EsuriJohn

This thread is designed to put a list together of UK Banks which will allow you to keep your UK ACOUNT open when you move to a Spanish address and DO NOT have a UK ADDRESS ANY LONGER.

ie you are Spanish resident, Spanish tax resident, on the Padron and have a Spanish registered vehicle. You have cut all ties with the UK SYSTEMS except that your Government Pensions are paid into a UK account. Your State Pensions are paid direct to your Spanish account.

Will NatWest, Santander, Barclays, Tesco allow to to keep an account together with associated debit and credit cards but send all correspondence to Spain?

Domino

does the fact that HSBC account in UK has a client address in Spain and send quarterly account transactions report to that Spain address count ??
But then the account was originally opened when resident in the UK.

Fred James

I have a Natwest account and the cards and account are registered to a Spanish address. All correspondence is sent to Spain.

snikpoh

We have Santander (formerly A&L), Nationwide (Building Society) and Halifax accounts in UK and they all send us statements in Spain. They are all aware that we are Spanish resident.


We also have credit cards left over from when we were in UK - all still work (Barclaycard, Halifax, CoOp, Post Office etc...)



I recently tried to 'upgrade' my esaver account with Santander as their introductory interest rate period had expired. No bl**dy chance! They said that I would have to open a new account, transfer funds and then close the old account. As I was a Spanish resident, they said I could not open a new account. I asked why the function was called 'upgrading' when clearly it was not, but they refused to understand the point I was making!

Mitzyboy

Santander, HSBC, cahoot all deal with you when your are outside the uk, as do credit card companies Amex, visa, MasterCard. PayPal will not as you have to start a new account in euros!

mikelincs

Not sure of others, but HSBC will allow you to change addresses on-line even when in Spain, Halifax will not, mind you they won't even in the UK, you do have to visit a branch or get a load of legal signatures and send original passport and proof of new address, so if you want to move around in Spain, then I would stay clear of the Halifax.

swinbc

I have no Uk address and Tax resident in Spain over the past 12 months I have opened fixed term saving accounts with Scottish Widows and Nat West without any problems at all and being totaly honest about where I am officially resident and signed all the HMRC forms to obtain interest tax free. Also an HSBC on line account but I already had a current account with them. The only stipulation was that I must currently hold a UK bank account from which the funds would originate and the interest would paid into. I also enquired with Yorkshire bank and they were willing to open an account too. I know it is a laundering issue that is the problem but if your funds are already held in the UK no Problem

Lynn R

I have First Direct current and deposit accounts (which I had before I left the UK). They confirmed that I could keep them open when I moved and send all correspondence to my Spanish address.

I also have a Tesco Visa credit card registered to my Spanish address.

flotsum

Barclays, Lloyds, Halifax and tesco all swapped to our spanish address when we moved. Also a tesco credit card. We get all written correspondence to spainish PO Box.

snikpoh

Some time back there was a way to 'fiddle' this.

I now have a sterling and a euro paypal account both of which are linked to credit cards which come to me here in Spain. So, if I want to pay in sterling I can use account A and if I want to pay in euros, I use account B and then decide where to get the item delivered.


It may be the case that they have now closed this 'hole'.

Jontee

I think the main thing is to already have the accounts before leaving the UK as there is no way you will be able to open one once moved out of UK. I have been tax resident in Spain for 10 years now and am still using an HSBC account I had in England for several years before I moved. I also still use my Tecso credit card that I had had for a while before moving. I have never had any correspondence suggesting I should close my accounts.

I only leave enough money in my Spanish account to pay my direct debits and after reading the recent news concerning the 'money grab' in Cyprus I am really glad I have kept access to UK banking.

swinbc

I agree keeping only the money you need to exist on in Spanish Banks but with this new declaration of assets requirement you have to tell them how much you had in all your worldwide bank accounts. So what would stop the hacienda saying we want 10% of all your worldwide saving or we will freeze your spanish bank account and put an embargo on your house until you pay up. A bad situation could arise from all this!!

EsuriJohn

Thanks everyone for such rapid and encouraging responses. One worry we have about taking this last step to sever all links to UK are the credit cards associated with our accounts. If the banks will change our address from UK to Spain and allow continued use of UK sterling denominated credit and debit cards will they actually deliver the replacement cards to our Spanish address and allow activation and pin change through a Spanish ATM?

PS at least one of our cards is delvered by courier to the UK address ad wonder how they do this with Spain.

Jontee

Never had any problem with receiving new credit / debit cards, or the activation. With HSBC it can be done through on line banking, and I think my Tesco credit card required me to phone. I have not had a UK address for over 10 years. I would suggest that you make yourself familiar to banking online before making the move as that will be how you will be using your accounts once in Spain.

Rotor

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society ,Gibraltar, offer expat accounts , you need to prove you are an expat as opposed to proving you live in the UK like many mainland based UK banks.

http://gibraltar.nandp.co.uk/