Banks closing Ex Pat bank accounts

Marchitiello

IanManc said:

Marchitiello said:

Again, complete misunderstanding of laws before and after Brexit: a EU citizen has the right to open a bank account in any member state, no matter if his/her permanent residence being in a different member state. Obviously the bank could have chosen to only offer basic accounts, but most UK banks did offer standard accounts to people that met their criteria. Now, after Brexit they are not obliged to offer that facility to EU citizen, hence the closing of the accounts. 

The discussion is about the closure of the accounts of UK expats.

Expats are British citizens living in the EU. They are not EU citizens.

I know what we are talking about and I was answering specifically to the users suggesting that UK bank were not happy to supply accounts to non residents regardless of Brexit, hence my explanation on what the legal situation was before and after Brexit, and I was trying to explain that when under EU law they were obliged to offer accounts to any citizen in any member state. For example a Spanish citizen living in the UK since birth should have been able to open an account in Spain etc.. Now, after Brexit, the Spanish bank could refuse to open them an account because whilst still Spanish, they are not longer obliged to offer an account to UK resident, is that clearer? 

In this discussion we are talking about the same thing but the way around: British Expat that used to qualify under EU law to hold an account in the Uk or any other member state, no longer have such right (at least in the UK, as I guess many have applied to EU citizenship after Brexit)  Simple! 

Daliah

IanManc said:

Expats are British citizens living in the EU. They are not EU citizens.

Quite a few of them are now dual nationals as they didn't want to lose their EU citizen rights.

Some, not all, were informed by their banks that they could no longer hold a UK bank account if they were not UK residents. This is because some of the UK banks do not have an EU banking licence, or a passporting licence (as they had automatically whilst the UK was still an EU member) which would allow them to offer services to EU residents, regardless of the nationality of a person.

cx6

Surely the problem here is that " Some pension firms wont (sic) pay pensions  into foriegn (sic) bank accounts"

In this day and age - why on earth this restriction? Even if they charged to do this, they should be able to.

Daliah

If it is even true that some pension firms won't pay pensions into non-UK accounts, it will be a tiny number of firms only, and a tiny number of rather obscure countries. Nowadays, people also have the option to have their UK pensions paid into e.g. Wise, which is an account residents of large numbers of countries can get. Plus, many UK banks still do allow non-residents to keep their UK accounts, subject to compliance with the T&Cs. Whilst it is rather unwelcome and annoying if you get your bank account closed because of Brexit, there are ways to bypass this. Let's hope Lord Frost isn't going to kill those remaining ones, too. 

[Deleted User]

Daliah said:

If it is even true that some pension firms won't pay pensions into non-UK accounts, it will be a tiny number of firms only, and a tiny number of rather obscure countries. Nowadays, people also have the option to have their UK pensions paid into e.g. Wise, which is an account residents of large numbers of countries can get. Plus, many UK banks still do allow non-residents to keep their UK accounts, subject to compliance with the T&Cs. Whilst it is rather unwelcome and annoying if you get your bank account closed because of Brexit, there are ways to bypass this. Let's hope Lord Frost isn't going to kill those remaining ones, too. 

Any changes would relate to NI protocol as far as I known and not with withdrawal agreement.

Daliah

[Deleted User] said:

Daliah said:

If it is even true that some pension firms won't pay pensions into non-UK accounts, it will be a tiny number of firms only, and a tiny number of rather obscure countries. Nowadays, people also have the option to have their UK pensions paid into e.g. Wise, which is an account residents of large numbers of countries can get. Plus, many UK banks still do allow non-residents to keep their UK accounts, subject to compliance with the T&Cs. Whilst it is rather unwelcome and annoying if you get your bank account closed because of Brexit, there are ways to bypass this. Let's hope Lord Frost isn't going to kill those remaining ones, too. 

Any changes would relate to NI protocol as far as I known and not with withdrawal agreement.

The WA has largely been replaced by the Trade Agreement, and Lord Frost & Co are perfectly capable to trigger another mess.

[Deleted User]

Daliah said:

[Deleted User] said:

Daliah said:

If it is even true that some pension firms won't pay pensions into non-UK accounts, it will be a tiny number of firms only, and a tiny number of rather obscure countries. Nowadays, people also have the option to have their UK pensions paid into e.g. Wise, which is an account residents of large numbers of countries can get. Plus, many UK banks still do allow non-residents to keep their UK accounts, subject to compliance with the T&Cs. Whilst it is rather unwelcome and annoying if you get your bank account closed because of Brexit, there are ways to bypass this. Let's hope Lord Frost isn't going to kill those remaining ones, too. 

Any changes would relate to NI protocol as far as I known and not with withdrawal agreement.

The WA has largely been replaced by the Trade Agreement, and Lord Frost & Co are perfectly capable to trigger another mess.

Realistically, the only way for positive change in this area (short of re-joining the EU) is EEA membership and this isn't on the cards for England/Wales in the short to medium term. No other 'deal' gives you passporting back, not even the Swiss one.