Savings account - NON UK resident

Nath-san · 24 January 2007 at 4:31PM

Hi

I used to live in the UK for 6 years and now live permenetly in Spain. I want to invest money in the UK and wanted to find the best saving account for me. I found that on many occasions you need to be a UK resident to open saving accounts or having accounts in a bank to be able to open savings accounts in the same bank. so my options are limited. I kept my barclays accounts in the UK which might give me access to open Barclays savings.

PS: however I am entitled to tax free interest.

Thanks for your response.

Regards,
Nath-san

martyn4764 · 24 January 2007 at 5:04PM

Hi
We've got one of these:
http://www.bbi.co.im/offshore-savings-accounts/offshore-internet-banking/e-access-account.aspx

Currently 5.6%, I would expect them to increase any day now following the latest BoE increase (they've certainly passed on the full .25 the last couple of times)

Cook_County · 24 January 2007 at 5:05PM

Most UK banks/building societies have branches offshore that would welcome you to invest in Sterling as an EU resident. Your worldwide interest income is taxable in Spain in any case.

missile · 24 January 2007 at 5:27PM

Most Spanish banks will offer you Sterling Savings account, however the rates are not as good as UK. HSBC, Lloyds, RBOS and Barclays all have offices in Spain.

Most UK banks will not allow you to open an account unless you have a UK address. Obviously your first point of call is to phone Barclays.

If you have residencia you are subject to spanish tax system which does not have the equivalent to IR85 and all savings are subject to tax. If you intend to keep quiet about UK generated income, you ought to be aware that there are reciprocal agreements for exchange of financial information. I have no idea how efficient they are at following up tax dodgers, but I would not like to risk going to a spanish jail. They are not the holiday camp like in UK.

leawillow · 20 February 2007 at 3:20PM

Sorry cant help with your question. I have several friends in Spain with the same problem.
I own a property over there but am non-resident - can you reccommend a Spanish Bank that does not have charges on its current accounts ?
Hasta

yinnie · 19 June 2008 at 8:57PM

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/nonukcustomerrates.asp

PBA · 20 June 2008 at 12:40AM

Most of the British banks have offshore divisions catering for expat Brits wanting to keep some money in sterling. You can compare rates on moneysupermarket. You'll be able to open an account from pretty much anywhere, and no tax is deducted at source (though the interest does need to be declared for tax where you're resident).

nap31 · 7 July 2008 at 10:55PM

I really cannot get my head around why people think offshore investment is a good thing. Offshore interest rates are not that brilliant considering tax has to be paid in your own country (in my case France). But what is the real downer for me is that the Isle of Man can only offer compensation of 75% on deposits of £20,000. So the most you can ever get back is £15,000 if something goes wrong with the bank. I believe channel island compensation is even worse. In the UK 100% of £35,000 is offered. And apparently that might rise to 100% of £50,000 soon.
That is why I was pleased to read the previous link here which stated the Halifax in the UK can offer savings accounts for Expats. But when I went to the link, all the savings accounts offered to non-UK residents had to be opened up in a UK branch and cannot be managed over the internet. The internet savings accounts are for UK residents only. Where is the sense in that?
If anyone knows of a half decent rate savings account that has 100 % compensation and can be managed online can they please post it. Thanks.

chopperharris · 7 July 2008 at 11:40PM

you can have a brit ifa open one for you on your behalf (if its offshore), but you still need proof of everything anywhere now in the eu for fraud prevention and money laundering.

suitable proof now to open any accounts are proof of income and/or pension , passport and a bill thats current....and tax statement.

as for managing online that will be subject to the bank and type of account.

contact barlcays , they do a account in spain and here .... and subject to joiing the international transfer with them system you can transfer funds back and forth without fee....exchange rate is still applied.

if your thinking you can dodge tax with using offshore though then you cant....it has to paid somehwere....or should that be avoid tax?

nap31 · 8 July 2008 at 8:32AM

I very definitely do not want to dodge/avoid tax. This is my whole point about why I don't think offshore accounts are a good investment tool. The tax is out of the equation as the amount you pay is the same wherever you invest - as it has to be paid in your resident country. What is bad with offshore accounts is that they offer the same interest rates as British accounts but they cannot offer the same compensation.
But thanks for the IFA and Barclays info, they have branches in France too so I shall look into that.

CaymanExPat · 17 August 2008 at 6:49PM

I am a UK national and a non resident - living and earning a tax free income in the Cayman Islands. I would love to take advantage of some of these high interest, fixed rate savings accounts however I cannot find any which non-residents can apply for. Can anyone please help?

Savings account - NON UK resident

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