Barclays closed my current account - warning to other expats

Bostonerimus1

dil1976 said:

subjecttocontract said:

I have every sympathy.
You can't be the only expat with this problem, there must be thousands. Can't you contact an accountant or overseas tax consultant that specialises in UK overseas matters. When I was working abroad we used a firm called Blevins Franks. These and others are easy to find online and may have a solution to your problem.

The word you are looking for here is Migrant.

Migrant and expatriate are almost synonyms. I'm proud to be an emigrant from the UK and immigrant to the US, a migrant or an expat because they all describe a person with the desire to better their circumstances. Leaving the UK for the US was an enormous move for me, but it has given me opportunities and rewards that I would never have had in the UK. We are all migrants or the descendants of migrants.

Bostonerimus1

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

You never said what happened when you asked your pension provider to pay into your Wise account.

I don't have a Wise account. 

It takes less than 2 minutes to open one

I did look at this but I feel very unsure about it. After talking to my pension provider I have decided to have my payments made to NZ. Not ideal but it will do for now until we visit the UK next year. Once in the country we can convert my spouse's Halifax account into a joint one. This can only be done in branch.

I'm glad you have a solution. FYI you can also get any UK state pension you have earned deposited to an overseas account. NZ should be ok although I don't think you'll get the inflation increases.

wmb194

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

You never said what happened when you asked your pension provider to pay into your Wise account.

I don't have a Wise account. 

It takes less than 2 minutes to open one

I did look at this but I feel very unsure about it. After talking to my pension provider I have decided to have my payments made to NZ. Not ideal but it will do for now until we visit the UK next year. Once in the country we can convert my spouse's Halifax account into a joint one. This can only be done in branch.

What makes you unsure about it? It's a legitimate business - listed on the LSE if you want to look it up - and I use it regularly to receive transfers from the US and it offers very competitive fx rates and fees.. Wise offers a NZD account so if you could open an account it sounds like it would be ideal for you.

GeordieinAotearoa

Bostonerimus1 said:

jaypers said:

Aside from the business and Brexit logistics, I’m stunned that people who have decided to no longer live in the UK and have no longer have a residence here take it for granted that any organisation should still be providing them with the same services. I do agree that these things must be communicated clearly but I have little sympathy for anyone who hasn’t amended their situation to ensure that they have the correct account and finance channels for expats. 

I think the important factor is that the OP did arrange things before they left for NZ and Barclays have been ok taking his UK pension deposits for a while. They have now changed the rules on the OP. 

Exactly. They were happy to take my salaries and pension payments for the 23 years since I first started doing overseas postings. My moves were all planned meticulously, naturally I checked all my banking arrangements before departing the UK. Perhaps the poster thinks I should have taken a crystal ball or consulted Mystic Meg as well. That would have been my only hope of predicting Barclays' future business decisions.

GeordieinAotearoa

Bostonerimus1 said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

You never said what happened when you asked your pension provider to pay into your Wise account.

I don't have a Wise account. 

It takes less than 2 minutes to open one

I did look at this but I feel very unsure about it. After talking to my pension provider I have decided to have my payments made to NZ. Not ideal but it will do for now until we visit the UK next year. Once in the country we can convert my spouse's Halifax account into a joint one. This can only be done in branch.

I'm glad you have a solution. FYI you can also get any UK state pension you have earned deposited to an overseas account. NZ should be ok although I don't think you'll get the inflation increases.

Thanks. I don't qualify for the state pension for a few years yet. And because of the reciprocal arrangements with NZ, it will be frozen at the level it was when I left in 2016. But  when I qualify for the NZ pension they will simply deduct anything I get from the UK anyway.

GeordieinAotearoa

wmb194 said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

You never said what happened when you asked your pension provider to pay into your Wise account.

I don't have a Wise account. 

It takes less than 2 minutes to open one

I did look at this but I feel very unsure about it. After talking to my pension provider I have decided to have my payments made to NZ. Not ideal but it will do for now until we visit the UK next year. Once in the country we can convert my spouse's Halifax account into a joint one. This can only be done in branch.

What makes you unsure about it? It's a legitimate business - listed on the LSE if you want to look it up - and I use it regularly to receive transfers from the US and it offers very competitive fx rates and fees.. Wise offers a NZD account so if you could open an account it sounds like it would be ideal for you.

I dunno. I've read their website info and it says things like 'we are a payment provider, not a bank' - and I can't quite get my head around what that means and what any consequences of this might be. I actually asked my pension provider about it; they said they had never heard of Wise and couldn't confirm whether it would be acceptable. That was enough for me to go no further. I didn't want to waste time and effort on something that might not work out.

wmb194

GeordieinAotearoa said:

wmb194 said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

You never said what happened when you asked your pension provider to pay into your Wise account.

I don't have a Wise account. 

It takes less than 2 minutes to open one

I did look at this but I feel very unsure about it. After talking to my pension provider I have decided to have my payments made to NZ. Not ideal but it will do for now until we visit the UK next year. Once in the country we can convert my spouse's Halifax account into a joint one. This can only be done in branch.

What makes you unsure about it? It's a legitimate business - listed on the LSE if you want to look it up - and I use it regularly to receive transfers from the US and it offers very competitive fx rates and fees.. Wise offers a NZD account so if you could open an account it sounds like it would be ideal for you.

I dunno. I've read their website info and it says things like 'we are a payment provider, not a bank' - and I can't quite get my head around what that means and what any consequences of this might be. I actually asked my pension provider about it; they said they had never heard of Wise and couldn't confirm whether it would be acceptable. That was enough for me to go no further. I didn't want to waste time and effort on something that might not work out.

It's a currency exchange and it's very well known. Your money only needs to be there for moments - deposited as sterling, convert to NZD and then out. Apparently it has an arrangement with a NZ bank so transfers out should be as a local and shouldn't attract any extra fees. It's free to open an account so you don't really have anything to lose by pursuing it.

Bostonerimus1

wmb194 said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

wmb194 said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

You never said what happened when you asked your pension provider to pay into your Wise account.

I don't have a Wise account. 

It takes less than 2 minutes to open one

I did look at this but I feel very unsure about it. After talking to my pension provider I have decided to have my payments made to NZ. Not ideal but it will do for now until we visit the UK next year. Once in the country we can convert my spouse's Halifax account into a joint one. This can only be done in branch.

What makes you unsure about it? It's a legitimate business - listed on the LSE if you want to look it up - and I use it regularly to receive transfers from the US and it offers very competitive fx rates and fees.. Wise offers a NZD account so if you could open an account it sounds like it would be ideal for you.

I dunno. I've read their website info and it says things like 'we are a payment provider, not a bank' - and I can't quite get my head around what that means and what any consequences of this might be. I actually asked my pension provider about it; they said they had never heard of Wise and couldn't confirm whether it would be acceptable. That was enough for me to go no further. I didn't want to waste time and effort on something that might not work out.

It's a currency exchange and it's very well known. Your money only needs to be there for moments - deposited as sterling, convert to NZD and then out. Apparently it has an arrangement with a NZ bank so transfers out should be as a local and shouldn't attract any extra fees. It's free to open an account so you don't really have anything to lose by pursuing it.

I looked at Wise for doing US to UK bank transfers and they have good rates and low fees, but my US bank does not charge a fee for transfers to the UK and that compensates for the slightly worse exchange rate I was quoted compared to Wise for the amounts I was transferring. So I just did the transfer directly, no need for a middleman or an extra financial account. Some financial institutions won't deal with Wise and as the OP can have the UK pension deposited directly to his NZ bank account Wise is not necessary here. I imagine Wise will be useful in some circumstances though.

Bostonerimus1

GeordieinAotearoa said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

You never said what happened when you asked your pension provider to pay into your Wise account.

I don't have a Wise account. 

It takes less than 2 minutes to open one

I did look at this but I feel very unsure about it. After talking to my pension provider I have decided to have my payments made to NZ. Not ideal but it will do for now until we visit the UK next year. Once in the country we can convert my spouse's Halifax account into a joint one. This can only be done in branch.

I'm glad you have a solution. FYI you can also get any UK state pension you have earned deposited to an overseas account. NZ should be ok although I don't think you'll get the inflation increases.

Thanks. I don't qualify for the state pension for a few years yet. And because of the reciprocal arrangements with NZ, it will be frozen at the level it was when I left in 2016. But  when I qualify for the NZ pension they will simply deduct anything I get from the UK anyway.

Wow! That's tough. In the US they don't reduce Social Security payments if you get a UK SP and it also gets inflation adjustments..

friolento

GeordieinAotearoa said:

wmb194 said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

GeordieinAotearoa said:

friolento said:

You never said what happened when you asked your pension provider to pay into your Wise account.

I don't have a Wise account. 

It takes less than 2 minutes to open one

I did look at this but I feel very unsure about it. After talking to my pension provider I have decided to have my payments made to NZ. Not ideal but it will do for now until we visit the UK next year. Once in the country we can convert my spouse's Halifax account into a joint one. This can only be done in branch.

What makes you unsure about it? It's a legitimate business - listed on the LSE if you want to look it up - and I use it regularly to receive transfers from the US and it offers very competitive fx rates and fees.. Wise offers a NZD account so if you could open an account it sounds like it would be ideal for you.

I dunno. I've read their website info and it says things like 'we are a payment provider, not a bank' - and I can't quite get my head around what that means and what any consequences of this might be. I actually asked my pension provider about it; they said they had never heard of Wise and couldn't confirm whether it would be acceptable. That was enough for me to go no further. I didn't want to waste time and effort on something that might not work out.

The essential difference between Wise and a bank is that you don't get FSCS protection with Wise. Wise have an Electronic Money Institution licence from the FCA. See the FCA website for further explanation.

Wise are a big player, and a big disruptor, in international money transfers.Wise also invariably gives you a much better deal than banks.

They are also now working with SWIFT

https://www.swift.com/news-events/news/swift-and-wise-join-forces-expand-cross-border-payment-options-globally