Nationwide International to Close for Good

[orientalist]

On 2/6/2017 at 8:11 PM, orientalist said:

All deposits are supposed to be from a UK bank account in your own name but they make an exception for UK state pensions. Interest on the Direct Saver account is currently 0.80% and you can sign up for Income Bonds at 1.00%.

 

It seems I was given wrong info on this. They now tell me there are no exceptions, and any pension would have to go first to a UK bank before being deposited with NS&I.

 

Also, I see they will reduce interest rates to 0.70% and 0.75% respectively in a couple of months.

[theoldgit]

On ‎07‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 5:59 PM, orientalist said:

Yes, you can do transfers within the UK banking system and also make international payments. Unlike Nationwide, you can set up a new payee with a OTP to your mobile instead of having to mail them a request form.

Seems like Santander have just pulled the plug santander.co.im and the only options that now seem to be available are accounts for expats who deposit £75k+ in a Select Account or £1m+ in a Private Banking Account. 

[thonglorjimmy]

On ‎14‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 4:46 PM, theoldgit said:

Seems like Santander have just pulled the plug santander.co.im and the only options that now seem to be available are accounts for expats who deposit £75k+ in a Select Account or £1m+ in a Private Banking Account. 

Yes, they stopped offering this account on Monday.
I was in the process of opening an account with them though I'd only got as far as asking who could certify the documents, I emailed them calling foul asking them why didn't tell me last week when we spoke on the phone?
They have responded confirming that the accounts were pulled on the 13th, but existing accounts could still remain open and that applications that were being processed could be opened, and that included mine that was in transit, providing it reached them by the 28th.

[orientalist]

Yikes! I must have made it with just a few days to spare. My application took 5 WEEKS to reach them by registered mail!

 

I tried to close one of my Nationwide accounts online and have the funds transferred to my new Santander account, but I got a slightly snotty reply that after "reviewing" my account they could not do that until I sent them a signed snail mail request. Presumably this is another case of "dodgy Thailand" messing things up.

 

Overall, this is quite disappointing. I mean, how long before Santander IOM also decides to close shop altogether?

[Oxx]

On 06/02/2017 at 8:11 PM, orientalist said:

Also opened an account with NS&I

 

Just applied.

 

To open an account online you need a UK address.  Otherwise you need to apply by 'phone.

 

Payments can only be made to an account in your name.

 

Can't transfer money to Thailand from the account.

 

Assuming my application is accepted I'm hoping I can change my address to my Thai one and request paper statements.  That will give me "proof of address" when I need it.  (Previously I'd used Nationwide International bank statements for this.)

[orientalist]

Just got a letter from Nationwide urging me to close all accounts and enclosing a form to do this.

 

Meanwhile, Santander just sent me a self-assessment form, part of which (related to FACTA) seems to imply that if I am not American I must provide documentary evidence of this. Unbelievable.

[thonglorjimmy]

2 hours ago, orientalist said:

Meanwhile, Santander just sent me a self-assessment form, part of which (related to FACTA) seems to imply that if I am not American I must provide documentary evidence of this. Unbelievable.

You would have thought that your British Passport may have given them a clue, if not how do you prove you're not something?
So is the Santander account actually open, if so how long did it take once they'd received your application?

[partington]

2 hours ago, orientalist said:

Just got a letter from Nationwide urging me to close all accounts and enclosing a form to do this.

 

Meanwhile, Santander just sent me a self-assessment form, part of which (related to FACTA) seems to imply that if I am not American I must provide documentary evidence of this. Unbelievable.

It's not really unbelievable: documentary evidence is a non-US passport which you must have already sent , and/or a W-8BEN form certfying your foreign status or a bank form on which you declare you are not a US person and sign. 

 

Opening any bank account offshore will always require these things now, and the OECD has instituted a similar system to the American one. Documentation of all tax residency status in the 100 plus countries which are signatories to this agreement is legally required to be requested and supplied in all applications from here on.

 

It's not particularly onerous: I included all these things in my application to Santander International, and they opened my account in under a week.

 

On the other hand the useless bunch of $£$% at HSBC Jersey still haven't opened an account I applied for in mid December. Their Jersey office is staffed by half-wits with the responsiveness of toilet-seats.

Edited February 20, 2017 by partington

[orientalist]

Well, exactly. They already have the copy of my non-US passport and my signed statement about the countries I am tax-resident in. So why are they asking for the same information again? Their letter begins, "Information we hold about you indicates you may be tax resident in another country." Yes! I already told them I am tax resident in LOS and sent them my tax ID. Then later they say "if relevant..." send a copy of a non-US ID, i.e. what they already have. But it isn't clear what the "if relevant" means. Oh, well, time to give them a call. 

[orientalist]

56 minutes ago, thonglorjimmy said:

You would have thought that your British Passport may have given them a clue, if not how do you prove you're not something?
So is the Santander account actually open, if so how long did it take once they'd received your application?

 

I think it took about 5 days to process and then another week for their 2 letters to reach me. During that time I called to check about it and they gave me the account number and sort code. When I eventually logged in, the account was open with a zero balance. So now I just have to wait for Nationwide to close one of my accounts and transfer it to Santander. They haven't hassled my about having a zero balance for a couple of weeks.

 

They use an online system similar to that of Alliance & Leicester in that they email you every time they send you a secure message.

[orientalist]

OK, after an initially confusing call they offered to make a check-list for me and it turned out they don't need a second copy of my passport. So no problem then. Just fill out the self-assessment form.

[orientalist]

Good news for those of us wanting a UK account without being a UK resident: TransferWise is now offering "borderless accounts" to residents of Thailand. Since I had already signed up with TransferWise and sent a scan of my passport details, they just required me to answer one question about my reason for wanting the account. I now have a UK account number and sort code, which they say pensions and wages can be sent to. Debit cards are coming later, they say.

 

https://transferwise.com/borderless

 

... or PM me if you want a link with a fee discount on the first transfer. It's part of their friends invitation scheme.

 

I had hoped Monzo would do something like this, but they have just started offering a regular bank account with the usual residency stipulations. Pity, because I really like the Monzo no-fees prepaid card.

[KittenKong]

On 12/11/2017 at 10:05 AM, orientalist said:

I now have a UK account number and sort code, which they say pensions and wages can be sent to. Debit cards are coming later, they say.

 

I would be wary of leaving any significant amount in one of these accounts as they do not appear to have the FSCS protection that a "normal" UK bank account would offer.

[orientalist]

Agreed. Any money I need to retain in sterling I put in my NS&I Direct Savers account. 

[Oxx]

1 hour ago, KittenKong said:

 

they do not appear to have the FSCS protection that a "normal" UK bank account would offer.

 

More specifically, they state on their website that there is no FSCS protection.

 

https://transferwise.com/help/article/2811590/borderless-account/how-is-this-different-than-a-bank-account

[KittenKong]

4 hours ago, orientalist said:

Agreed. Any money I need to retain in sterling I put in my NS&I Direct Savers account. 

 

They should be applying the full recent 0.25% base rate increase to that next month.