Basic bank account while living abroad

Wordsmith

Situation: I live in Ireland and have a bank account with the Halifax in the UK. I have an overdraft with H but have been scared by the stories I have been reading about overdrafts being taken away with no warning, so I thought I would open a basic bank account for the few transactions that go through every month (property rental coming in, mortgage payment going out, loan DD going out, maybe a couple of odd payments here and there).

Rant: I phoned TSB as they have a branch in the small town that my family live in in the UK and they also do basic cash accounts. This was a blood-boiling hour of telephone time ... first I was told I could open an account even though I wasn't in the UK, put through to someone else who told me I couldn't, they gave me another number to phone, which was an 0845 number even though I told them I wasn't in the UK, found a number for the department I was told to speak to on the Internet, phoned that number and was told they couldn't help me, was given another number, which turned out to be a number unobtainable, found another number on the Internet, spoke to a very nice young man who had to put me on hold three times while he tried to find someone who could help me (for God's sake, it was a fairly simple request, wasn't it?), got put through to someone who didn't tell me who they were, but after being asked some irrelevant (I thought) questions I realised they wanted me to open a business account for which I'd have to pay charges. You didn't need to know any of that, but I wanted to get it off my chest.

Question: Do you know of an account that is very simple - couple of montly transactions in, couple of monthly transactions out - that I can open from outside of the UK when I haven't got a very good credit rating? That is, a basic account, but a non-UK correspondence address (but property and family in the UK). No overdraft, no frills, NO CHARGES.

Tixy

Bumping for other users for you.

If you don't get any further responses its probably a case of working through the possible accounts - hopefully they won't all be as frustrating and time consuming as TSB.

As HSBC are very vocal about being a global bank they may be a good one to start with? Page 4 of this link gives details of various different accounts.
http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/pdfs/bank_accounts.pdf

Horace

HSBC also have online banking - First Direct is pretty good.

Have you thought about using Bank of Ireland as they have branches in the UK too?

Wordsmith

Still not having much luck with this one. I rang HSBC last week and the chap I spoke to was very helpful. Yes, I could open a basic bank account even though I wasn't in England - I could complete the form with him and then go into a branch within two weeks to show my documents. As I didn't know when I'd be coming to the UK again I said I would wait. He gave me another number to ring when I was ready. OK, thank you very much, just what I wanted to hear.

Tried again this morning. The number the chap gave me wouldn't let me get past the recorded message because it wanted my account number. Phoned the 0800 number again, woman on the end of the phone said yes I could open the account, but I couldn't do it over the phone and would have to go into a branch. I asked her to make sure that I really could open an account because I didn't want to get to the branch and find that I had the wrong documents or something. She came back and said that, sorry, she'd misinformed me and no I couldn't open an account, but I could try their offshore accounts department.

Rang HSBC offshore department. It was a short conversation as to open one of their accounts I had to maintain a minimum of £5000 in the account.

Rang Bank of Ireland in the UK. Told lady on the switchboard what I wanted and found myself having a very odd conversation with Post Office Financial Services who could only offer me a savings account, although perhaps I would like to speak to National Savings. No thank you.

Phoned another BoI number in London,. Lady said I could open an account if I had wages going into it every month, but as I'm self-employed they didn't want to know. End of conversation.

Rang Allied Irish Bank in the UK - yes, I could open an account as long as I had a quarter of a million pounds to put in the account. :eek: Explained that this wasn't likely to happen any time soon and was there a different account I could open. Yes, as long as my drawings were £90,000 a month.

So, I am stumped again. I just cannot believe that I am the only person not living in the UK who wants a bank account there. I can prove who I am. I can prove my address abroad. I can prove my property address in the UK.

I can carry on with the account I have with H, but am really worried that they will withdraw the overdraft, which will tip me over the edge of reason. In any case, I haven't actually told them that I have moved, which is probably illegal, but again I am too scared to in case they stop my account altogether. I really want and need to get this sorted, but am being thwarted at every turn. I have no intention of not paying back the overdraft, but just do not have the means at the moment.

Any suggestions, anyone?

Seaxwyn

HI Wordsmith. I hadn't seen this before - however I have a friend in the NL who has an English bank account for a few transactions - I will ask him about his experience and post back if he has anything interesting to offer.

Wordsmith

Just phoned First Direct (thanks, Horace). They can give bank accounts only to people resident in the UK.

Wordsmith

Thanks, Seaxwyn!

Seaxwyn

PS - forgot to say - try posting this on the Current Accounts forum as well as DFW.

Wordsmith

Thanks, Seaxwyn. I knew there must be a board for current accounts, but couldn't find it (doh!). Have now, though, and posted there. I fear they may be a bit harsh with me, though (and am quaking in my boots ... or, rather, my gold Crocs).

Seaxwyn

OK, here's the advice from my friend. Probably not very helpful. He said:

As far as I know you can't open a bank account in the UK if you are
registered as a resident in another country (anti - terrorism, money
laundering laws etc).
It should be possible for her to manage her account by internet -
transferring over Euros to it (if needed) on a (bi) monthly basis. I do
this with my UK bank and my father's (HSBC and Barclays respectively). I
suggest she talk to her bank and tell them what she wants from them that she
is not getting. They probably have a branch in Ireland she could talk to.

Wordsmith

Thanks so much for getting this info so quickly, Seaxwyn. I use the internet for transferring to my UK bank account; the problem is that I want to change banks. I can't go to my current bank as they would then know that I have moved and I am fairly sure they would stop the account and get me to set up an overseas one, or they would at least stop the overdraft. I just can't afford this at the moment and can't take the risk of talking to them. Thanks anyway.

How's the job going?