Those who have had their accounts closed by UK banks

[Mike Teavee]

2 minutes ago, Rigsby said:

It may well, but I don't have one.

Rental contract maybe?  

[Rigsby]

43 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Rental contract maybe?  

Yep but it's all in Thai. I guess it'll need a translation service, but I can happily continue.

[Mike Teavee]

From Today's Telegraph... 

Barclays to close accounts of all British expats

Expats who bank with Barclays are to be stripped of their accounts in a move that could leave some customers unable to access their savings and pensions.

British people living abroad will no longer be able to hold a Barclays UK current or savings account, the lender said.

 

The bank began a review of its international offerings in 2021 and is now writing to customers with a six-month warning.

 

Wealthy expats can open a global account with Barclays, which allows easy online access and currency flexibility, but need to maintain a balance of £100,000 in order to avoid a monthly charge of £40.

 

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/barclays-debank-british-expats-134809331.html?guccounter=1

 

Some good news if you have a loan, mortgage or Cash ISA (Not sure about Stock ISA) with them... 

 

Under the latest closures, those with cash ISAs and fixed-rate bonds will be able to keep their accounts unless they live in Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands or Slovakia.

The same rule applies to mortgage and loan holders with the UK wing of the bank. However, existing home loan customers will not be able to remortgage when their term ends.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Mike Teavee

[soi3eddie]

Even British residents and business owners are getting accounts frozen by Barclays. Seems they are reviewing all accounts and looking for any reason to close, or going on a fishing expedition to verify account holder credentials. Our family has a business account with Barclays that uses a different registered address from the correspondence address and Barclays are making my elerly parents anxious with freezing the account and demands to provide paperwork - and the registered address is their actually their chartered accountants! Add to that widescale branch closures, I told my parents to simply tell Barclays to get lost and open an account with a better bank. 

 

[Pumpuynarak]

5 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

From Today's Telegraph... 

Barclays to close accounts of all British expats

Expats who bank with Barclays are to be stripped of their accounts in a move that could leave some customers unable to access their savings and pensions.

British people living abroad will no longer be able to hold a Barclays UK current or savings account, the lender said.

 

The bank began a review of its international offerings in 2021 and is now writing to customers with a six-month warning.

 

Wealthy expats can open a global account with Barclays, which allows easy online access and currency flexibility, but need to maintain a balance of £100,000 in order to avoid a monthly charge of £40.

 

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/barclays-debank-british-expats-134809331.html?guccounter=1

 

Some good news if you have a loan, mortgage or Cash ISA (Not sure about Stock ISA) with them... 

 

Under the latest closures, those with cash ISAs and fixed-rate bonds will be able to keep their accounts unless they live in Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands or Slovakia.

The same rule applies to mortgage and loan holders with the UK wing of the bank. However, existing home loan customers will not be able to remortgage when their term ends.

 

 

The ''end is nigh'', i cannot for the life of me understand why UK banks are closing expat accounts. What difference does it make to your account where you live in this day and age with online banking. All they need to do is prevent you from obtaining loans/overdrafts if you're not a UK resident.

I have an account with HSBC and i maintain a healthy balance, what's the problem ?

[scubascuba3]

6 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

From Today's Telegraph... 

Barclays to close accounts of all British expats

Expats who bank with Barclays are to be stripped of their accounts in a move that could leave some customers unable to access their savings and pensions.

British people living abroad will no longer be able to hold a Barclays UK current or savings account, the lender said.

 

The bank began a review of its international offerings in 2021 and is now writing to customers with a six-month warning.

 

Wealthy expats can open a global account with Barclays, which allows easy online access and currency flexibility, but need to maintain a balance of £100,000 in order to avoid a monthly charge of £40.

 

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/barclays-debank-british-expats-134809331.html?guccounter=1

 

Some good news if you have a loan, mortgage or Cash ISA (Not sure about Stock ISA) with them... 

 

Under the latest closures, those with cash ISAs and fixed-rate bonds will be able to keep their accounts unless they live in Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands or Slovakia.

The same rule applies to mortgage and loan holders with the UK wing of the bank. However, existing home loan customers will not be able to remortgage when their term ends.

 

 

Barclays has been shiite for a long time, hopefully other banks won't follow

[elfpattaya]

On 7/27/2023 at 2:11 PM, Yorkshire Tea said:

tax details?

Santander did these to me, Even though I use my brothers address. they sussed I lived in Thailand, First they asked for all my Thai details, Thai address Thai bank,  etc. I returned these details, and even though they confirmed by e-mail that they had received them they stopped my account. That meant money can go in but not taken out,??? Using their Chat service on their phone app, they confirmed they were in the wrong, re-opened my account, apologised and gave me 75 pounds.

Since then all correspondence from them has come to my Thai address, which is when they asked for my Tax details. I returned these, but I still don't trust them.

So I  now have all my pensions paid directly into my Thai bank. The rate is OK but not as good as Wise. I have since cleared my Santander account except for 1 penny.

The thing is I never opened a Santander account. I originally had an account with Girobank, taken over by Alliance and Leicester, taken over by Abbey National, taken over by Santander.

[placnx]

6 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Barclays has been shiite for a long time, hopefully other banks won't follow

I gave up on Barclays around 50 years ago after they lost incoming transfers in several countries. Last straw was in London where after several weeks they found some evidence of the payment so decided to be nice and give me the money.

[Burma Bill]

Those who have had their accounts closed by UK banks

 

This post was created back in July 2023 but today (23 September 2023) this was a headline in UK Yahoo News and is submitted for reference:

 

Barclays to close accounts of UK expats, impacting savings and pensions access.

 

Barclays Bank has made a significant move that may leave some of its expat customers unable to access their savings and pensions. The bank announced on Friday that British people living abroad will no longer be able to hold a Barclays UK current or savings account. This decision could potentially affect numerous expats who rely on these accounts for their financial transactions. (full details):

 

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/barclays-close-accounts-uk-expats-164154082.html

 

[freeworld]

Imagine my surprise. Last night arrived home to find two bank statements with account balances now at zero and final bank statements showing accounts closed. No prior correspondence before that they were going to close my accounts.

 

Have to contact them Monday to see where my money is now and how to get it back.

Edited September 24, 2023 by freeworld

[dayo202]

1 minute ago, freeworld said:

Imagine my surprise. Last night arrived home to find two bank statements with account balances now at zero and final bank statements showing accounts closed. No prior correspondence before that they were going to close my accounts.

 

Have to contact them Monday to see where my money is now and how to get it back.

Which bank ?

[freeworld]

3 minutes ago, dayo202 said:

Which bank ?

Barclays.

[dayo202]

8 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Barclays.

I'm with the Halifax, I'm dreaded the situation being without a UK Bank 

Was you using a UK address or Thailand ?

[freeworld]

8 minutes ago, dayo202 said:

I'm with the Halifax, I'm dreaded the situation being without a UK Bank 

Was you using a UK address or Thailand ?

Using Thailand address.

[dayo202]

20 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Using Thailand address.

Keep us posted regarding getting the money back ????.

Good luck ????

[doctormann]

39 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Imagine my surprise. Last night arrived home to find two bank statements with account balances now at zero and final bank statements showing accounts closed. No prior correspondence before that they were going to close my accounts.

 

Have to contact them Monday to see where my money is now and how to get it back.

I'm surprised that you were given no notice of the impending closure of your accounts.  Barclays have closed my current and savings accounts but I was given about three months notice that this was going to happen.  I was informed by letter - to my Thai address - and also by a notification to my phone that there was a communication waiting for me on their online banking site, which was exactly the same letter as I received by post.

 

I was requested to reduce the balances to zero by 31 August and then to close the accounts.  Fortunately, I also have an IoM International Account with them, so transferred the balances to that account which, allegedly, I am able to retain, albeit at a cost of 40 GBP per month!!

 

Trying to close the accounts was farcical - I spent a very long time on the phone, being passed around various departments.  No-one seemed to know what to do.  I succeeded in the end but it would probably have been easier to do nothing as they would have closed the accounts anyway.

 

As to the question of where your money is now, they will keep it until you can provide details of somewhere that it can be transferred to.  Or, they will send you a cheque through the post - which you might actually receive but will likely be useless unless you have a Thai bank that will accept it.

 

Obviously, you need to talk to them - and good luck with that!

[BritManToo]

On 9/23/2023 at 5:30 AM, Pumpuynarak said:

The ''end is nigh'', i cannot for the life of me understand why UK banks are closing expat accounts. What difference does it make to your account where you live in this day and age with online banking. All they need to do is prevent you from obtaining loans/overdrafts if you're not a UK resident.

I have an account with HSBC and i maintain a healthy balance, what's the problem ?

They are closing accounts because the UK government wants them to close expat accounts.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/07/questions-surface-about-whether-nigel-farage-complained-when-uk-banks-shut-british-expats-accounts/#:~:text=In November 2020%2C research by,the banks to announce closures.

Edited September 24, 2023 by BritManToo

[transam]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

They are closing accounts because the government wants them to close expat accounts.

Link please........????

 

You don't have to worry because you don't live here, but wait.........

[topt]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

They are closing accounts because the UK government wants them to close expat accounts.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/07/questions-surface-about-whether-nigel-farage-complained-when-uk-banks-shut-british-expats-accounts/#:~:text=In November 2020%2C research by,the banks to announce closures.

Well your comprehension of that article is different to mine. There is nothing there that says the UK govt. wants them to close expat accounts.

 

In fact I think there was an earlier link in this thread where someone stated that it is not the law but individual bank policy.

[scubascuba3]

39 minutes ago, topt said:

Well your comprehension of that article is different to mine. There is nothing there that says the UK govt. wants them to close expat accounts.

 

In fact I think there was an earlier link in this thread where someone stated that it is not the law but individual bank policy.

Govt should step in and stop them closing expat accounts willy nilly but i guess as we can't vote they don't care

[Eff1n2ret]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Govt should step in and stop them closing expat accounts willy nilly but i guess as we can't vote they don't care

Voting is one of the few things we second-class citizens can do - if you're registered and can arrange a proxy, which is the only practical way to vote from Thailand. But as we're spread across 600+ constituencies and so few in practice probably do vote, you're right, they don't care.

[theoldgit]

4 hours ago, topt said:

Well your comprehension of that article is different to mine. There is nothing there that says the UK govt. wants them to close expat accounts.

 

In fact I think there was an earlier link in this thread where someone stated that it is not the law but individual bank policy.

This was the quote in yesterdays Telegraph 

“An FCA spokesman said lenders can set their own restrictions on accounts, but customers must be treated fairly. 

They added: “Banks may set their own requirements on country of residence for account holders and must comply with local law and regulation when serving customers outside the UK. Whether or not banks decide to extend services to customers outside of the UK is a commercial decision for them, but we expect them to treat their customers fairly, comply with equalities legislation, and provide adequate notice to the customer if they decide to close their account. Customers who feel they have had their accounts closed unfairly have the right to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service.”

 

 

 

 

[lungbing]

2 hours ago, Eff1n2ret said:

Voting is one of the few things we second-class citizens can do - if you're registered and can arrange a proxy, which is the only practical way to vote from Thailand. But as we're spread across 600+ constituencies and so few in practice probably do vote, you're right, they don't care.

But only for the first 15 years.  Then you lose your vote.

[Pumpuynarak]

20 hours ago, BritManToo said:

They are closing accounts because the UK government wants them to close expat accounts.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/07/questions-surface-about-whether-nigel-farage-complained-when-uk-banks-shut-british-expats-accounts/#:~:text=In November 2020%2C research by,the banks to announce closures.

Well i've just read the link you provided and it only refers to EU countries and the ramifications of Brexit but i appreciate UK banks may have decided to take the same closure opportunity to accounts held in other countries.

[Pumpuynarak]

11 hours ago, lungbing said:

But only for the first 15 years.  Then you lose your vote.

Are you sure about that ? i'm sure i read that the UK government have recently extended the 15 years.

[Eff1n2ret]

2 hours ago, Pumpuynarak said:

Are you sure about that ? i'm sure i read that the UK government have recently extended the 15 years.

Yes, the 15-year limit has been abolished. I think the amending legislation comes into effect by the end of the year. My local council hadn't yet changed their information when I renewed my registration recently, but it should do soon.

[lungbing]

Thank you for that info.  I'll get in touch with my  former local council and check, and if possible re-register.

[lungbing]

I emailed my local council  and they replied within the hour and were most helpful.

The law change is effective from the third week of January 2024.  You will need to re-register if you're over the 15 year mark.  Get in touch with your local council for details and a form.  My council's response thoughtfully included an attachment of the .pdf application form.

 

[MrMuddle]

Which (if any), UK Banks allow customers to live in Thailand, and under what conditions?

[Eff1n2ret]

16 minutes ago, MrMuddle said:

Which (if any), UK Banks allow customers to live in Thailand, and under what conditions?

It's very difficult to say for sure. One thing you can be certain of (in my opinion) is that you can't open an account with a UK bank if they know you are living in Thailand. I was with First Direct for many years before I came here 14 years ago, and they've had my address here ever since. So far they have shown no signs of shutting me down. I keep the account active, and maintain a healthy balance in it. However, a few years ago they declined to roll over an annual savings scheme in which I had been investing for a few years previously (originally at their suggestion!!) because "you are not a UK resident". I live in hope that as a long-standing customer from whom they derive a little profit they will allow me to keep my account - but who knows?