Barclays to close expat bank accounts (unless you're rather rich)

[AyG]

Barclays will close expats' bank accounts if they live in certain countries unless they have a minimum balance of £100,000. I would be most surprised if this didn't apply to Thailand.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/expat-money/11746500/Barclays-to-close-expats-bank-accounts-unless-they-deposit-100000.html

[4evermaat]

Is it based on the address of their mailing address?

[emilymat]

I'm not sure if they mean closing accounts in countries where Barclays have a physical presence - i.e. some actual branch.

I've banked with Barclays for 35 years. Have a UK and Isle of Man account. Hope we can get more clarity. Thanks to the OP for highlighting the article.

[dabhand]

This article gives some additional insight into Barclays actions.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-3163991/Barclays-tells-expats-need-100k-accounts.html

Looks like if you don't have £100k to hold in a Barclays account (more than the current deposit protection limit of £75k ) you are out the door.

Absolutely no loyalty from Barclays (or most other banks) to long standing clients. No surprise there

[ThaiPauly]

HSBC told me last week that I have to have a minimum of 60k under management with them or in an account.

However they are not saying they will close your account if you don't reach this criteria, they will charge you 35 quid a month.

[dabhand]

Just received a letter (dated 08Jul15) from Barclays (IOM). My contact address is in Thailand and my account is with Barclays, Jersey.

They are indicating that access to their 'core International Banking Service' remains (includes savings/investments/bank + savings account, online access, 24/7 telephone support, fx services plus access to mortgage advisors and treasury team).

Certain extra services available for those with savings + investments of over £100k & over £200k.

The core service is available foc for those with more than £25k in savings and investments.

Those with less than £25k for four consecutive months will be charged a monthly fee of £20. This is effective from 12Oct15 and appears to be based on the four months prior to that date.

I was previously charged about £12 per month on my account up to about 2 to 3 years back. That was waived when I received a couple of six figure sums for final payments from my employment contract / pension. I soon moved the monies out of Barclays but the monthly fee was never re-instated.

So, not too bad and certainly far better than those with Barclays accounts and based in the EU locations mentioned in the article.

Edited July 20, 2015 by dabhand

[Ricardo]

HSBC told me last week that I have to have a minimum of 60k under management with them or in an account.

However they are not saying they will close your account if you don't reach this criteria, they will charge you 35 quid a month.

IIRC that sounds like the lower-limit for HSBC's higher-level Premier banking-product, there also used to be the HSBC Advance account, which had a lower balance requirement, but made a monthly charge.

But it may well be different, for UK-onshore and offshore/international banking with them ?

[KittenKong]

Barclays have a branch (of sorts) in Thailand, so I would expect Thailand to be part of their "core international banking service" of some 70 countries.

Quite why it should make much difference in which country an expat lives is beyond me, given that these expats probably never visit a branch in person anyway. If the post to a country is unreliable an extra fee could be charged for couriered delivery of post, or a mailing address elsewhere could be used.

[Pib]

Sounds like it's an excuse to raise fees.

[Tomtomtom69]

Barclays have a branch (of sorts) in Thailand, so I would expect Thailand to be part of their "core international banking service" of some 70 countries.

Quite why it should make much difference in which country an expat lives is beyond me, given that these expats probably never visit a branch in person anyway. If the post to a country is unreliable an extra fee could be charged for couriered delivery of post, or a mailing address elsewhere could be used.

You're lucky if they're still allowing expats based in one of 70 countries to keep their accounts, as there is a trend among European banks especially, to close expat accounts in light of all the trouble the US going after tax cheats abroad has caused. This is especially true for Swiss banks, but even German and other European banks are now closing accounts of non-residents. It doesn't seem to matter anymore if you're not American or don't live in America and have nothing to do with the USA (this was the original criteria for account closure) now even Swiss, German and other citizens of Europe are getting hit, just for living abroad.

Generally speaking, you can still keep your account if you remain resident in the EU, but it will be expensive. For example, UBS, a major Swiss bank, charges CHF 30 for customers residing in the EU, but requires a minimum of CHF 10,000 (or equivalent in EUR or USD) in assets held by non-residents living anywhere outside of the EU. And then only a limited number of account types and account functionality are offered. Credit cards are only available to Swiss residents, except if you agree to a secured credit card whereby you have to place the amount you would like as a credit limit in an account held by the bank. This amount will be blocked as long as you are using the card and only returned after you cancel it.