UK banks

[Dogbarker]

Silly thought..what about using bangkok bank London? Worth asking ?

 

[BWPattaya]

21 hours ago, wgdanson said:

But once you have one, you can change to your Thai address.

My UK Coop bank uses my Thai address. It has done for years. 

They also send my ATM & Credit cards here. 

[Greenhill]

6 minutes ago, Dogbarker said:

Silly thought..what about using bangkok bank London? Worth asking ?

 

They don't deal with 'retail' customers, only companies on commercial stuff, e.g letters of credit etc.

[salavan]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

Can you name one, please?  That would be helpful, not to say a revelation!

Yes please name one

[Just Weird]

17 minutes ago, BWPattaya said:

My UK Coop bank uses my Thai address. It has done for years. 

They also send my ATM & Credit cards here. 

But it won't open accounts for non-UK residents!  That is what the OP was asking about.

[Just Weird]

38 minutes ago, salavan said:

Yes please name one

Don't ask me, salavan, I didn't say I could name any because I know there are none!  Address that to KittenKong, he is the one claiming he knows of several!

Edited October 15, 2018 by Just Weird

[Just Weird]

58 minutes ago, steve73 said:

I had accounts with Bank of Scotland and Nationwide before I moved to T/L.. No problems changing my address with either of them, although when my BoS credit card expired they wouldn't renew it.

I changed my NW account back to a relatives UK address, and then after 12 months they allowed me to apply for a new CC.  It's actually quite useful keeping one account UK registered, whilst the other is Thai registered.

So how does that help the OP? 

 

How did you get a new credit card in the UK when you weren't registered at an address there?  Credit card applications are always checked on the electoral register for the applicants address and you could not have been registered if you had not been and were not living there.

[Just Weird]

46 minutes ago, Dogbarker said:

Silly thought..what about using bangkok bank London? Worth asking ?

 

Definitely not, Bangkok Bank London is a UK bank (just as Citibank Bangkok is registered as a Thai bank) and UK banks will not open accounts for non-UK residents.

 

Also, as someone else has said, it's not a retail bank.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Just Weird

[RandG]

I know nothing about them,  or the services they provide,  but monese.com explicitly state you do not need a UK address to open an account with them. Good luck. 

[JusticeGB]

Transferwise is based in London and overseas UK residents can open an account with them with little hassle. It is covered by the UK protections. You also have the advantage of extremely good exchange rates when transferring money to Thailand. The transfer costs are much cheaper than with other banks as well.

[shadowmaster1971]

I just started using Transferwise and they have this Borderless Banking giving you US, UK EU & Aus bank accounts.

Im not sure how much it is like a bank bank type accounts 

 

I haven't looked into fully yet maybe worth a look for the UK account for the purpose of receiving/sending money,

there is even a debit card as well.

 

Couple of links

 

https://transferwise.com/sg/borderless/

https://transferwise.com/help/topic/1078409/borderless-account 

[dabhand]

54 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

So how does that help the OP? 

 

How did you get a new credit card in the UK when you weren't registered at an address there?  Credit card applications are always checked on the electoral register for the applicants address and you could not have been registered if you had not been and were not living there.

Am based in Thailand but opened a Halifax Clarity CC account last year without being on the electoral register. Just needed to attend a Halifax branch to show ID proof and address verification (used correspondence with UK address of relative showing my name), so timed that with an intended trip to UK. Any branch was OK, not necessarily the 'local' branch.

[steve73]

36 minutes ago, JusticeGB said:

Transferwise is based in London and overseas UK residents can open an account with them with little hassle. It is covered by the UK protections. You also have the advantage of extremely good exchange rates when transferring money to Thailand. The transfer costs are much cheaper than with other banks as well.

It may be covered by UK protections, but it's not covered under the compensation scheme (which I recall the OP wanted).

 

from section 7.3 the terms of use.

 

7.3 UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme DOES NOT apply.

 

https://transferwise.com/terms-of-use-eea

 

But it is definitely the cheapest way I've fund to move GBP to THB.

Edited October 15, 2018 by steve73

[musicscene]

23 hours ago, wgdanson said:

But once you have one, you can change to your Thai address.

Really? Have you done that?

[Pdavies99]

23 hours ago, baansgr said:

If you are non resident then you can not have or open an account. You can open offshore accounts with HSBC etc but as you are aware they do not come under the protection

They still protection, but under Chanel Island regulations and normally backed by the UK bank as a subsidiary.

[Pdavies99]

6 minutes ago, musicscene said:

Really? Have you done that?

Not nowadays!!

[wgdanson]

12 minutes ago, musicscene said:

Really? Have you done that?

Yes. over the phone to them at First Direct.

[wgdanson]

7 minutes ago, Pdavies99 said:

Not nowadays!!

Last Friday

 

[helloagain]

On 10/14/2018 at 4:47 PM, Crossy said:

Try Lloyds International, I opened an IoM account with no UK address and a minimal initial deposit (5k GBP IIRC).

 

I will say this was some years back and things may well have changed by now, but it can't hurt.

 

You're not going to be able to open a UK onshore bank account without being demonstrably resident ????

 

Off shore uk for thai wife or girlfriend but must have minimum. 

[Boombum]

If security of deposit is a concern...Iwould be double checking about losses regarding the “BAIL-IN” ...every uk Bank was instructed to sign up for this...

[topt]

7 minutes ago, Boombum said:

If security of deposit is a concern...Iwould be double checking about losses regarding the “BAIL-IN” ...every uk Bank was instructed to sign up for this...

I believe "protected deposits" (so up to the guarantee amount) are excluded from the bail in provisions.

Please link if you have anything that says different.

[Tofer]

Standard Chartered Bank, and they have a few branches in Thailand also.

[Tofer]

On 10/14/2018 at 5:13 PM, wgdanson said:

Nationwide and First Direct are good with it, in fact F Direct will post the fee gift (Bose wireless headphones) to my Thai address. I just changed my 40 yr old Barclays over to F Direct. They do FREE transfers GBP to Bkk FCA. Sorry we are not helping Salavan. Don't know how you can do it.

You won't be disappointe. I've had an account with them for many years, best UK bank by far.

[Tofer]

5 hours ago, JusticeGB said:

Transferwise is based in London and overseas UK residents can open an account with them with little hassle. It is covered by the UK protections. You also have the advantage of extremely good exchange rates when transferring money to Thailand. The transfer costs are much cheaper than with other banks as well.

They're not cheaper than the free transfers I get via First Direct. Their exchange rates are also quite competitive, but I find it is always slightly better to send Stirling and let the Bangkok Bank make the currency exchange at this end, with only a B500 transfer fee. Also if you send Thai baht from FD it is routed through Nat West clearing bank and then BBK London branch and the fees start to stack up, I 

 

They are now so fast I can look up the exchange rate on BBK site and instruct FD via their automated system and usually achieve a same day transfer with the rate I checked in the morning.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Tofer

[SteveB2]

Open a joint UK Bank account with a UK resident family member.

Has worked like a charm for the last 25 years  - got a credit card with it too????

[Jip99]

42 minutes ago, Tofer said:

They're not cheaper than the free transfers I get via First Direct. Their exchange rates are also quite competitive, but I find it is always slightly better to send Stirling and let the Bangkok Bank make the currency exchange at this end, with only a B500 transfer fee. Also if you send Thai baht from FD it is routed through Nat West clearing bank and then BBK London branch and the fees start to stack up, I 

 

They are now so fast I can look up the exchange rate on BBK site and instruct FD via their automated system and usually achieve a same day transfer with the rate I checked in the morning.

 

 

TW exchange rates are always better than BKB.

 

In your case the 500 Baht costs with BKB will equate to around a £1,000 transfer  with TW.

[KittenKong]

9 hours ago, Just Weird said:

You claimed that there are "several" UK banks that will open accounts for non-residents, your suggestion was clearly inferring that they were common.  If such banks do exist and offer normal banking services, which are they?  Why leave us guessing?

I gave names. Not sure what you mean by "normal banking services" but the names I mentioned accept deposits which is what I want. If you want current account facilities and overdrafts and chequebooks then I suspect they will be much harder to find, for obvious reasons.

Several just means a small number greater than two. At no point did I suggest that they were common: in fact I suggested the opposite.

 

9 hours ago, Just Weird said:

Investec doesn't count purely because of the OP's requirements,

Not my problem. You wanted the name of a bank that accepts non-resident depositors: they do. In fact I suspect that the OP is looking at the private banking section of their website which does have much higher requirements than the savings section. So maybe he should check again.

 

9 hours ago, Just Weird said:

Yorkshire Bank (Lloyds group) will not open accounts for non-residents,

You are confusing the Yorkshire Building Society (Lloyds) with the Yorkshire Bank (owned by CYBG plc which is in the process of merging with Virgin Money).

 

9 hours ago, Just Weird said:

What are the "couple of Indian banks" you know of that open accounts in UK for non-residents, or the "smaller names"? 

There are only a handful of Indian banks that operate in the UK. How hard can it be to look at them all? You will find the right ones quite quickly.

 

The smaller names come and go. Again, look at them. I found a couple without much trouble.

 

If you want me to do more for you it will cost you £200/hour for my time.

 

 

[KittenKong]

3 hours ago, topt said:

I believe "protected deposits" (so up to the guarantee amount) are excluded from the bail in provisions.

Please link if you have anything that says different.

You are correct.

 

All depositors should bear in mind that none of this applies to offshore deposit protection schemes such as those offered in the CI and IOM: they stand (or fall) alone.

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, Tofer said:

Standard Chartered Bank, and they have a few branches in Thailand also.

Standard Chartered Thailand transferred its domestic client base a few years ago to a Thai bank called Tisco. SC Thailand now only take on business clients.

Doesn't affect UK branches, of course.

[barry1312]

Offshore Banks domiciled in the Isle of Man are covered by UK investor protection laws as they are simply branches of UK Mainland Banks.

 

Pretty much all of them will open accounts for expats but most have a relatively high minimum deposit that you must maintain Barclays I believe is about 25,000 GBP Lloyds are less I believe and Standard Bank I think are the lowest at about 3000GBP but you need to check those figures yourself.

 

All of them give debit cards and have internet banking available and phone banking, applying is a bit of a lengthy process these days as the ridiculous anti money laundering process simply makes it difficult for normal law abiding citizens while presumably hardly interrupting the criminal elements daily routine!!!

 

Probably allow about 3 months these days for that process to complete