Off shore bank account for UK retirees

[Kevin1908]

Beginning to think about retiring to Thailand so guess I will need a non UK bank account. Nat West said they don't do one although I used to have one 20 years ago. Got a meeting with Lloyds on Thursday. I need somewhere to put my ISA's in an income generating investment free of UK tax.

[JackGats]

If you can conduct your affairs in German, the Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB) is kind of specialised in expats. If you do not reside in Germany or the EU, you only pay tax whenever there's a withholding tax, like on dividends.

 

https://www.nomadenberlin.com/blog2/deutsche-kreditbank

 

For English-speaking people N26 bank may be better. I'm with DKB and I can vouch for it, dunno about N26.

 

P.S. Seems N26 is not available for UK residents. Note that if you open an offshore account in any bank, you'd better do it before you settle in Thailand. Good luck with opening an account in Euroland when the only address you have is in Thailand.

 

[oMega69]

Open Bank Account Alternative Online | Bankera

[topt]

4 hours ago, Kevin1908 said:

I need somewhere to put my ISA's in an income generating investment free of UK tax.

Sorry but am I missing something? ISAs are free of UK tax.

If cash ISAs you can just change them to be Stocks and shares ISAs but be aware apparently the process can take up to 30 days. You don't lose the tax free status doing it.

[Eff1n2ret]

14 hours ago, Kevin1908 said:

Beginning to think about retiring to Thailand so guess I will need a non UK bank account.

You are not obliged to close your UK bank account if you move abroad. What you can't do is open a UK bank account once you are no longer living there. I still bank with First Direct, my pensions are paid into my account there and I move funds to my Thai account when that needs topping up. If you have a UK bank account and can keep it active, I strongly recommend you to do so. I don't know about other banks, but FD never raised any objection or problems when I notified my Thai address 12 years ago. Since then, about 4 years ago they stopped me from participating in an annual scheme for saving up to £300 per month at a better rate of interest - apparently some rule change prevented me from renewing that, as it meant opening a new account every time. I opened an account with Skipton International in Guernsey, but that has to be linked to my FD account.

P.S. I still have a Halifax shares ISA

[Chomper Higgot]

Absolutely no need to have an offshore account.

 

Stick with a UK bank, use online banking and make all your communications paperless.