Expatriate banking

dendrisc

Can someone advise me on a UK bank that accepts that a UK resident might go outside the UK for periods of up to 12 months, travelling extensively; a bank that will allow me to inform them that I will be travelling for 9 months and not just two weeks on holiday; a bank that does not ask me to phone an 0845 number from Africa; a bank that provides a reasonable service rather than a security system that is so secure it shuts down everything as soon as I change country. I am currently with Santander

claire16c

I was out of the country for 8 months and I bank with barclays. I had no problems.

All I did was use the online banking, and security wise there is an option on there to update what country you are going to be in, so they dont cancel your card when it gets used somewhere new. Worked fine. You could put in 2 countries inadvance, but on the list it had stuff like 'Multi trip Asia' so when I was there for 6 weeks but was in about 5 different countries I just put that, and so didnt have to keep updating it.

lil.smartie

Lloyds have worked out not to block my cards in US now, they do offer a text service so when my cards are used outside of the UK I get a text & if it's wrong I can call & alert them.

Kate

thegirlintheattic

I'm with Nationwide and although the max I've been away is a month, in no country have I ever had an issue with a card being blocked. Nationwide doesn't seem to care!

Is there anyone in the UK you trust to receive postal correspondence for you? Most banks also let you give written authorisation for another person to deal with them on your behalf.