Bank accounts for non-UK residents

charmed-imsure

Hi,

My partner and I are UK citizens but we moved abroad last year. I keep my UK Santander bank account because my partners pension is paid in to it in £'s. However, since Abbey became Santander last December, I've had nothing but problems with my card being blocked. So, suffice to say, I would like to switch bank accounts.

Does anybody know of any bank accounts that are available to non-UK residents, one which I can open either on-line or by post (we live very remotely in the arctic circle!) and one where I don't have to deposit crazy sums like £25k to open it, or have a minimum £5k a month to deposit?

I'd be grateful for any help.

Already tried:
First Direct
HSBC
Barclays
Halifax

expatasia

Triodos (based in Bristol) will let you open an account, not sure if it's just savings account though.

Do you still have a UK address (or that of relative/friend) from which you could launch an application (postal or other)for UK based curr acc?

charmed-imsure

I could use my mother in law's address but then the bank I go with would have to allow me to change my address later on to this overseas address.

Barclays looked promising until I read the part about how much money you have to invest first and it's not a savings account that I'm after, I just want a standard current account!

Santander wouldn't be so bad if they didn't keep blocking my card every time I try to use it. I have my foreign account too but really need to keep a UK one for my partners pension, otherwise we lose hundreds over a year for just having the money put into the foreign one (with exchange rates and charges).

I will have a look at Triodos. Thanks :-)

charmed-imsure

(Triodos is just savings and investments)

jimbms

You can open a non domicile account with the Isle of Man branch of HSBC, no minimum deposit just regular income needed but you do not need a large amount each month, a couple of hundred I think. Your doing the best thing getting a non UK account, that way if you live outside the UK the theiving revenue can't touch your money, there have been cases of people moving here to the IoM and the UK tax office freezing accounts in the UK until they can prove they have not been living or working there for a period and had paid previous years taxes in full, which can take years to do.

iilg

charmed-imsure wrote: »

I could use my mother in law's address but then the bank I go with would have to allow me to change my address later on to this overseas address.

LTSB do allow this. They'll even send you your (paper) statements overseas etc.

97trophy

natwest gibralter.

MoneySavingUser

Can you open a £ denomination account in the country you live in? Try talking to local HSBC branch?

sueeve

My daughter is in the same postion. It has been no problem to keep open the account she had when home domiciled (LTSB), but they won't let her change it at all, and she hasn't had any luck finding one with a better rate of interest, so she is about to go off shore. She needs an account here for the odd dividend payment.

charmed-imsure

Thanks everyone for your help. I've tried HSBC but I can't open one because I still have to go into a branch to do that and my closest is a plane flight away. Funny actually because when I called HSBC, I explained that I don't live in UK anymore and I currently bank with Santander, the same advisor popped me on hold and when he came back, he asked me for my current address in the UK and called me Mrs Santander!!! I couldn't set it up anyway because I had to have a UK address to start with.

LTSB needed a lump sum payment to start an account, something like £25k I think, then it was only allowed to be an offshore investment account rather than a normal current account. I noticed that all the other banks like Barclays, they all do the same.

I just have to say that since I started this thread, Santander have blocked my card twice now. Their policy is that the card holder is supposed to receive a call within 1 hour of the card being blocked and it takes you through security to unblock it. I am still waiting for that call, it's been 5 days since they last blocked it. I always have to phone them in the end... such a headache...

iilg

charmed-imsure wrote: »

Their policy is that the card holder is supposed to receive a call within 1 hour of the card being blocked and it takes you through security to unblock it. I am still waiting for that call

Good luck, Mrs Santander.

Glad now A&L refused to open an account.