Banking In Portugal
Information on Banking In Portugal
We would recommend that you open a Portuguese bank account prior to leaving for your inspection visit.
This may sound premature but should incur no expense and will strengthen your purchasing position if someone else is interested in the property that you wish to purchase.
In any case, you will probably be required to open a Portuguese Bank Account in order to facilitate payments to the developer and/or mortgage lender if applicable. Ordinarily, this would require an application form to your chosen Portuguese bank and submission of anti money laundering documentation to the bank in question. When opening any bank account in Portugal you will have to comply with the anti money laundering procedure (now a common Europe-wide requirement for any fiscal dealings) whereby you will be expected to provide a certified true copy of your Passport and a utility bill that is less than three months old. Furthermore, when you transfer your Euros to your Portuguese account, you may incur a recipient bank charge for the amount transferred.
NB You must deal with any Portuguese Bank with a degree of caution because many services that we take for granted as free in the UK, may be a chargeable transaction with a Portuguese bank. You should check if there is a fee payable before transferring money or undertaking any other procedure. There may be a nominal charge for any movement on the account.
