Paid in SAR living in Bahrain - best bank option?

Hi Shaun,

I don't know if it helps or not, but my husband has opened an account with SAB who are part of the HSBC group.  I think he is planning on opening an account in Bahrain with HSBC too.  They apparently have preferential rates for transfers between their various entities!!

He too is working in Saudi so paid in SAR and living in Bahrain!

HTH

Sarah

Hi Shaun,

My husband is in the same boat. He is paid in dollars into his Saudi bank and then we transfer money directly from there to uk. It's a pain and you will lose a bit of money in exchange rates but I don't think there is a lot of choice.
As Sarah has said, use the SAAB bank in Saudi and maybe open an account with HSBC in uk and see if the exchange rate is better within the same group.

The easiest way is as follows:

Open an HSBC account before you leave UK, joint or in husbands name
Once in Saudi open a SAAB account
Once you have your paper CPR, open an HSBC account in Bahrain
Add your UK HSBC account to your web login of your Bahrain HSBC via their Global banking tab. All transfers from HSBC Bahrain to HSBC UK are immediate and don't cost a penny.

Best way to transfer from SAAB Saudi to HSBC Bahrain is to draw the money out in cash in Saudi and pay it in to HSBC in cash. They don't charge you for the transfer between the two but it takes days and they play the exchange rate which means you lose a lot of money. If done via cash then for SAR500 you will get BD50 hence not losing a thing, even when you send to UK.

Our little path goes like this:

Salary to SAAB
Hubby collects cash from SAAB and pays it in to HSBC (no loss)
I transfer to HSBC UK - Immediate and no loss
I transfer to our joint account at Barclays UK, Immediate and no loss
Pay all bills in UK - HUGE BLINKIN LOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you do if you haven't got an HSBC account in Bahrain tho Jo? We aren't planning on opening one so we just use SAAB account for everything.

My husband also told me last night about some agency who deals with it that supposedly gives a better rate. Apparently you can save around £300 for every £1000 transferred. I have no idea how or what but I'll ask him more details tonight.

It is impossible to save £300 on each £1,000. I'd be careful.

If I am not wrong, the method Jo mentions is only applicable if you open a HSBC Premier Account. You need to be earning at least 40,000 SAR per month to be able to do that. Correct me if I am wrong Jo.

If your husband is earning less than 40,000 SAR, then the cheapest and the fastest option I personally use is Bahrain Financing Company (BFC). Their exchange rate is great, far better than HSBC or any other bank I came across. I think even with HSBC free transfer, you lose a bit of money on the exchange rate compared to BFC. The transfer costs 5 BD here and whatever your bank charges to receive the money.

Good luck.

I was misinformed. Ok, I didn't listen properly. We save £100 on every £1000 we send. Or thereabouts. Apparently a lot of the guys at his work use this company. But it does give a better exchange rate then the banks. We will give it a go next month and let you know how it works out.

Please compare his rates with BFC. They have offices all over Bahrain. I would be very surprised if he can beat the rates of BFC.