On 2/3/2020 at 9:20 PM, SteveK said:

If you don't owe them any money, get ready for them to close your accounts and request a ridiculous amount of paperwork to retrieve your balances. Happened to a good friend of mine who sold his home in the UK.

 

Obviously they won't close the accounts if it's you who owes THEM money.

Just happened to me. Last year Barclays needed a whole load of KYC stuff done or they would suspend my account. Last month my local Barclays branch manager emailed me to ask if I was planning to stay in Thailand, I said for 2020 yes. He emailed back that I have 2 months to move any funds in the account and they will be closing the account. I had this account for well over 30 years. It had only a small amount of money in, due to the fact that the Barclays ATM card never worked in Thai ATM machines. This is a major inconvenience due to various standing orders and I will be left without a UK bank account. 

 Another unhappy (ex) customer!

 

On 2/7/2020 at 7:25 PM, nglodnig said:

Thanks, tried that - no good, they insist on a UK phone number - which I have but the SIM card is the size of a large postage stamp and won't fit any (modern) phone.

Pair of scissors will soon fix that, if you aren't confident enough to do it yourself, one of the girls selling phones will do it.

On 2/3/2020 at 8:35 PM, nglodnig said:

Even then, I have to produce a utility bill IN MY NAME to prove my new address. As the house is in my wifes name (as I cannot own property in Thailand) everything is registered to her - which should make it simple to change HER address (it's a joint account). BUT, guess what - it has to be in English. 

 

get a postpaid mobile internet plan (which is usually assigned a phone # anyway).   Make sure the postal address is in English.   Problem solved.

maybe you should keep the address you have now?

don't change anything just keep the same address you have there.

the bank will be happy to save work.

once you tell the bank you want to change an address the bank must follow some rules.

but if you don't say anything - they don't do anything. 

you can keep working as usual and if you don't like them, move your money

to another bank or another country (sweatzerland is a tax shelter) - if you visit

the UK twice a decade, why to keep an account there?