Is it possible to have a UK Bank account while being tax resident in Thailand?

[Liverpool Lou]

44 minutes ago, quake said:

Not looked into this yet.

but maybe a cheap solution.   only need 5k GBP. thinks its in IOM.

https://international.standardbank.com/international/personal

 

19 hours ago, MrMuddle said:

Apparently Nationwide are now asking account holders to confirm their personal details, such as home address, phone number etc. Will they / any other UK Bank allow British citizens who live in Thailand to have accounts with them? 

"Will they / any other UK Bank..."

[Mutt Daeng]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

4 hours ago, leonard beaven said:

Yes you can have a UK bank account,BUT,they will not send documents or replacement cards to Thailand,for security reasons.

That may be the Lloyds policy. It is not true for RBS though I don’t remember if my last debit card was sent to Thailand.

HSBC send new credit & debit cards to my house here in Thailand. In fact I have had new cards delivered this year from HSBC. I don't have a UK address. 

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, sometimewoodworker said:

That may be the Lloyds policy. It is not true for RBS though I don’t remember if my last debit card was sent to Thailand.

It is all about policy,  and as I was told by an HSBC branch manager, the policy is discretionary. They kept mine open as my income was being paid in.

The question of tax didn't arise, the manager could see income from DWP. 

[PattayaParent]

1 hour ago, quake said:

Not looked into this yet.

but maybe a cheap solution.   only need 5k GBP. thinks its in IOM.

https://international.standardbank.com/international/personal

 

That's the bank I use.

 

Excellent bank.

 

Can't issue credit cards but you can get a debit card.

[PattayaParent]

8 minutes ago, Mutt Daeng said:

HSBC send new credit & debit cards to my house here in Thailand. In fact I have had new cards delivered this year from HSBC. I don't have a UK address. 

 

Is your HSBC account offshore or in UK?

 

I used to have an offshore account with HSBC and had a credit card which was issued from UK.

 

When I needed a new credit card HSBC UK refused to send it to Thailand so I had them send it to my offshore bank address who then sent it to me in Thailand. Their refusal was based on Thailand not being a secure location for delivery, although I never had any problems receiving my cards when HSBC offshore sent them.

 

HSBC would however send my credit card to Seoul Korea where I lived for a while, and on three separate occasions I never received it, even when having HSBC in Seoul instruct HSBC UK to send the card to them for me to collect in person.

 

I closed my HSBC offshore account eventually but kept the credit card active and guess what, come time for renewal HSBC UK had no problem sending me the card to Thailand!

 

[Tropicalevo]

6 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Some banks have closed accounts, I don’t know that the accounts were actively being used at the time. These include Barclays.

 

Anecdotal evidence  could be useful. This would need to include the activity in the accounts, along with the bank name, possibly original opening location.

 

A good friend of mine has an account with Barclays in the UK. Sorry, I do not know the location.

He has been a non resident for about 30 years.

He now lives permanently in Thailand and Barclays keep writing to him telling him that he now has to close his account with them as he lives overseas.

He refuses, telling them that he does not want it closed.

He tells them that if they want it closed, they must close it.

This has been going on for a couple of years now.

He still has an account with Barclays.

 

Back to the OP's original question -

I too have an account in the UK with NatWest. I have had it since they were called Westminster Bank, before they merged (1960's?).

I became non resident the UK in 1993 and told the bank. No problem.

I have my pension paid into it. (They too know that I live overseas.)

For post - they have my M-I-L's address for silly, non important stuff and my Thai address for anything that I want quickly.

 

As others have said, I suspect that if one lives overseas, opening an account in the UK now would be very, very tricky.

[PBob]

Both my wife and I have kept our existing Natwest accounts and they know we live in Thailand. They would not send new back cards to Thailand until a couple of years ago.

 

Ulster Bank insisted that my wife close her account and would not transfer the balance to any other bank in the group. They changed their mind after a complaint and paid compensation for the poor service.

[VBF]

A lot of these problems are caused by money laundering regulations that require the banks to prove that they "know the customer".

If the banks cannot show their due diligence then they seem to err on the side of caution. Obviously, they're prepared to make a greater effort for a customer offering to deposit millions rather than "just a few thousand". What might seem like a lot of money to us is just a drop in the ocean to a bank.

[quake]

People who are residents of Thailand.

will have there uk bank accounts closed In  the next few years.

Unless you are telling them porkies. ( and that my well be found out) 

Get used to it and find an alternative .

unless your up to other things, ( pensions ) and so on. 

 

 

[scottiejohn]

27 minutes ago, quake said:

People who are residents of Thailand.

will have there uk bank accounts closed In  the next few years.

Unless you are telling them porkies. ( and that my well be found out) 

Get used to it and find an alternative .

unless your up to other things, ( pensions ) and so on. 

 

 

Is your tin foil hat not due for replacement soon?

[BritManToo]

47 minutes ago, quake said:

People who are residents of Thailand.

will have there uk bank accounts closed In  the next few years.

Unless you are telling them porkies. ( and that my well be found out) 

Get used to it and find an alternative .

unless your up to other things, ( pensions ) and so on. 

 

 

The UK banks are locking their apps to UK Google accounts with UK IP address, so even if they let you keep your account you'll lose access on your next forced bank app update.

 

Pc access with UK phone SIM for OTP still works though.

[sometimewoodworker]

35 minutes ago, quake said:

People who are residents of Thailand.

will have there uk bank accounts closed In  the next few yea

Where is your information coming from? Or is it just speculation. 
There have been these kinds of statements being bandied about for many years they haven’t been shown as correct yet.

[hotandsticky]

6 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Where is your information coming from? Or is it just speculation. 
There have been these kinds of statements being bandied about for many years they haven’t been shown as correct yet.

 

It has happened. There have been threads on here in which it has been reported. So - YES - it has been shown to be correct.

 

HOWEVER, at the moment it is not widespread and I have not seen one bank come out and state that it is their policy to close non-resident accounts....... Another HOWEVER, you cannot open a new UK bank if you not UK resident. Take that concept a stage further and a logical next step would be to attack low-hanging fruit i.e. existing accounts with an overseas address - or where non-residency has been declared. Compliance is the reason cited by the banks, or more specifically "much higher costs of compliance" where non-resident accounts are concerned.

 

Everyone should have a WISE account as a back up.