Bank Account for expats

fsalomon

Hi,
There seems a definite lack of accounts for expat who are currently living the other EU countries. I fail to see why the UK banks do not want to open current accounts or savings accounts to people who do not reside in the UK. I am not sure as to how legal this is and consider this to be discriminatory. For example I am going to be receiving UK pensions from previous UK employment and find this additional stress unwelcome.
Is this something which could be investigated by Martin Lewis as it affects quite a lot of people living in EU countries.
Thanks

[Deleted User]

Why not open an account in the country you are living in?

JuicyJesus

Oddly, if you don't live in the UK, you often aren't going to be able to take advantage of UK products and services.

Pension companies are usually more than happy to remit to overseas bank accounts (it's actually remarkably common) and I'm not sure how this is going to cause you additional stress. Martin Lewis is certainly not going to be interested; he doesn't actively run this site any more, he doesn't go on the forums, and nobody's actually done anything wrong.

eskbanker

Pre-Brexit, you're entitled to a basic bank account here when resident in another EU country, but that doesn't extend to savings accounts: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/financial-products-and-services/bank-accounts-eu/index_en.htm

Have you actually been denied a basic account by a UK bank and if so, on what grounds (they're not allowed to refuse such accounts for residency reasons)?

steveksullivan

I am in the position of possibly moving to France, so enquired of my current (main) bank ......(like most moneysavers I currently run approx. 20 current accounts for the various benefits....) and was told that whilst you can only OPEN a new BASIC account if not UK resident, EXISTING accounts can continue to be run and will attract the same benefits (i.e. my two San 123 accounts)

PRAISETHESUN

steveksullivan wrote: »

I am in the position of possibly moving to France, so enquired of my current (main) bank ......(like most moneysavers I currently run approx. 20 current accounts for the various benefits....) and was told that whilst you can only OPEN a new BASIC account if not UK resident, EXISTING accounts can continue to be run and will attract the same benefits (i.e. my two San 123 accounts)

I think it mostly depends on the bank, some are more stringent on residency requirements than others (cough Barclays cough). Some won't let you open/manage the account at all from outside the UK while some will let you operate it, but not open new accounts.

Zanderman

Worth thinking about no deal scenarios fairly seriously!

The govt's technical note published today suggests bank account access in the UK could be lost to ex-pats.

Might be scaremongering but might be a problem

Guardian's story here:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/23/britons-in-eu-could-lose-access-to-uk-bank-accounts-under-no-deal-brexit

eskbanker

For anyone wishing to read the paper itself rather than having it filtered by organisations who may have an agenda, it's at the snappily-addressed
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/banking-insurance-and-other-financial-services-if-theres-no-brexit-deal/banking-insurance-and-other-financial-services-if-theres-no-brexit-deal

The key piece in this context is

the UK authorities are not able through unilateral action to fully address risks to the EEA customers of UK firms currently providing services into the EEA using the financial services passport

although they do recognise that

Many UK financial services firms who currently passport into the EEA are taking steps to ensure that they could continue to operate after exit, for example by establishing a new EU-authorised subsidiary. This would allow the UK firm to offer new services after exit through its EEA subsidiary, and in some cases existing contracts could be transferred to the new entity.

pafpcg

eskbanker wrote: »

For anyone wishing to read the paper itself rather than having it filtered by organisations who may have an agenda, ...

Totally agree with the caution, and I'd add that the authors of the paper (HMG's Brexit department) can hardly be said to be objective either!

Two years in, less than eight months to the cliff edge and the Government still has to issue documents filled with ifs, buts and maybes....

jonnygee2

There seems a definite lack of accounts for expat who are currently living the other EU countries

Under FCA rules banks UK current account holders must be UK residents when they open the account. Hence the lack of products.

This is quite an important rule for the prevention of financial crime so I do not think you are going to get this changed anytime soon.

Anthorn

For those who are willing to get a prepaid account and pay fees there's Monese which primarily operates for foreign people living in the U.K. but also operates the other way around. Basically a U.K. account for which you don't need a U.K. address. I link to the Monese pricing page:
https://monese.com/pricing

According to the French bank where I have my personal Euro account my account won't be affected by Brexit. But they are pretty much silent about new account opening after Brexit. So if that French Bank is typical of banks across the E.U. if anyone wants a bank account in an E.U. country get it now before Brexit.