Barclays UK On-shore Accounts

[phetphet]

14 hours ago, doctormann said:

No idea.  I've never really considered Wise - seems to give problems with proving that transfers are international.

There are many threads on this. I think that two banks (Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn Bank) particularly Bangkok Bank, can show the transfers as International. 

 

Some posters say you must use the reason for transfer as "Long Term Stay in Thailand".

Others say that to be 100% sure, it is better to contact them and ask them to set it up.

Either way seems to work, but the latter does seem to be more definite.

 

Have a read of this of better info:

https://wise.com/help/articles/2932335/guide-to-thb-transfers

Edited March 1, 2023 by phetphet

[LivinLOS]

23 hours ago, doctormann said:

Fortunately, in my case, I do have a Barclays International account which, apparently, is not affected by the new rules

Which 'international' do you have ?? 

About 5 years ago I got a 'cease and desist' from Barclays Jersey after banking with them my entire adult life, thier grounds were having a Thai address and did the same for my brother and father who had Thai and N African addresses. Very little notice and a major disruption.

I have since had HSBC, and now CitiGold accounts (with a HUGE amount demanded on deposit) and I just heard this week Citi are closing those sometime this year also. No great loss as I have found Citi to be massively non user friendly, hard to make transfers, repeated blocks an mystery stops and holds on card spends, outbound transfers, etc etc. 

[doctormann]

35 minutes ago, LivinLOS said:

Which 'international' do you have ?? 

About 5 years ago I got a 'cease and desist' from Barclays Jersey after banking with them my entire adult life, thier grounds were having a Thai address and did the same for my brother and father who had Thai and N African addresses. Very little notice and a major disruption.

I have since had HSBC, and now CitiGold accounts (with a HUGE amount demanded on deposit) and I just heard this week Citi are closing those sometime this year also. No great loss as I have found Citi to be massively non user friendly, hard to make transfers, repeated blocks an mystery stops and holds on card spends, outbound transfers, etc etc. 

My international account is with Barclays Isle of Man.

 

I am surprised that Barclays Jersey have given you the elbow.  After all, what is the point in having an international account if you have to be resident in the UK?  Makes no sense.

[sandyf]

23 hours ago, Crossy said:

Yeah, it's UK banking legislation that account holders must be UK resident.

There is no such legislation. A few years back I received an email from HSBC in Sheffield asking me to attend the branch which I did the next time I was back in the UK about 6 months later.

They had picked up on the fact I was using a PO address and said it was bank policy not to service accounts for non residents.

I explained the situation and he agreed to maintain the account subject to my pension being paid into the account and required my Thai address and bank account details. Also said the decision was discretionary and could be altered by another manager in the future.

[PPGuy]

19 hours ago, phetphet said:

Would you still be charged if you transferred the money from your international account to Wise, and then did the transfer from there?

I have used my Barclays, Jersey account many times to transfer funds to Wise for onward transfers to my Thai bank account. No charges from Barclays.

[OJAS]

11 hours ago, sandyf said:

There is no such legislation. A few years back I received an email from HSBC in Sheffield asking me to attend the branch which I did the next time I was back in the UK about 6 months later.

They had picked up on the fact I was using a PO address and said it was bank policy not to service accounts for non residents.

I explained the situation and he agreed to maintain the account subject to my pension being paid into the account and required my Thai address and bank account details. Also said the decision was discretionary and could be altered by another manager in the future.

And definitely no mention of legislative requirements in the following link, for instance!

 

https://slothmove.com/uk-bank-account-if-i-move-abroad/

 

[pattaya1234was]

I am one of those long time Barclays customers who have been informed that their account in the UK is going to be closed in August this year. I only have a small amount of money in the account which I find useful when I travel to the UK-Debit card for example. I also suffered when they cancelled my Barclaycard 7/8 years ago. After much searching I was accepted by Amex who have been excellent. The only problem is that Amex is not universally accepted and thus a Debit card becomes essential. 

Yes I could travel to the UK with a lot of cash in my luggage but I would rather not take that route.

So are there any suggestions for a Debit Card? I am not prepared to pay the 40 pounds per month demanded by Barclays International. Obviously I have a Thai Debit card.

Any helpful advice would be most gratefully received.

 

[NanLaew]

On 3/1/2023 at 8:10 AM, doctormann said:

My international account is with Barclays Isle of Man.

 

I am surprised that Barclays Jersey have given you the elbow.  After all, what is the point in having an international account if you have to be resident in the UK?  Makes no sense.

They only want residents of Jersey or obscenely rich people with private islands in the Caribbean who own their own airline as a customer. Same goes for Isle of Man.

[doctormann]

11 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

They only want residents of Jersey or obscenely rich people with private islands in the Caribbean who own their own airline as a customer. Same goes for Isle of Man.

We'll see what happens with my IoM account.  The letter that I received from Barclays specifically stated that on-shore accounts had to be closed for non-residents but that other services were not affected.  Of course, this doesn't mean that the situation will stay that way.

 

I'm trying to get my pension payments paid into my IoM account, effective 01 April.  If this succeeds then I will transfer my existing funds to that account and then close my on-shore current and savings accounts.  If it doesn't work then I'll have to look at Wise, I suppose, but I am reluctant to use them as many people - on this forum - have reported problems with getting payments recognized as international transfers.  Seems to depend on which Thai bank you use - some seem better than others but none seem 100% reliable, resulting in the need for a paper chase.  I can do without that!

[Digitalbanana]

23 hours ago, NanLaew said:

They only want residents of Jersey or obscenely rich people with private islands in the Caribbean who own their own airline as a customer. Same goes for Isle of Man.

NatWest let me keep my account there, and I am none of the above. No annual fees either.

[OJAS]

On 3/2/2023 at 9:36 AM, pattaya1234was said:

I am one of those long time Barclays customers who have been informed that their account in the UK is going to be closed in August this year. I only have a small amount of money in the account which I find useful when I travel to the UK-Debit card for example. I also suffered when they cancelled my Barclaycard 7/8 years ago. After much searching I was accepted by Amex who have been excellent. The only problem is that Amex is not universally accepted and thus a Debit card becomes essential. 

Yes I could travel to the UK with a lot of cash in my luggage but I would rather not take that route.

So are there any suggestions for a Debit Card? I am not prepared to pay the 40 pounds per month demanded by Barclays International. Obviously I have a Thai Debit card.

Any helpful advice would be most gratefully received.

 

Depends on how often you are planning to travel back to the UK. If only occasionally could you not make do with your Thai debit card (assuming that it can be used to make GBP payments in the UK, of course) - even though this will inevitably mean a double-whammy on the exchange rate front if your income is derived in the UK but paid into a Thai bank account. A bitter pill which you might just have to swallow, I'm afraid.

[pattaya1234was]

Thank you OJAS. Yes, I could make do with my Thai debit card but I always like to have some form of back-up. Last September , as I am 83 , I traveled domestically by National Bus. But they would not accept my Barclays debit card whether I tried to make bus bookings in Thailand or the UK. I visited Barclays in the UK and tried to make the booking in front of their staff-they had no idea of what was happening and National Bus told me they would look into the problem-end of story! I will try to get hold of another Thai debit card for back-up-that will not be easy either!

The other solution is not go back to the UK.

And life is meant to be easier nowadays!