UK banks closing accounts for expats

[Dannie Boy]

I bank with HSBC and I tried to change my registered address from Thailand to the UK about 18 months ago. I was then contacted by the tax section of HSBC and told that if I am non-resident for UK tax, I couldn’t register my account against a UK address, but they had no problem continuing with a Thailand address.

[Pagey]

Just received an SMS from Barclays with a letter to follow saying as my address is outside the UK I will need to close my accounts.
Just started claiming my company pension 6 months ago and have it sent there so now there is activity every month but clearly the amount of usage is immaterial. It's my only UK bank and has a debit card attached, all my other accounts are offshore , mainly used for fixed term deposits and none have a card attached so I will have to do some investigating.
Also have my UK paypal and Wise accounts linked there.
Nightmare.

[Robinhood]

Pagey,

I had an application for an account accepted by Starling Bank, although the debit card has not arrived yet.

The letters I received from Santander actually said "Unfortunately we are not able to give you further information about how we've made our decision"

Charming. The account had a good cash balance, and money going in and out.

[Pagey]

Pagey,

I had an application for an account accepted by Starling Bank, although the debit card has not arrived yet.

The letters I received from Santander actually said "Unfortunately we are not able to give you further information about how we've made our decision"

Charming. The account had a good cash balance, and money going in and out.

I have got offshore accounts, including Santander, but Barclays was my only UK based account and my only debit card. Also linked to my UK Paypal acct and Wise.

[Pagey]

Pagey,

I had an application for an account accepted by Starling Bank, although the debit card has not arrived yet.

The letters I received from Santander actually said "Unfortunately we are not able to give you further information about how we've made our decision"

Charming. The account had a good cash balance, and money going in and out.

Never heard of Starling so just Googled and tried to apply but they needed a UK phone number so I didn't get very far.

[Dannie Boy]

I opened a Starling account last year on a visit to the UK, although I was able to use a UK address and phone number. I don’t use it very often but it’s very handy when wanting to buy something in the UK where they want to link the purchase to a UK registered card - Amazon are fine with my HSBC card with a Thailand address, but many other suppliers insist on a UK registered address.

[buksida]

Would it not be possible to change the address to a UK one for those with problems with banks?

I have two accounts in the UK and don't use a Thai address for either, if you don't tell them, they won't know. Will give Starling a go though.

I did just have a Singapore bank (Standard Chartered) lock and close an account of mine for being 'unclaimed' since there has been no activity on it for five years.

Banks are becoming bastards to deal with these days.

[REEM]

Try Lloyds International, based in both the Isle of Man and in Jersey.

They have sterling accounts with credit and debit cards for non res UK citizens.

[buksida]

Just looked at Lloyds International and you need a minimum of £25,000 in there and there are monthly fees.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/internationa ... count.html

I had something similar with HSBC in Jersey and closed it when they started charging me every month.

Paying a bank to make money off your money ...

[Pagey]

Try Lloyds International, based in both the Isle of Man and in Jersey.

They have sterling accounts with credit and debit cards for non res UK citizens.

Thanks for the info, I already have accounts with them, historical ones with no fees, so I will enquire about a card. I don't use a card much but it's useful to have in case a supplier insists on it.

[Pagey]

Just looked at Lloyds International and you need a minimum of £25,000 in there and there are monthly fees.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/internationa ... count.html

I had something similar with HSBC in Jersey and closed it when they started charging me every month.

Paying a bank to make money off your money ...

What about the Premier International acct? It says no fees.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/internationa ... count.html

[buksida]

What about the Premier International acct? It says no fees.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/internationa ... count.html

"You will need a deposit of at least £100,000 (or currency equivalent) to save or invest with us. There is a requirement that funds must be with us within six months of account opening."

Thats a lot of moolah to leave sitting in a bank earning jack shit and actually devaluing due to inflation!

[Pagey]

What about the Premier International acct? It says no fees.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/internationa ... count.html

"You will need a deposit of at least £100,000 (or currency equivalent) to save or invest with us. There is a requirement that funds must be with us within six months of account opening."

Thats a lot of moolah to leave sitting in a bank earning jack shit and actually devaluing due to inflation!

Yep, agreed. I only read the bullet points and it didn't mention that !

[buksida]

For research purposes (and in case my banks become assholes in the near future) I went through the process of applying for a Starling account.

In preparation, I popped in my UK SIM card and activated the VPN set to London.
Then went to the bank website and scanned the code to download their app: https://www.starlingbank.com/apply/

The first hurdle was Google Play claiming the "app isn't available in your county".
To outsmart Google I switched to my other Google account which is registered in the UK, cleared the cache, and restarted Google Play Services - voila, the app is available.
Installed the app.
The first thing it does is send an SMS to the UK number, which came through pretty quickly in Thailand.
Next, it wants your personal details and UK address.
It prompts for proof which was a photo of my UK driving license.
Then it wants you to turn on the video and state your name.
Following that there were some questions about income and employment status.
Finally, it asks to verify the email address and says the application is under review.

A waiting game now but overall the entire process took less than 20 minutes.

[Dannie Boy]

Sounds exactly the same as I had to do, although I was in the UK at the time so no messing about with VPN’s etc - from memory, my approval came through in <24 hours.


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