British Ex-Pat Bank Accounts to be CLOSED

British Ex-Pat Bank Accounts to be CLOSED

11:40 AM, 16th October 2020, About 4 years ago 59

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Hundreds of thousands of British Ex-Pats living in the EU will have received a shock letter in the last few days.

Customers of Nat-West, Coutts, RBS, Barclays, Bank of Scotland and Halifax are among the list of those affected. Their bank accounts will be closed by the end of this year, in some case much earlier. Cheques and credit/debit cards will be cancelled, payments into the accounts will be returned “account closed” and Direct Debits and all other payment requests will be treated in the same way. Customers of these Banks will receive a cheque for any money in their accounts, and it’s their problem what to do next.

Many of the affected Ex-Pats are retired and are now left wondering how they will receive their pension income.

Ex-Pat landlords are left wondering what they are to do too. Will their tenants pay the International Bank Transfer fees to pay their rent into an offshore bank account? Will landlords be able to set up Direct Debits from an overseas bank account to make their mortgage payments?

Are you affected by this? If so, please share your thoughts below and solutions you have looked into.


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Comments

Question Everything

13:49 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 19/10/2020 - 13:30
Even so, why would the UK .gov want to lose tax revenue?

They are not that stupid. Or who in their ranks/families run businesses that could take the place of the current banking system? And why such short notice?

This notice is so short (it is unusual for the Uk to act with such haste), and the reasons so lacking or contradictory that again I find that it just does no add up.

S24 doesn't add up for anyone, like so many other things like C-19 death rates and the destruction of our economy, like tenant eviction bans but no .gov backing for LLs. Like upping the EPC, and CGT at a time of economic hardship.

Like the police brutality in Melbourne Australia if you do not toe-the-covid-line.

Has anyone looked at the number of pension company failures in the last year? 42 to date. last year, 4. 2018, 1. Should this not be mainstream news?

See for yourself - https://www.fscs.org.uk/failed-firms/firms-list/

If you do not watch the bigger picture you are in the dark.

Beaver

14:12 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Question Everything at 19/10/2020 - 13:49
Yes the number of pension company failures should be mainstream news: If this interests you then try reading "Who Stole My Pension" by Ed Siedle. 🙂

I'm not aware of any law that stops you being an English person living in another European country renting your house out through an agent and having the revenue paid into Paypal, Stripe or any other international account. There are other rules to do with property being held by non-UK nationals or companies and I guess where you have to declare the income will depend upon whether that country does or doesn't recognise dual nationality.

But if the UK government isn't careful then UK revenues will be booked elsewhere, one way or another. Even if there's a footprint in the UK it will be possible for the equity to be held in a company or other financial vehicle elsewhere resulting in a huge net loss to the UK economy. My best guess would be Ireland, but I guess Luxembourg, Cyprus or Belgium would all be candidates.

Beaver

14:30 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Question Everything at 19/10/2020 - 13:49
PS: The first time I set up a Paypal business account it took me about three days to verify my identity; but the last time I did it it took a couple of hours. From memory when I set up my Stripe business account that also didn't take very long. So if you've got almost three months to set up another account somewhere that ought to be possible. I suspect you could still set up a business account in the UK if you wanted to, whether LLP, Ltd Co. or something else, but whether it was attractive to do it would depend upon your personal circumstances, the country you were living in and your citizenship status. If it's Spain, I can't see Spain not wanting your money. 😉

Question Everything

14:35 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 19/10/2020 - 14:30
I agree there are methods to other banking (currently), and I agree the rational (but stupid) result is that the UK loses revenue.

But I am looking beyond this very simple 1+1 scenario because anything that is this stupid has a bigger agenda.

angel2steel

14:47 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 19/10/2020 - 13:30
Good idea to look at Paypal or Stripe, etc. My previous experience with Paypal (where they seem to be able to block payments on a whim and for no good reason) would steer me towards Stripe.

Beaver

15:00 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by angel2steel at 19/10/2020 - 14:47
That's actually a good point: Your Paypal user agreement (chargebacks) could be an issue although in the past I've never had a problem with it; if someone says they've not received goods from you you just have to provide the evidence that they have been received. I've used Stripe successfully. I suspect you could also use Apple Pay to receive money.

angel2steel

20:19 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 19/10/2020 - 15:00
Unfortunately I've had someone make a fraudulent chargeback claim on my Paypal account, even though I had all the evidence to support my case, so I'm reluctant to use them again. I've heard good things about Stripe though.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

20:38 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

Is it possible o set up Direct Debits to pay mortgage lenders through Stripe and/or PayPal?

Christopher Farrell

21:06 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

I have been looking at transferwise. has anyone any experience with their multicurrency accounts? It appears you can have a GBP account number and sort code. One of the people on the site (Gavin) use it to pay mortgage, fees etc.
https://transferwise.com/gb/multi-currency-account/#get-paid

Might be worth looking at. Any one use them?

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

21:12 PM, 19th October 2020, About 4 years ago

My relationship manager at Coutts suggested Nat West International.

HSBC have not made any decision in regards to the commerciality of maintaining UK bank accounts for British expats, but I suspect they will follow RBS, Barclays etc.

Revolut seems to be another possible option.

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