librarygirlatl

I have a question about banking accounts in the UK. My mother lives in the USA and does not have a residence in the UK although she used to. She has a very old savings account with Halifax (they don't even offer this type of savings account anymore). She wants to close out that Halifax savings account and open a new account at another UK bank (not Halifax). Halifax will not allow her to upgrade or change her type of account because she does not have a residence in the UK. She wants a type of banking account that will allow her to make ACH payments but it's not possible with this old Halifax savings account. Do other UK banks have the same policy? If my mother, for example, walked into Barclays or HSBC in the UK and asked to open a checking account, would she have the same obstacles since she doesn't have a UK residence? Is this a bank-by-bank policy or is this mandated by UK banking law?

Thanks.

BuckinghamshireBoy

Hi. This not a simple matter unfortunately. We have had several chats on this, have a look on this most recent thread

http://britishexpats.com/forum/movin...erseas-895857/

Likely not the answer you were hoping for for, but shows what you and Mum will come up against...

Come back with any more questions, we'll do our best.

cranston

An alternative

https://transferwise.com/us/borderle...e=publicNavbar

quiltman

I'm afraid it is part of the worldwide money laundering laws. To open a bank account in the UK you need a UK address and usually something like a council tax bill, utility bill etc in your name. There are a couple of exceptions, the main one being to have an account in your country of residence with say, HSBC, who will open a UK account for you after around 12 months. Trouble is this requires large balances.
I had to google ACH payments and it seems they are effectively direct Debit payments. If she is a US resident who does she need to pay on a regular basis in the UK? Or am I completely misunderstanding you? (Not surprising at my age!)
With a little bit more info as to what the ACH payments refer to , someone here on BE may have more pertinent information and/or advice. Just to show she is not alone, it works similarly elsewhere. We opened an account with a Filipino bank in London before we moved here. They opened a peso account for us here so when we arrived we just went to the branch and collected our ATM cards etc. This is no longer possible! Same reasons as UK banks - money laundering. You have to be physically resident here to open a local account. Hopefully with a little more info you'll get an answer - but don't hold your breath.

durham_lad

She can use Transferwise or other exchange broker to do direct transfers to other people’s bank accounts in the UK if that is what she wants to do. As mentioned, opening her own bank account while not resident is going to be near impossible.