Job Discussion Forums

yeehii · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 30

From an English teacher's point of view, which is the best place to bank with in the KSA?

Would this bank have no monthly fees, no minimum deposit, good online banking and offer credit cards and top-notch service?

How does the banking scene in Saudi compare with the rest of the Middle East?

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Exactly how many jobs do you intend on having .. you posted the same on the UAE page ...

Van Norden · Joined: 23 Oct 2004 Posts: 409

SABB is quite good: negligible or no fees; service is OK if you can avoid going to the branches; online banking excellent; lousy interest rates.

I just use them to get my moolah omar out of the country asap and for (infrequent) ATM withdrawals.

trapezius · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 3:45 pm Post subject:

Saudi British Bank
Saudi American Bank
Saudi Fransi Bank

All are good.

You mentioned monthly fees. Fees for what? I don't know any bank that charges a monthly fee for having a bank account.

All those 3 offer good online banking, and offer multiple credit cards.

As for minimum deposit, there IS a minimum in I believe all banks in KSA. It varies from bank to bank. Call and find out. It ranges from 5,000 to 25,000 (for opening the account, but most can be withdrawn after account is made).

Cleopatra · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 3:49 pm Post subject:

007 · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 5:04 pm Post subject:

trapezius · Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:59 pm Post subject:

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

When you send money abroad you can be hit three times.

First in the fee, then in the fee the recipient bank charges, and of course in the exchange rate.

In general if you are tranferring into anything else but dollars, then you may well get hit by about 3-4% on the exchange rate, and then you will have the fee on top. You may well find that the bank you are sending to collects as well.

Looking at my last statement it seems that they collect a fee of round about SR50, by the process of deducting it from the amount of currency you get for your riyals.

SpeedCash charges SR19, but you can't do it over the internet. The surcharge they put on the currency seems to come to around 3%.

As for getting a bank account, there are two factors to bear in mind. What bank your employer uses, and what bank is the correspondent bank of your home bank. If you have another bank to your employers there can be delays in getting your pay because his bank fesses up. If your bank is not the correspondent bank of your home country bank you can get hit for more charges, and more importantly the transfer can take a week longer.

Credit cards in Saudi carry an exorbitant rate of interest -- sorry financial charges Smile

. It's 1.99% a month, or 23.8% per annum. SABB has also tried to scam you out of an additional 0.5% by 'offering' you insurance for non-payment (which in practice is making you pay for their insuring themselves), and letting the first two months free in case you don't notice it.

In its favour SABB internet banking is good and efficient. On the flip side because of idiotic SAMA requirements (foisted on the Saudis by the Yanks) it can be quite a saga actually getting the account opened in the first place - or it can be easy, as little is predictable in Saudi apart from the monotony.

Van Norden · Joined: 23 Oct 2004 Posts: 409

Cleopatra · Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:27 am Post subject:

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

For remittance to the UKofGB&NI you can't beat Speedcash. Don't even need an account - but you do need an Igama !