News story: UK banks to shut thousands of British expats' accounts 1 October 2020 at 9:28AM in Budgeting & bank accounts 66 replies 5.5K views

cydiane

Hi JB yes I can have a Sterling account with the B of C  but I  dont want one,I would  get charged when they transfer the sterling into my euro account and they give you the lowest exchange rate they can, I dont get a lot so am certainly not  happy about the bank taking  money from me for doing nothing, plus  it wont solve the problem I have with my 2 small pension providers, who will only pay into a  UK account.  I  also want an account in the UK  so I can transfer my money over when I want and when the exchange rate is good.

J_B

cydiane said:

  I  also want an account in the UK  so I can transfer my money over when I want and when the exchange rate is good.

Diane. Where in CY are you? (not that it really matters) but do you go on https://www.paphoslife.com/forum/ and/or http://www.easterncyprus.com/index.phpThere has been discussion on there but as it doesn't concern me, I haven't really studied it.

Good luck.

retiredinfrance

Good evening,Cydiane. We are also in the same position as you with HSBC and are almost at our wits end. Our UK Bank, Danske Bank has given us until the end of the month and maybe a bit into January to get new accounts. Documents have been sent, long useless phone calls. This morning we reached a dead end. My husband's account has been set up but he has no way of using it as HSBC won t organise a CASS  switch as they don't recognise his signature. We suggested they look at the passport document, but it seems someone thought the two were not sufficiently alike. 
He can't use the account online as they can't verify hum, in spite of the id  docs. So, now I read that the account may be useless if he can't get his state pension paid into it. We only need these accounts to receive pensions. Then we moved to my account. It seems that the second address document is no good as the bank didn't include the first line , which is just the name out house is known by locally - a grouping of three houses in the one hamlet the bank had correctly used. Village name and code correct  Also , the French Bank' stamp was in French and not English! What're they going to do...... Send a "security pack" to my husband...... He lost his temper with the lady and walked off and I continued as we need these accounts and time is pressing. With mine, she is going to try to get them ,whoever they are to accept my husband,'s signature and my docs.  And I still worry it won't be OK. 
So, we have a joint savings account with Halifax- should we just get pensions paid into it? I get dividends paid in alread. I have used it to transfer money for family presents. Can pensions be paid into a transferwise account? There must be thousands of British people in the same mess as us? 
Any suggestions would be gratefully welcomed. 
Thanks for reading and Happy Christmas and a safe 2021, everyone.
Good luck.Cydiane, and bon courage as the French say.

colsten

retiredinfrance said:

Can pensions be paid into a transferwise account?

Yes.

retiredinfrance

Thanks, Colsten. At the moment we are going to wait and  see what happens with the security   pack and a letter to me. I am also going to look into a transferwise account. Happy Christmas.

colsten

That's another one shut down for people living in the EEA. Funny way of becoming "global Britain", by first pulling the rug from underneath your own citizens

colsten

Nationwide Building Society position: https://www.nationwide.co.uk/support/brexit

retiredinfrance

We have changed the plan slightly...I'm going to manually , that is by writing, transfer some small payments in to our savings account with the Halifax. I will leave the big pension ones for a short while to see if HSBC come up with accounts. I am still looking at transferwise as I think I will use them to convert pounds into euros. I had a look at having state pensions paid in euros, but the gov. site just said the conversion rate would change according to the exchange rate. Does anyone know if they charge a commission or something like a midmarket rate. 
All advice welcome. So much for the promises that nothing would change. 
Hoping for and wishing everyone a safer and kinder 2021.

NottinghamKnight

Do you have a reference for the promises that nothing would change, I think the whole point was that a lot would change wasn't it?

colsten

retiredinfrance said:

. I had a look at having state pensions paid in euros, but the gov. site just said the conversion rate would change according to the exchange rate. Does anyone know if they charge a commission or something like a midmarket rate. 

DWP will almost certainly use a bank for the transfer. I know that Starling Bank do at least some of the DWP payments, so you may be in luck as Starling normally use the interbank rate, same as Transferwise. But there's a lot of ifs - - - you really need to check with the DWP, and then presumably also with the bank they are using.

retiredinfrance said:

 I will leave the big pension ones for a short while to see if HSBC come up with accounts. 

HSBC sound ok as far as accounts are concerned in principle, according to their Brexit Q&A. Whether they are ok in reality, you'll have to find out. The account opening process at HSBC can be a real drag, and getting yourself online and app access can also be a laborious and time-consuming exercise. Once you have it all set up, they should, however, be ok.

retiredinfrance said:

We have changed the plan slightly...I'm going to manually , that is by writing, transfer some small payments in to our savings account with the Halifax. I will leave the big pension ones for a short while to see if HSBC come up with accounts. I am still looking at transferwise as I think I will use them to convert pounds into euros. I had a look at having state pensions paid in euros, but the gov. site just said the conversion rate would change according to the exchange rate. Does anyone know if they charge a commission or something like a midmarket rate. 
All advice welcome. So much for the promises that nothing would change. 
Hoping for and wishing everyone a safer and kinder 2021.

retiredinfrance said:

Hoping for and wishing everyone a safer and kinder 2021.

Same to you! It can't get much worse now, surely.