Keep UK bank account?

Evening all,

Quick question as not sure what to do....

Did anyone keep their UK bank account open when moving to Australia?

I have a payment that I need to keep making & the company has said they are not set up to take from a foreign bank account. I need to keep my UK account open but can I tell the bank I've moved to Australia? I can't keep my present address on my account as I won't be here if the bank post me anything.

Confused!!!

Any info would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Woody

Yes, you can keep your UK bank account (and I strongly recommend everyone does) but I would check the T&Cs about minimum balances, charges etc especially if you will not use it much.

I manage mine online only.

I would keep it open, in case you ever move back to the UK. I gave a family members UK address for any correspondence. It has also been handy to transfer spending money back when visiting the UK.

We kept ours open too. If you know what your address will be in Australia you might as well change it now (we initially changed our address to my parents UK address then, when we visited last Christmas, we changed it to our own Australian address). Keep in mind (with our bank at least) you can only change address in branch, everything else you can do online or over the phone. Also have them stop all marketing mailings as my parents kept on posting these to us at enormous expense!

Yes. We transfer and use it regularly. Don't close it when you leave. Makes trips back easy too.

We had no reason to keep any of our UK accounts open as no outstanding payments.

Yes. We transfer and use it regularly. Don't close it when you leave. Makes trips back easy too.

Its also handy for buying Christmas presents etc too. Order online, pay in sterling using your UK balance, no postage, no currency exchange, and no long postal delays.

Definately keep it open, you can manage it online and as others have said use a relatives address, your bank statements can be online too so no need for paper ones, so glad we kept ours open

Definately keep it open, you can manage it online and as others have said use a relatives address, your bank statements can be online too so no need for paper ones, so glad we kept ours open

You can give them your address in Australia btw, we have. It is not an issue for them as they know customers moved abroad and move back. But we didn't get paper statements etc anyway so not a problem

One small thing though was that if you stop accessing online regularly mine switched me to paper statements so I now make a point of logging in to the account every week or two to avoid this happening again.

Yes, we use our Australian address with no issue whatsoever. We informed them of our move, sorted out the accounts and what ones we wanted to keep open and any snail mail gets sent here to us.

It may be some banks don't operate with this policy but ours did. If they hadn't we'd have opened up an account elsewhere that did allow an overseas address etc.

Yes mine is still open. Nothing goes into now (aside from birthday/Xmas money from my parents) and only small items go out - a few Amazon Kindle type payments, but mainly I try to keep it for spending money on trips back to the UK! Surprised I haven't been rumbled by the bank yet, as it's almost inactive, but guess there must be enough activity for them not to be concerned.

I use my parents' house as the a/c address and switched to online statements only & no direct marketing mail outs.

Have also still got a UK credit card but might cancel that, if I remember at some point.

I'd also recommend keeping your UK Paypal account open if you have one. I let mine close and found this Christmas when trying to buy presents (for delivery in the UK) that some suppliers would only accept Credit Card payments via Paypal but Paypal will not accept payments via a UK credit card if you don't have a UK post code. Really annoying as I ended up having to pay in GBP using an Australian Credit Card. If I'd kept my UK Paypal account open it would have been a lot simpler and cheaper.

Absolutely leave it open, especially if you think you might head back.

I also kept credit cards going and remain on the electoral role :smile:

Absolutely leave it open, especially if you think you might head back.

Even if you don't think you will, what you think can change. We banked with Nationwide and IF and were able to keep all accounts open (we have several) with no costs involved and happy to send cards etc. to our WA address. We kept our Nationwide credit card and as it's a Gold card foreign currency transactions are free - I don't know of an Australian credit card that's free that offers the same and if just used HiFx to transfer some money to our UK bank account to pay it.

When we did move back (unexpectedly really) we had no problem getting a mortgage straight away as our credit history was intact. Even opening a bank account can be difficult now if you have been living overseas so it certainly made the process easier.

Yup had my Co-op account for over 40 years - even changed the address to my Australian one and they didn't bat an eyelid. Used for when I used to come on holiday or for gift buying etc. very handy!

What I am wondering if anyone can help as I can't seem to find a definitive answer. I need to transfer back to a UK bank account each month (I can't do a one off- so will always be monthly)and I want to know if with global banks have no fee i.e. They just convert aud to gbp, or if there is a charge? I've found a few apps/advertisements about services that charge low fees but wondered if this was more effective, I currently bank with nationwide so I would have to open another account.... or is there good aus banks who transfer free. Also is there always a few or is it just shown in your exchange rate? Be good to know who is transparent etc.

Ps We arent in oz yet.

Thanks

rachel

Ps I would always keep my UK bank accounts open, for ease and reasons above credit rating etc.

Hi would you be able to elaborate what you mean about Australian credit card etc? And what's HiFX? Thank you!

Hi would you be able to elaborate what you mean about Australian credit card etc? And what's HiFX? Thank you!

HiFX is a foreign exchange company, there are many others, one of them Moneycorp have a section on this forum where you can ask questions.

Basically you set up an account with them & then when you want to transfer money you can either call them or do it online - you know what rate you are getting (& you could open a couple of accounts and shop around each time) and you then pay them in AUD and they pay into your UK Bank account in Sterling (or vice versa). It is by far the best way to move money between two countries.

ah i see, what about transfer wise? so those companies are better than banks.

also my friend said today that from ATM's you are charged if its not your bank???

ah i see, what about transfer wise? so those companies are better than banks.

 

also my friend said today that from ATM's you are charged if its not your bank???

OK, try this link for a full explanation of foreign exchange firms from a UK perspective - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/foreign-currency-exchange. Last time from Australia I used OzForex (now OFX), which is the Australian arm of UKForex. The rates will nearly always be a LOT better than banks can do.

As for ATMs, here in Australia if you use another banks ATM you'll be charge in the region of $2.50, though some have partner agreements. RediATM seems to to be free to most other banks too.

We two have accounts in more then one country, make sure you keep your address details up to date, so you receive your renewal cards when they expire, never had any issues with an uk account with Australian address or Aussie account with UK address.

Just this week Connie's sister in Scotland wanted to send a donation to our Daughter in law's sister who is getting married here in Australia. (Did you follow that?).

She went into her bank in Scotland with our Aussie bank details with the intention of transferring 50 GB Pounds for us to pass it on. After completing all the details she was told it would cost 25 GB Pounds to transfer it. She cancelled it there and then.

What we did in the end was get her to transfer it into our Halifax account in the UK and we'll withdraw the money with our debit card here. OK there will be a loss of something for the Foreign Exchange rate and a bank charge, but nowhere near 25 pounds.

Mike

Could you get a loan from a UK bank and get the advantage of lower interest?