Banks that do NOT charge for ATM withdrawals

Devongardener

You still haven’t clarified why you need to withdraw £2000+ from ATMs regularly, it’s not normal financial activity, and it would probably flag any bank’s anti money laundering alert if similar amounts are also being paid into the account.
As others have said, you can open an account with any bank, use ATMs up to their limit and go into a branch for larger withdrawals.

Ascanio1

Our weather is very generous, you get to enjoy all 4 seasons within a single day!

Charges can be applied by either the ATM or the card issuer... for personal accounts it's exceptionally rare for the card issuer to charge for withdrawing money in the UK in GBP and tends only to be "pre-paid" cards rather than bank accounts. 

ATM companies can charge for using their tools, if you are looking at ATMs in banks, supermarkets etc it's rare that these charge anything. You are much more likely to find ATMs that charge in small cornershops/newsagents etc. 

All banks have certain limits for ATM withdraws both in terms of single transaction and daily limits. Some banks have a "premium" offering that may increase these but the single transaction limit may be dependent on you using their machines. Barclays Premier for example allows up to £2,000 per day and up to £1,000 in a single transaction from a Barclays ATM but other brands of ATM may limit you to lower (eg £250 or could be as low as £50 in a coronership)

If you look at any high street bank like Barclays, NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds etc they will be fee free for UK GBP ATMs

I visited all the high street banks in Newbury, including, those that you mention, but none gave me an answer as a clear as you did!

Thank you for the information, I will now go back and insist on confirming this information. Unfortunately I cannot just "try" opening different bank accounts to check the limits/charges because the English system is not protected by privacy laws and opening accounts causes damage to your credit worthiness.

At your knowledge, which "high street" bank offers current account with no (or very small) running fees, and allows free withdrawals from their ATMs and these kind of limits?

You were helpful, thank you, again.

PS: I didn't mean to be rude about your weather, sorry. I went to school in Elgin, for almost a year, when I was 13 and, trust, me, you have it good in England,compared to Scotland!

400ixl

Equifax is one of the credit reference agencies and have nothing to do with the eligibility to have a UK bank account. Your credit score with them is also irrelevant, it is a fictitious number made up by them based on the information some financial institutions have shared with them about credit you have. It is their way of trying to sell you services they offer.

Individual financial institutions such as banks do not use the credit score (they don't even see it). They will be able to see your credit history and will have their own decision making criteria.

Not sure what you mean by lack of privacy laws stopping you opening a UK bank account.

You need to meet the eligibility to open a UK bank account, that has nothing to do with credit reference agencies. What features with the bank account you may get could be influenced by your credit history. This could mean you would only be eligible for a basic account which does not have and credit features such as an overdraft.

Are you currently residing in the UK with the relevant permission to stay?

As you have been told, UK banks do not offer no limit daily / monthly cash withdrawals. You can continue asking as much as you like, the answer isn't going to change.

Answering why do you need to be withdrawing that level of cash each day would be better as alternative ways of achieving your needs could be looked at. Large daily cash withdrawals from a personal account is just not usual and would be red flags to any account you were able to open and could lead to it being investigated for money laundering and closed.

friolento

Ascanio1 said:

Hence , I am asking this forum for help: which British bank offers no charges, no limit (balance permitting and within reason) for withdrawing GPB in England?

As has been said, go into the bank and you can withdraw more than the ATM limit.

It really isn't the problem that you want it to be.

friolento

Ascanio1 said:

 
Wise was not my first choice, but in England you do not have privacy protection laws, and foreigners cannot get a bank account, because of them. You have a system in place that banks use to spy on your credit worthiness, without consent: for a foreigner it is, therefore, impossible to open a bank account for a few years , until your system builds something called Equifax rating.

Not sure what you mean by "in England you do not have privacy protection laws, and foreigners cannot get a bank account, because of them" - and in any case, you are wrong.

Foreigners can very well get UK bank accounts, and it's nothing to do with Equifax or other ratings.

Pop into a High Street bank with your passport, your UK residence permit, and proof of address (e.g. a utility bill), and they will help you apply for at least a basic current account. You may have to make an appointment for this.

I would also suggest that you don't offer the bank advice on UK legislation etc because this doesn't help with the process of opening a UK current acocunt.

Ascanio1

eskbanker said:

Ascanio1 said:

I just moved to your beautiful island

[...]

Which UK bank offers:
1. No limit in the number of withdrawals and/or the amount withdrawn in GBP (within limit of account balance) from a UK ATM?

[...]

I would really appreciate to be pointed in the right direction

We don't know where you've moved from, but cash usage in the UK has been on a steady decline for many years, accelerated by Covid, so the vast majority of places accept card payments now, i.e. for most people there simply isn't the need anymore to handle significant quantities of cash.  If you don't mind me asking, what do you anticipate needing unlimited cash withdrawals for?

Two reason why I like cash:

First, check what happened to banks recently - I keep as little as possible in my account, and what I can save, I buy physical gold (not kept token gold kept by financial institutions).

Second, I like feel of paying in cash because I am (probably) much older than you. I used to be able to pay everything, everywhere, always in cash, and I still prefer to when I can: from petrol to groceries, and from the gardener to the window cleaner. It adds up quickly to £000's of pounds per month. If I could, I would also pay gas, Vodafone, Now, electricity, water, etc this way! In Italy Liras used to be a legal tender, and it was illegal to refuse Lira for payments. In theory, in Italy, one could have bought a house and paid in cash.Once, I had a dispute with a car mechanic, and I paid the bill with tens of hundred chilograms of 100 lira coins!! Today with Euros, coins are no longer legal tender but, if I am not mistaken, banknotes still are. What can I say, I was born in a different era, and I like cash.

Now the two reasons why I do not like a cashless society:

First, while I understand the logic behind a cashless society (tax evasion in Italy is a terrible plague), it is wrong to punish law abiding citizens, who pay taxes, because others don't. The fact that the Italian government's (probably also the British one) is incapable of catching tax evaders, is not a justification to clamp on tax payers.

Secondly, in Italy, a few political parties are pushing to introduce a social score, like in China: "correct" social behaviour "earns" you social credits and, if you fall below a certain threshold, they block your credit. You can't buy food. One city municipality in Italy already introduced the system! In Canada Trudeau seized truckers bank accounts, etc, etc.

Bottom line is that I earned my money in my youth, and now I want the freedom to spend it as I please.

Flugelhorn

Lots of students come here and can open bank account for the time they are here, they don't have to wait years, just have to have passport, residence info etc - in some places with lots of JYA etc students they open loads of accounts each year - same if you study in Europe for a year etc 

The thing is that that account is perfectly adequate for normal day to day life - enough cash for day to day , online transfers and payments etc etc - suspect anyone turning up asking for large cash withdrawals would be shown the door

You haven't said why you want the cash - if it is buy something big or pay the rent - then forget that dodgy deal and find someone else to do business with 

400ixl

You don't need to go cashless, but finding the balance will help you do what you need.

Unless it is black market, whoever you buy gold off will no doubt take payments via a debit card which would mean you do not need to take that as cash to convert straight to Gold. That is pretty pointless if all above board.

Utilities can be paid by direct debit and in some cases will actually be cheaper to do so.

That then leaves you daily interactions, which I understand many people still like to do in cash. It is unlikely these alone are going to be over the daily / monthly limits of most bank accounts.

So what happened to banks recently that you refer too?

Flugelhorn

Ascanio1 said:

eskbanker said:

Ascanio1 said:

I just moved to your beautiful island

[...]

Which UK bank offers:
1. No limit in the number of withdrawals and/or the amount withdrawn in GBP (within limit of account balance) from a UK ATM?

[...]

I would really appreciate to be pointed in the right direction

We don't know where you've moved from, but cash usage in the UK has been on a steady decline for many years, accelerated by Covid, so the vast majority of places accept card payments now, i.e. for most people there simply isn't the need anymore to handle significant quantities of cash.  If you don't mind me asking, what do you anticipate needing unlimited cash withdrawals for?

Two reason why I like cash:

First, check what happened to banks recently - I keep as little as possible in my account, and what I can save, I buy physical gold (not kept token gold kept by financial institutions).

Second, I like feel of paying in cash because I am (probably) much older than you. I used to be able to pay everything, everywhere, always in cash, and I still prefer to when I can: from petrol to groceries, and from the gardener to the window cleaner. It adds up quickly to £000's of pounds per month. If I could, I would also pay gas, Vodafone, Now, electricity, water, etc this way! In Italy Liras used to be a legal tender, and it was illegal to refuse Lira for payments. In theory, in Italy, one could have bought a house and paid in cash.Once, I had a dispute with a car mechanic, and I paid the bill with tens of hundred chilograms of 100 lira coins!! Today with Euros, coins are no longer legal tender but, if I am not mistaken, banknotes still are. What can I say, I was born in a different era, and I like cash.

Now the two reasons why I do not like a cashless society:

First, while I understand the logic behind a cashless society (tax evasion in Italy is a terrible plague), it is wrong to punish law abiding citizens, who pay taxes, because others don't. The fact that the Italian government's (probably also the British one) is incapable of catching tax evaders, is not a justification to clamp on tax payers.

Secondly, in Italy, a few political parties are pushing to introduce a social score, like in China: "correct" social behaviour "earns" you social credits and, if you fall below a certain threshold, they block your credit. You can't buy food. One city municipality in Italy already introduced the system! In Canada Trudeau seized truckers bank accounts, etc, etc.

Bottom line is that I earned my money in my youth, and now I want the freedom to spend it as I please.

other half pays for fuel, groceries, clothes etc in cash but doesn't need thousands a month  - few hundred and the ATM happily dishes that out for him

Zopa_Trooper

Why do you need so much cash? I had a £20 note in my wallet in November and ended up depositing it into my bank account early January. It was just gathering dust. I've just had a quick look through my accounts and I can't even find the last time I took any cash out and I went back 6 months.