A UK savings account for a non U.K. resident

farleigh13

I want to know if it is possible to open a joint bank account in the U.K. when one person is a UK resident and the other is a USA resident (but not U.K. resident). My partner and I just want to save some money together but so far no banks will offer us an account because one of us does not reside in the U.K. My partner wants to be able to access the account from the US to put GBP money in for when he is in the UK. He also wants to be able to withdraw GBP when he is in the UK.
Does anyone know if this is even possible or do you have any other solutions? Thank you.

colsten

It is very difficult, to the verge of being impossible, to open any account in a country you are not resident in.


Are you sure you want to have a joint account with a non-resident? What are the advantages to you in having such an account?

eDicky

I've no experience with joint bank accounts, but accounts with 'offshore' banks in Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man can be used by people resident virtually anywhere and give deposit, withdrawal and other facilities within UK.

JuicyJesus

Does the US not have prepaid travel cards? They sound ideal for this situation.

Otherwise, no bank is going to open an account for someone not resident here. Sorry.

farleigh13

Thanks everyone for your help.
HSBC do offer an account for non UK residents I've found out but only Current Accounts. We only need a savings account - we don't want to have to put money in every month from salary or anything.
We're making this difficult for ourselves I can see!
No I don't actually need to be on the account at all. We just thought it might be easier for him if I was (because he's not a UK resident) but that doesn't seem to be helpful after all !

Voyager2002

My experience: I had no great difficulty in adding my non-resident partner to my Nationwide current account. We just went in to a branch together with various documents and after about an hour everything was done.

badger09

Voyager2002 wrote: »

My experience: I had no great difficulty in adding my non-resident partner to my Nationwide current account. We just went in to a branch together with various documents and after about an hour everything was done.

But OP doesn't want a current account:cool:

farleigh13 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your help.
HSBC do offer an account for non UK residents I've found out but only Current Accounts. We only need a savings account - we don't want to have to put money in every month from salary or anything.
We're making this difficult for ourselves I can see!
No I don't actually need to be on the account at all. We just thought it might be easier for him if I was (because he's not a UK resident) but that doesn't seem to be helpful after all !

bigadaj

badger09 wrote: »

But OP doesn't want a current account:cool:

Though there's no absolute requirement to fund a current account in general and it might serve their purposes better.