Banking while not in the UK

Jonbvn

Megamix_Mike wrote: »

As our account is already in the UK, surely the bank can confirm we are not laundering money! They can see that the money comes from pensions and the payments are normal purchases. We just need to transfer the account to another institution! Where is the common sense!!!

Have you tried any of the offshore bank accounts? You usually have to maintain a minimum balance (around £5k). However they offer the usual benefits of a UK based bank. E.g. DD, Debit cards, Standing Orders etc.

TeaBoy_2

its been a while since i was in aussie but from what i remember i found having an australian bank account pretty useful even though they can charge for the privilege.

and i'm sure i claimed back every penny of the tax i paid

gt94sss2

Inactive wrote: »

Simply because you are no longer UK Residents, and thus not eligible to open a new UK Bank Account, this is because of money laundering regulations, sadly nothing you can do about it, apart from move back to the UK.;)

The fact one is not a UK resident doesn't automatically mean they can't open a UK bank account - its just that some financial institutions will refuse to open an account for them.

Regards
Sunil

njb1001

Megamix_Mike wrote: »

However, since we have been living here, we have been charged a commission fee for every withdrawal and payment made. The only payments that were free of charges were those debited by the shops here in sterling, but even the cash withdrawals debited in sterling have had charges added.
We now understand that Barclays are going to increase their charges for using their debit cards abroad.

I am in a similar position but in Germany - I often need to move money back and too. I have just joined Citibank & asked if they can give me a UK account in addition to my German one.

Barclays have some agreements with local banks (here one of their partners is Deutsche Bank). If I withdraw cash from Barclays at a Deutsche Bank machine there is no charge (and vice-versa).

Are there any agreements in place for Thailand/Australia/Spain?

someone

Toni_Tax wrote: »

missile, I was told not to use intenet cafe's for internet banking as it's not safe

Thanks tho, I will look at Nationwide as already suggested by Chrismaths

Rule of thumb, If you can trust the hardware 100% (i.e. know its not tampered with) then you are safe.

Consider using your own laptop on wi-fi. As long as you are on a encrypted site and there are no certificate warning you are safe

Reaper

I'm just about to set off travelling for 9 months too. Personally I will be using internet cafes to do my banking - it's far too difficult to manage your finances without it.

If your bank security requires you to "enter letter 3 of your password, now enter letter 1 etc" then that's pretty safe. Even if there is a keylogger it doesn't know which letter you are being asked for.

I'm even going a step further than than. I have a piece of software called "Sticky Passwords" (I got it for free during a one day giveaway but you would have to pay a small amount for it) which allows you to store the program as well as encrypted passwords on one of those USB memory keys. You plug it into the PC and then it fills in passwords on the screen without having to press any keys, which makes it more secure. Even if somebody else got hold of the memory device it they couldn't use it as it is encrypted and requires a master password to unlock it.

This is just one possibility. I'm just trying to make the point internet cafes are ok as long as you go prepared. I think you should assume the worst and that there is a keylogger on the PC (in practice very rare) and take appropriate precautions. Then you'll be ok.