MonsterP

Merry Christmas to All!

I've been living out of the UK for nearly five years now and I've managed to get away with still keeping my UK bank account open, with Intelligent Finance, by using my parents UK address. I need it to continue payments to my mortgage, insurance, and any other UK payments, especially just using some cash in the UK when I return on holiday.

So far, it seems that most require you to be a UK resident in order to open a UK account. Does anyone know of any UK Banks that will allow accounts for Non-Residents? I'm trying to avoid the expensive alternatives of international banking of HSBC etc.

Many thanks & regards
MP

lionheart

Why is HSBC International perceived to be expensive? They don't charge me anything so long as I stay in credit.

norsk

Co-operative Bank has an offshore account which costs nothing and has the same features as their normal onshore current account.

Only criteria is you have to be UK citizen...

Nic1

We've been out of the UK for 16 years and still have an HSBC account, we pay insurances and stuff through it, have sterling credit cards attached to it for when we are in UK and all bills, statements etc. go to our overseas address. No extra charges, no problems.

N

MonsterP

Thanks Lionheart - Well, all I hear is complaints and inflexibility. Usually they need minimum GBP 5000 balance at all times (HSBC Premier), and charge for everything.

If yours isn't expensive, please tell me what account you have with them.

thks & rgds
MP

MonsterP

THanks Norsk, I'll call them tomorrow, let's hope they don't require UK residency. Cheers!

MonsterP

Thanks Nic1.
Did you open your account before or after you left the UK?
What's the name of the account you have?
Cheers, MP

Roadking

Thanks everyone, please PM me your bank account details and passwords to prove what you are saying...all in the interest of sharing information, honest!

Bonny Boy

Yes, once you are non-resident it is not so easy to open a UK onshore bank account. No one on this thread has come up with one you can open after you are non-resident, and despite searches, I have not been able to find one either - it's either off-shore or time to be a little economical with the truth!

Bijilo123

And another point being that you should not close it down when you leave the UK.

Also keep using your cards every now and again or these get shut down for lack of use.

typical

The Lloyds TSB offshore GBP account has an account number and sort code like an onshore account. All my direct debits in the UK (phone, credit card) come out of it, just like they used to come out of my old onshore current account.

mission

I been out of the uk for almost 18 months....i still have my 'high street' bank account with Lloyds where my mortgage payments and other loan/credit card payments are still being paid from and in addition i have a Lloyds offshore account.

Why'd you close you bank accounts - i dont get it

MonsterP

Cheers Bonny Boy,
I'm managing to keep the IF account going for now, but not sure how much longer it will last as they occasionally try to check up on me by calling my parents home and asking questions.

MonsterP

Absolutely, although we tend to find these things out after we've left.

MonsterP

Great! Sounds like some progress, I'll check it out, see if the same facilities are available.