Barclays closing accounts if non UK address

[Mel Lofts]

Hi All,

Barclays have sent out letters to all Australian account holders that have any non UK address on their accounts. They have notified account holders that the account must be closed as they will no longer service non UK account holders. Just wondering what the options are for anyone with investments still in the UK and or state pension payments. It's a big pain for us as we have rental income and costs. Looked at opening a new expat account but all of them require you to invest 50k GBP or have a salary of 100k GBP and have extortionate fees. Tried to change address online to a UK relatives but it won't let me change the country without calling them and providing proof of address. What is anyone else considering?   

 

[Marisawright]

I have my state pension payments paid directly into my Australian bank account.  

Also look into Wise accounts. 

[Bridgeman]

I am with another bank in the UK and hope they won't follow suit as I have various UK pensions paid in as I prefer to have control over when I bring the money over to my Australian account.

.  The UK state pension isn't a problem as you say, it can be paid direct into an Australian account but I have a couple of other private pensions which will not pay into a foreign bank account.  I would be interested in any suggestions.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Bridgeman

[Marisawright]

I did some Googling and so far, I think Barclays is the only bank doing this.  

UK banks are extremely strict about proof of UK address when opening a new account and I know that's due to UK banking legislation, not a choice by the banks.  However it seems Barclays is the only one that's not allowing you to keep your bank account once overseas, and I'm not aware of any good reason for their attitude.

https://www.barclays.co.uk/important-information/living-outside-the-uk/

Edited June 3, 2023 by Marisawright

[InnerVoice]

4 hours ago, Mel Lofts said:

Hi All,

Barclays have sent out letters to all Australian account holders that have any non UK address on their accounts. They have notified account holders that the account must be closed as they will no longer service non UK account holders. Just wondering what the options are for anyone with investments still in the UK and or state pension payments. It's a big pain for us as we have rental income and costs. Looked at opening a new expat account but all of them require you to invest 50k GBP or have a salary of 100k GBP and have extortionate fees. Tried to change address online to a UK relatives but it won't let me change the country without calling them and providing proof of address. What is anyone else considering?

Sorry to hear that and I agree, it's very inconvenient. My wife had a Barclays current account and I had a Barclaycard, so they've just gone down the swanny. Fortunately I've several other UK bank accounts to fall back on. My wife thinks I have some kind of money laundering operation going on but I just took advantage of all those deals they were doing 10-15 years ago, when they were throwing money at you to open a current account, or switch. Anyway, that doesn't help you much but here's a couple of ideas...

You could try switching your Barclays account to another UK bank via the USwitch website. They don't specify that you need to be a UK resident and I guess it will depend on whether it's permitted by the bank you want to switch to, but at least you have a regular income, which is usually the main hurdle when it comes to opening a new current account. Worth a try.

https://www.uswitch.com/current-accounts/#current-account-deals

An alternative, as Marisa mentioned, is to use Wise. I've been using them for over 5 years and their service has been excellent to date. They provide you with a UK account number and sort code that you can make payments from and to. You can also have your salary or pension paid into the same account, which gets over the problem of needing a UK bank account to receive private pension payments. Once the money is in your Wise account, you can transfer it directly to your Australian bank account (transfer fees apply). Hope this helps.

[InnerVoice]

18 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

I did some Googling and so far, I think Barclays is the only bank doing this.  

UK banks are extremely strict about proof of UK address when opening a new account and I know that's due to UK banking legislation, not a choice by the banks.  However it seems Barclays is the only one that's not allowing you to keep your bank account once overseas, and I'm not aware of any good reason for their attitude.

https://www.barclays.co.uk/important-information/living-outside-the-uk/

I believe that UK banks have an obligation to inform the HMRC if a customer is no longer UK resident for tax purposes, which means writing to any who have permanently changed theirs to an overseas address. I often receive letters about this requesting proof of identity and tax residency (certified copies of ID documents), which I generally file under 'bin'. I assume that if the bank doesn't hear back from me they will report exactly that to the HMRC, so they've done their job. However, it must be creating considerable work and expense for them so you can understand why they'd only want to retain high value accounts. I expect more banks will follow suit in future.

[Quoll]

Yup, my husband just got his notice.

[JetBlast]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

UK banks are extremely strict about proof of UK address when opening a new account and I know that's due to UK banking legislation, not a choice by the banks.  H

Opening an account in the Isle Of Man gets around this but they use the UK system.

[Bridgeman]

21 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

Sorry to hear that and I agree, it's very inconvenient. My wife had a Barclays current account and I had a Barclaycard, so they've just gone down the swanny. Fortunately I've several other UK bank accounts to fall back on. My wife thinks I have some kind of money laundering operation going on but I just took advantage of all those deals they were doing 10-15 years ago, when they were throwing money at you to open a current account, or switch. Anyway, that doesn't help you much but here's a couple of ideas...

You could try switching your Barclays account to another UK bank via the USwitch website. They don't specify that you need to be a UK resident and I guess it will depend on whether it's permitted by the bank you want to switch to, but at least you have a regular income, which is usually the main hurdle when it comes to opening a new current account. Worth a try.

https://www.uswitch.com/current-accounts/#current-account-deals

An alternative, as Marisa mentioned, is to use Wise. I've been using them for over 5 years and their service has been excellent to date. They provide you with a UK account number and sort code that you can make payments from and to. You can also have your salary or pension paid into the same account, which gets over the problem of needing a UK bank account to receive private pension payments. Once the money is in your Wise account, you can transfer it directly to your Australian bank account (transfer fees apply). Hope this helps.

Thanks for that.  Good to know.

 

[Mel Lofts]

On 03/06/2023 at 16:09, Marisawright said:

I did some Googling and so far, I think Barclays is the only bank doing this.  

UK banks are extremely strict about proof of UK address when opening a new account and I know that's due to UK banking legislation, not a choice by the banks.  However it seems Barclays is the only one that's not allowing you to keep your bank account once overseas, and I'm not aware of any good reason for their attitude.

https://www.barclays.co.uk/important-information/living-outside-the-uk/

Sadly no. I got a reply from someone on a Facebook group that received a letter from Barclays, and they just so happened to be visiting the UK shortly afterwards. They said that they went to every single bank in the high street and they were told that they were no longer opening accounts for non-residents and they will soon be closing existing ones. 

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Mel Lofts said:

They went to every single bank in the high street and they were told that they were no longer opening accounts for non-residents and they will soon be closing existing ones. 

When we were in the UK in 2015, it was already illegal for ALL British banks to open accounts for non-residents.   I know one or two members here who've managed to open one with a building society, but I suspect that was just through the ignorance of the local staff!

AFAIK there is no law that says non-residents can't continue to hold an existing account, though.  The only reason banks might decide to close them, is if they're worried about potential hassles. 

[Marisawright]

On 03/06/2023 at 16:22, InnerVoice said:

You could try switching your Barclays account to another UK bank via the USwitch website. They don't specify that you need to be a UK resident and I guess it will depend on whether it's permitted by the bank you want to switch to....

As noted above, that's not possible.  British banks are not allowed, by law, to open new accounts for non-residents.  That's been the case for at least 8 years.  Nothing to do with income or assets, it's the law.  If you still have an account with a British bank, you'll find you can't even open a second account with them.

[Alan Collett]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

As noted above, that's not possible.  British banks are not allowed, by law, to open new accounts for non-residents.  That's been the case for at least 8 years.  Nothing to do with income or assets, it's the law.  If you still have an account with a British bank, you'll find you can't even open a second account with them.

What's the legislation to which you are referring please?

Best regards.

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Alan Collett said:

What's the legislation to which you are referring please?

No idea.  I was told by staff at Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Natwest and Lloyds that it was out of their hands, and that they were simply not permitted to open bank accounts for non-residents.  Legislation may be the wrong word, maybe it was "regulation", but the point is, they all said it was a rule imposed upon them.

At the time, none of them had any problem with letting you keep an existing account open if you left to live overseas. 

[Alan Collett]

2 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

No idea.  I was told by staff at Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Natwest and Lloyds that it was out of their hands, and that they were simply not permitted to open bank accounts for non-residents.  Legislation may be the wrong word, maybe it was "regulation", but the point is, they all said it was a rule imposed upon them.

At the time, none of them had any problem with letting you keep an existing account open if you left to live overseas. 

I follow the old adage, s/he who asserts must prove.

So where are the regulations that are driving this?

Until I see anything to the contrary I surmise this is internal policies, or compliance putting it in the too hard basket.

Why can Wise open an account for non residents with a UK sort code and account number when the High St banks are moving in the opposite direction?

Best regards.

[InnerVoice]

4 hours ago, Mel Lofts said:

Sadly no. I got a reply from someone on a Facebook group that received a letter from Barclays, and they just so happened to be visiting the UK shortly afterwards. They said that they went to every single bank in the high street and they were told that they were no longer opening accounts for non-residents and they will soon be closing existing ones. 

First part sounds right - not so sure about the latter. To date, the only banks that have booted us are Citibank and Barclays, both of whom are global players. It's understandable that they will change policies from time to time that might affect their operations in the domestic marketplace in certain countries. It seems that Brexit is a major factor in the decision made by some UK banks to close accounts as they are no longer choosing to service the EU and EEA countries, but it doesn't appear to be a blanket policy aimed at all overseas account holders.

[InnerVoice]

15 minutes ago, Alan Collett said:

I follow the old adage, s/he who asserts must prove.

So where are the regulations that are driving this?

Until I see anything to the contrary I surmise this is internal policies, or compliance putting it in the too hard basket.

Why can Wise open an account for non residents with a UK sort code and account number when the High St banks are moving in the opposite direction?

Best regards.

I was wondering exactly the same, and if I was in the OPs situation I would want to take advantage of that opportunity while it's still on the table.

[Alan Collett]

Frankly, I think using Brexit as an excuse is pretty lame.

What has Brexit to do with individuals residing in Australia ...?

Onwards!

 

[Marisawright]

51 minutes ago, Alan Collett said:

Frankly, I think using Brexit as an excuse is pretty lame.

...and the decision not to allow non-residents to OPEN accounts happened long before Brexit (2015).    

I don't see much point in questioning the situation unless you're planning to take one of the banks to court over it.  

https://www.monito.com/en/wiki/open-bank-account-uk-even-without-proof-residency#high-street

[Parley]

It is all to do with Anti-Money Laundering and KYC (know your customer) regulations.

The subtle difference why online only banks still allow it is they don't have to worry about customers turning up to a branch depositing thousands and thousands in cash into an account.

Online banking is all electronic so there is a money trail.

[Ken]

Way back in the 1990s when I was working in Poland, I was told by Barclays that I'd have to close my account because I was non-resident. 

I opened an account with Nat West in the Channel Islands - who insisted I close it after I moved back to the UK.

I think the banks just enjoy causing as much inconvenience as possible.

[ToowoombaBlue]

Any idea how long they are giving the customer to get their UK financial resources sorted before the account ceases to function?

[Ausvisitor]

On 05/06/2023 at 17:55, Alan Collett said:

I follow the old adage, s/he who asserts must prove.

So where are the regulations that are driving this?

Until I see anything to the contrary I surmise this is internal policies, or compliance putting it in the too hard basket.

Why can Wise open an account for non residents with a UK sort code and account number when the High St banks are moving in the opposite direction?

Best regards.

I'm pretty sure there is no legislation stopping non residents holding a UK bank account.

If it was these premium expat accounts would also be impossible to open under the legislation.

They do have requirements under AML and KYC to have proof of address and notify HMRC of tax and addresses of account holders. They also need to take tax off interest (if you earn enough) and that's complex when you are non-resident.

So from my research I understand that whilst it isn't against the law, the regulations around AML, KYC and HMRC compliance make it complex and expensive to administer these accounts, and so they don't offer them.

Like everything once one bank decided not to do it, the others follow suit quickly and that is how we end up with all of them having policies (which are just made up internal rules) banning the opening (and now it appears holding) of a UK account if non resident (unless you are paying enough to make the effort worth their while)

 

NOTE: Australia is just as bad with the non resident banking policies so this isn't just the UK making expat lives difficult 

[Ausvisitor]

The simple "work-around" is to use a family UK address as yours.

Yes technically it breaks their policy (but policy isn't law) and so if they did find out (and how would they?) the most they could do is close your account and they are doing that anyway so you would only be in the same position.

What this all does suggest though is that you certainly shouldn't be switching correspondence addresses to an overseas one with the banks anymore 

[rammygirl]

On 05/06/2023 at 19:03, Parley said:

It is all to do with Anti-Money Laundering and KYC (know your customer) regulations.

The subtle difference why online only banks still allow it is they don't have to worry about customers turning up to a branch depositing thousands and thousands in cash into an account.

Online banking is all electronic so there is a money trail.

I argued this once with Nationwide. I wanted to open a better account with them…. With money they already had (and for some time). They couldn’t give me a coherent reason and fell back to regulations and policy etc…… No new bank accounts for overseas customers full stop.

I wonder what Barclays will do with overseas mortgages and associated accounts. 
 

We have replied to several letters re overseas residency in the past. Haven’t had one for some time now. They are welcome to tell HMRC and the ATO we are not hiding anything.