Expat needs to open UK bank acc

chrisc2615

Have been left £35k by aunt but it is stipulated it must remain in the UK. I live in South Africa and am a UK citizen with passport.

Have written to approx 11 banks asking to open an account, but they all decline except for Standard who want to charge £15 a month for the priviledge.

Are there any UK banks who would open an account for someone living outside the UK? Prefer a savings type of acc that I could spend when visiting the UK

Used to have an acc with Natwest Bank in the 1970's but long closed

Thanks

eskbanker

chrisc2615 wrote: »

Have been left £35k by aunt but it is stipulated it must remain in the UK.

What do you think will happen if you transfer it to South Africa?! Seems a pretty perverse thing for someone to stipulate if they're in the full knowledge that you've been away from the UK for 30+ years....

Perhaps if you really feel it's important to abide by the stipulation then you could open the Standard account, put the money in and then withdraw it and close the account a month later?

xylophone

https://www.investec.co.uk/private-banking/savings-accounts/easy-access-account.html

I wonder could Investec help, with an easy access savings account?

colsten

chrisc2615 wrote: »

Have been left £35k by aunt but it is stipulated it must remain in the UK.

If an offshore account will count as "in the UK", you can get accounts with the likes of Lloyds and Nationwide International. Not sure about the cost of these accounts.

eDicky

An account in Channel Isles or Isle of Man, while not technically UK, will 'appear' and can operate like a UK account with sort code, direct debits, debit card etc, and accept your (verifiable) foreign address. There should be no fees with such a substantial balance. For example Santander Jersey branch.