UK citizen living in Canada - non-resident bank account

asg101

Hi,

I'm a British citizen living in Canada. I currently have a bank account with Barclays which I opened some 30 years ago. Barclays have informed me they are closing my account as I'm no longer in the UK. However, i also have several rental properties in the UK from when i lived there. Mortgages on those properties are paid via my Barclays account. 

Initially i didn't think this would be an issue and opened a Wise account. However, UK mortgage lenders do not accept direct debits from non-UK banks or building societies, such as Wise or Revolut. Anyone have an idea of banks/building societies that exist that would allow me to pay my mortgages ? Feels like a catch 22 situation!

thanks,
Ami.

HobgoblinBT

Get an agent to manage your U.K. BTLs.  

penners324

Wise have a UK bank.

Open a Wise GBP account and use the details for that.

penners324

Or open an account with Barclays International (ie Channel Islands)

asg101

penners324 said:

Wise have a UK bank.

Open a Wise GBP account and use the details for that.

I have one already, only half the mortgage lenders will accept wise as an actual direct debit source. I did have a long conversation with the FCA this morning as I wanted to validate if the mortgage lenders really had a good reason for accepting wise. It turns out no regulation prohibits them from accepting a direct debit from Wise. So now I'm in the process of escalating a complaint to the lenders who aren't accepting wise, as per the guidance from the FCA.

penners324 said:

Or open an account with Barclays International (ie Channel Islands)

Sadly I don't have 100k handy

lr1277

Two suggestions.

Instead of paying by direct debit, can you do a bank transfer from Wise to your mortgage company? You will have to be spot on with the date the mortgage company receives the funds.

When a borrower is in dire straits some mortgage companies allow the borrower to make a payment by (credit) card. You could find out if your mortgage lenders will allow you to pay with your Wise debit card on an ongoing monthly basis.

Secondly you might have this covered but how is the tax being paid? I don't know the ins and outs of this, but think I have read that if you don't sort something out with HMRC, then the tenant has to pay your income tax before sending you the rent as you are resideing abroad. If you don't know about this, you should investigate further.

asg101

lr1277 said:

Two suggestions.

Instead of paying by direct debit, can you do a bank transfer from Wise to your mortgage company? You will have to be spot on with the date the mortgage company receives the funds.

When a borrower is in dire straits some mortgage companies allow the borrower to make a payment by (credit) card. You could find out if your mortgage lenders will allow you to pay with your Wise debit card on an ongoing monthly basis.

Secondly you might have this covered but how is the tax being paid? I don't know the ins and outs of this, but think I have read that if you don't sort something out with HMRC, then the tenant has to pay your income tax before sending you the rent as you are resideing abroad. If you don't know about this, you should investigate further.

I did ask the lenders if there was another option to make those payments but they didn't offer any up. But worth asking again, thanks.

As a non-resident you need a tax id which you provide to the letting agents. Given the complexity of my tax situation I just pay accountants to make sure I'm all good. They make changes now and again but my accountant makes sure I'm inline with HMRC.

gt94sss2

asg101 said:

I'm a British citizen living in Canada. I currently have a bank account with Barclays which I opened some 30 years ago. Barclays have informed me they are closing my account as I'm no longer in the UK. However, i also have several rental properties in the UK from when i lived there. Mortgages on those properties are paid via my Barclays account. 

Anyone have an idea of banks/building societies that exist that would allow me to pay my mortgages ? Feels like a catch 22 situation!

HSBC

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/international/apply-for-a-uk-account/