finding a foreigner friendly bank

Sathiya Milton · Post by **Sathiya Milton** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:25 pm

hi all,
i just moved to finland two months ago. I am looking forward to open up a bank account here for multiple purposes, but little confused to choose a bank for it. can anyone please suggest me, a relatively foreigner friendly bank, easily approachable.

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justaguy · Post by **justaguy** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:52 pm

No bank will give you a bank account without a good reason (and generally almost all of them have the exact same policies):

1. A job in Finland
2. A residence permit (and even then in some cases it's not a good enough reason for them to give you a bank account)
3. Some other very good reason.

If you have a husband/wife you can open up a secondary account in their name and use their PIN etc to log into a netbank. You can also get a card that is linked to a secondary account in their name. The banks generally do not want to give anyone a bank account unless they go to the police station and 'verify' their identity. You'll need to book a time at the nearest police station and ask them to confirm your identity. The paper is good for one time, or you can buy yourself a Finnish ID card which is more expensive but is then a usable source of ID for basically anything in Finland. Either one will do however.

But even having one of those IDs and an RP doesn't mean that they will give you a bank account without a good reason (usually an accepted source of income that you need to warrant you having an account). It may take a really long time for them to be comfortable giving you an account and if you think that complaining to them that you will change banks will make a difference, then you're wrong. As other banks will give you the exact same response.

If your Finnish is terrible then you should maybe try Nordea because they have their netbank and much of their service in English. Though there's generally English service with just about any bank. Ask your husband/wife/friends.

Beep_Boop · Post by **Beep_Boop** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:20 pm

Justaguy is severly wrong about one thing: Banks in Finland do tend to have large variations in their policies, especially when it comes to foreigners.
Before 2013, Aktia gave you an account without a translator present, now you must have a certified translator with you. Nordea used to give you internet banking if you go with your tutor, now they don't unless you have a steady income for 3 months. Aktia gives you internet banking upon your first deposit, while OP-bank will only do that if you have a job or some other convincing reason.
Aktia accepts EU ID cards and passports in some branches but not all, while Nordea only accepts Finnish ID for internet banking.

The whole situation is a mess! It gets even more messy get an inside look at how they work. I remember the official debate back when poliisi and the population register wanted banks to accept chipped police ID cards... Hahehehe.. Good times.

Marsh04 · Post by **Marsh04** » Mon Aug 10, 2015 8:26 pm

Nordea with net bank and all services in English but not the cheapest option .

sky2 · Post by **sky2** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 8:22 am

Marsh04 wrote:Nordea with net bank and all services in English but not the cheapest option .

Nordea is still better than Danske IMO, especially if you're their key customer.

downhand · Post by **downhand** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:34 am

Nordea is a terrible bank, I find a new reason to hate them every year, but I'm still not convinced there's a significantly better alternative that would be worth switching to.

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Tue Aug 11, 2015 8:37 pm

Sathiya Milton wrote: can anyone please suggest me, a relatively foreigner friendly bank

Your best bet is to put on your best smile and try some of the local branches near you. Why? Because the service level for each bank is quite different in different areas. And it's the service level you're looking for, especially if you need services, loans, etc., in the future.

mjgoode · Post by **mjgoode** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 10:35 am

Agreed with the local branch post above. Opening an account was a real pain in the rear. It's an "ugly contest" out there. But don't feel special because you're a foreigner. The Banks are just as annoying to natives, if you believe the belly aching of my colleagues.

I'm with OP. They seemed interested in serving me as a customer and were consistently friendly and helpful. (My experience.) Although they do have silly rules too, but they bother to explain all of them and they seemed consistent from branch to branch. One downer is I had to get one of those magic Police ID cards in order to get online access. (That requirement MAY have changed . . .) Their website not in English but the mobile app is and is now quite solid.

Nordea. They were officious, inconsistent, and lacking rudimentary customer service skills. Don't get me started. They won't be getting my business anytime soon.

S Pankki would have been an option, but their docs at the time were in Finnish / Swedish only. They had an ongoing project to get English translations but I don't know the status.

Good luck!

justaguy · Post by **justaguy** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 1:09 pm

downhand wrote:Nordea is a terrible bank, I find a new reason to hate them every year, but I'm still not convinced there's a significantly better alternative that would be worth switching to.

Agreed. Nordea like to make things difficult sometimes.

I prefer OP. I'd move to another bank but some online services won't allow verification/authentication with smaller banks.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 1:48 pm

It used to be so that Nordea, Danske and (to limited extent) OP where the only ones offering English language internet banking. Has that changed?

Londonchris · Post by **Londonchris** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 1:51 pm

The level of helpfulness & friendliness of banks is dependent of how much money you have.
Just remember that banks are never your friend, just a necessity for convenience.

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:11 pm

I never had any problem opening a Nordea account. I just went in and opened one. But then I suppose it was in the days before the mass influx of foreigners. So I guess it was a novelty for them, or financial crime was of not such a high problem, or something. I don't know. Just never had any issues with any banking stuff, from the get go. I didn't even have a job when I opened my account. Yet, everyone else nowadays is having problems. Must have been my Aussie charm

necadam · Post by **necadam** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 12:14 am

S-pankki has their basic banking services for free, so it was an obvious choice for me. They also have quite a reachable network of service points (roughly in every Prisma or Sokos), but you will not need them anyways because most of stuff can be just handled online.
The possible downside is, as noted above, that the agreement will most likely be written in Finnish/Swedish.

burak25 · Post by **burak25** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 6:01 am

Nordea's behavior is different event in different branches. For example their Hervanta Branch is just full of incapable idiots (sorry but they fail with everything) while their main branch in Tampere Center is full of friendly and problem solving attitude workers.
No idea what kind of HR policy they have, but it is really inconsistent.

Anyway banking in Finland is very backwards and terrible. Just lower your expectations as much as possible and hope for the best.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Aug 24, 2015 7:10 am

Brief listing of things that come to my mind:

You need a bank and branch that open you an account with online services and debit card. This probably currently requires either EU passport or Finnish ID card.
Almost everything works online so you should be OK with online services (maybe mobile as well, I am perhaps too old) offered. Check with the bank if the your codes are accepted for online verification by third parties. As mentioned, to best of my understanding if you don't like to work with website in Finnish or Swedish, you should probably choose wither Nordea, Danske or OP for that reason.
After that you won't perhaps care too much about the quality of the customer service in a branch office. I don't remember the last year I was in one.
If you some point need for example a housing loan, it seems you are not getting any credit for being a long term customer (so you can switch a bank then).
You're unlikely to qualify for a a few years for local credit card that isn't cosigned by your spouse, so keep at least one from your old country if you have one.

Basic services are often free for those under 27 or so or having a housing loan sufficient investments. S-pankki offers them (except credit card, which you will probably not get now anyway) for all for free (but you need to manage with Finnish/Swedish online bank). Otherwise you should check what are the various monthly fees.

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