving a lot of cost.
Check expatua.com and search for banking. They have a lot of experience including Uk members.
This forum is also good, but I find that you can find good advice from the ua forum.
Br
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