dougal03

This may be an in reverse query.I am in the process of selling my property here & returning to UK .I have no family left as my daughter died & her only daughter lives in Scotland.No one interested in inheriting a foreign property,so the sensible thing to do is for me to return.Decision made & hopefully I have a buyer.Once the completion is done I shall have a euro cheque to deposit in a Bank which I shall need to purchase a new home back in Blighty.Been a Spanish resident for over 30 years,therefore nothing left in UK & no right to vote etc.Please do not say I can use an address of a UK resident to open a new Bank account there.My young granddaughter has a disabled toddler with multiple problems & there is no way I would ask her to help me in this.I contacted Santander Bank here as they have branches in UK but,even if I open an account with them,it seems I simply cannot do a transfer later from here to there.I can,I imagine,ask the British Pension Office to retain my State pension which they currently send to Spain converted to euros.until I get settled.My solution for part of this maybe that I return & rent something to establish that I am resident & then close down my account in Spain.I won´t go into the other nightmare I have over transferring a small Spanish pension I receive in euros.

Rosemary

You may find this section of BE useful.

https://britishexpats.com/forum/moving-back-uk-61/

Rosemary

spainrico

This might be useful https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-i...ning-to-the-uk

missile

I believe you can open an internet account with Starling? They offer euro and sterling accounts. Most Spanish banks will charge very high fees for transfer to sterling. Please shop around for best exchange rate

tdrinker

Could you open an accounts with Lloyds International, HSBC Barclays or Natwest, some or all of which provide both GBP and Euro accounts?

If you make a Google search for "opening a UK bank account as a non-resident" a few options are shown from online banks such as the Starling bank account mentioned by a previous poster. Once you have a UK address, you can open a traditional bank account if you prefer.

The advice about converting the Euro's to GBP is good - banks are unlikely to offer the best rates. You could search for previous advice or start a new thread in the "Moving Back Or To The UK" section asking for advice on the best way of transferring a lump sum from Euro to GBP.

dougal03

Thanks tdrinker, I have never done on-line banking as I am a complete novice on computers but I may have to come into the digital age more now!When I was in UK I did bank with Lloyds but the problem is that as so many other Banks have closed ex-pats accounts recently,probably these Banks will also follow that path.I don´t want to have to keep changing the account that my British State pension goes into as the Pension Office is chaotic.I think they may have my name in big black letters to warn their fellow workers.As regards transfer of currency I have been looking at a "borderless transfer account"(on-line)with Transferwise so would appreciate any comments on that route.I have a small amount each month from a Spanish pension which is obviously always in euros & it is not in my control but goes to a previous business partner who splits it.I can leave that to accumulate & transfer every few months or so.

tdrinker

An option is to:

1. Set-up online banking for your Santander account in Spain; the bank should help you with this. It is easy to operate with a laptop, and you can practice with small value payments until you are comfortable with it. When paying anyone for the first time, you can send a low value transfer first and check with them that it arrived, before sending the balance of the payment.

2. Deposit the Euro house sale cheque in the Santander Spain account.

3. Once in the UK with proof of address (e.g. rental contract, or utilities in your name), open a UK bank account with Lloyds, Natwest, Barclays, Santander, or whoever.

4. Use the UK account to receive UK pension in £.

5. Use online banking to send Euros from the Santander Spain bank account to UK account. Do this via Transferwise or similar to get the best exchange rate. If you use Transferwise you will need to open an account with them, a similar process to opening a normal bank account (proof of identity & proof of address). You could open the Transferwise account now using your Spanish address, or wait until you have a UK address.

6. One thing to be careful with is the process of operating the Santander Spain account via online banking. Often part of the security of online banking is a code sent to your mobile phone, in which case you need to retain your Spain mobile phone after you move to the UK until the funds transfer has been completed. Santander might have a telephone banking option, i.e. you call the bank instead of using online banking, so you don't need the Spanish mobile once in the UK. Some UK banks will close your account if you become non-resident; I don't know if Santander Spain does this, you need to check, or simply not tell them you have moved to the UK until your funds have been transferred. Or keep the account open after you move to the UK, and use it to receive the Spanish Euro pension, and then transfer it periodically to the UK account. If you could arrange to have the Euro pension sent direct to your UK bank and close the Santander Spain account, I'd do this; one less bank account to monitor.

You are correct that a lot of banks that operated offshore expat accounts in Isle of Man, Channel Islands, etc. have closed in the past few years. Some still exist, and may remain long-term, or may not; we don't know. In your case, you would only need such an account for a short period so I wouldn't worry about this. But I'm not sure you need such an account at all.

Once you have the UK bank and Transferwise accounts open, send a few Euros from Santander Spain to the UK account via Transferwise to become familiar with the process, before sending any larger amounts. But of course, investigate other transfer options first, as Transferwise may not be the best or cheapest option for Euros to £.

Apparently, there are 12 million UK pensioners, and no-doubt tens of thousands of new pensioners joining, old pensioners dying, pensioners changing bank accounts, countries, etc. at any time, and a large staff to deal with all the requests. They probably have 1,000 requests similar to yours at any time, so I wouldn't worry about sticking out.

Good luck with the move.

VFR

Also ...........

I have read that a Spanish pension can only be paid into a Spanish bank account, worth checking out but that is what I read.

Loafing Along

Definitely worth doing - they set up your account in Belgium, give you a debit card and offer an excellent exchange rate .. Revolut offer a similar service.

dougal03

This is all very helpful advice,so thanks everyone.VFR you are right about a Spanish pension. I am convinced that transferwise is the one I should deal with.

EsuriJohn

Did you look at CurrencyFair?

dougal03

Is CurrenceFair a better choice do you think,& why?

VFR

I wonder why a Spanish pension cannot be sent abroad like the DWP do ?

dougal03

The Spanish pension can only be PAID INTO a Spanish Bank,I probably was not clear.However I can´t see why I can´t then simply send it to UK via Transferwise ,I just have never had to do that yet.After all although it is always in euros it is still only an amount in my Spanish Bank account.

tdrinker

It should be simple to do this.