SpeedyJon

Sorry if this has been answered before, but I had a good search and couldn't find anything.

I'm hopefully moving to Oz in April, but am planning to keep some of my funds in the UK for a while.

I have a current account and Visa credit card with First Direct - does anyone know if I'll be able to keep my UK accounts for an extended period? And if so, will they be happy to send my correspondence etc. out to Oz?

Les Avalook

Why not ask your bank?

Some banks do and others do not.

Try and get your answer in writing from your bank, just to make sure the new 'trainee' has not given the wrong answer.

Nationwide will allow you to live in Oz and keep an account open.

SpeedyJon

A perfectly reasonable question. I thought I'd try and find out the experience of others in a similar situation, before raising the issue with my bank.

andreak

I have kept my Barclays Bank account in the UK, also my Nationwide and Tesco Credit cards, all send letters to me here in Oz, only one who wouldnt was John Lewis, (never mind) cant win them all.

sniffydog

HSBC are fine - I have a premier account so don't know about others. i can understand the reluctance to contact bank first. I'm reluctant to ring the credit card company in case they say "we cant do that"... ebst to know in advance if others have....

Pollyana

Lloyds are OK, though i must admit I waited a long time to tell them, and only after I got it confirmed by others on here that they were OK with it. Didn't want to risk them saying No and closing the account!

mecheng

I've still got an active UK bank account depiste living in Australia. You'll find that you can change your address to any country when logged into your account, and that's what I did...never spoke to my bank about it but I receive occasional mail from them so must be normal practice.

LINZI

I have left my hsbc account open still and have the address as my mums with no problems

Pollyana

It does vary depending on what bank you are with. Some people have been told to close their accounts in the past.

Cape Blue

First Direct are OK with it - they give you an overseas account # for when you call rather than using a UK post code.

Pomster

I have had my FD accounts with my Aus address for over 10 years.
They send my new cards to me in Aus, phone me (rarely but they do on occasions) on my Aus number,
Generally don't care as long as you have some money.

Les Avalook

They do now, currently they want £1500 per month paid in for a new account.

Cape Blue

This is for anyone, UK or overseas.

It can be 1500 per month OR maintain a balance of at least 1500, OR have other FD products.

Scotty1

I have a FD current account and visa account. Kept them both when I moved here and phoned them to tell them of new address etc. No problem with keeping the account and visa card but had to reduce my overdraft limit - kept a large credit card limit though. No money going into my account every month and little transactions on credit card, but had been a customer for a long time and used to have some money...

Give them a call and they should be fine

Scotty

moneypenny20

No problem with FD. We've still got some money there and it's really easy to get them to transfer simply by a phone call. Each time we've transferred money, we've got a better or same rate as the big forex companies.