Elvira

I thought this article in today's Expat Telegraph about banks that offer internet services to expats might be useful to some of you:

http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/global...ioffshore2.xml

BTW, is there no forum here that deals with expat finance - or am I just not awake enough to see it?

dunroving

No, it doesn't exist from what I can see - but it would be a good one (can there be too many forums? I guess so).

I've posted finance questions before and not got great response - maybe because they were general expat money questions and I posted them on the USA forum.

Big D

Surely all UK banks now offer internet banking which you can use from anywhere in the world? This just seems to offer dollar savings accounts - again I think most UK banks offer this - withe internet access..

Yorkieabroad

We've been with First Direct since they started (and I think they're great), but seem to remember reading from someone that they wouldn't open new accounts for overseas customers now - so you need to open before you leave the UK. Don't know if its true or not?

rincewind

Agreed. I set up an account with First Direct before I left the UK and have had no problems with them. Using their services allows me to handle all of my out standing debts in the UK (credit cards, loans, etc.). I send money to them via Pay Pal and then distribute it via First Direct's online services.

Couldn't live without it.

Bob

HSBC has been great, paying off my credit card with it, havin' interest dumped into the account, it's all sweet, and free...and it's nice getting monthly statements sent over here and stuff...and getting help is so much better, couple days for an email enquiry ain't bad, prefer the set up a lot better to barclays, which I personally couldn't stand when I set it up at the time.

dunroving

Yes, it is true of current accounts. I was a customer with Smile (savings account) before leavng the UK, but they wouldn't let me open a current account with them from the US.

sibsie

Same trouble here. I've had a devil of a job opening an offshore account from the US. I want a Euro account for my Spanish money and have come up against brick walls. I'm going back to London on Wed for a week (hoorah) and will be trying to sort it out then.

jaytee

I don't believe there is a magic internet bank account for expats. You have to have 3 things to open a UK bank account:

1) Proof of UK residency in the form of a utility bill in your name.

2) UK Passport

3) Notification of Tax Coding (p45) from your UK employer

All of the banks in the UK are very strict. You can go from one bank or building society to the other and they all have the same requirements.

By getting on the voter's roll at the town hall, I was able get the first requirement waived. That's another thing that can define you as a UK resident because they don't allow Americans to vote (as the councilman put it).

If you're a UK citizen, by working in England for a short while you can get your £ bank account and your N.I. number.

Yorkieabroad

Do you mean you need ALL of those, or 1 of those? Are you sure about that? I've opened normal accounts (ie non-internet) for my kids at Bradford and Bingley within the last year or so without any of those...My wife also has a UK account without any of those, although that was opened pre 9-11 and I guess things got a whole lot tighter after that!

Elvira

AFAIK you need 2 things to open a UK bank account: proof of identity such as a passport or UK driver's licence; proof of UK address such as a utility or counciltax bill in your name.

For existing customers, this may sometimes be waived at the discretion of the bank, but it can be complicated: when I wanted an additional account, my kind bank manager first had to change my address back to my old UK address, open the new account, then switch the address back to US. Otherwise 'the system' would not let him do it...

I haven't read the Telegraph article very carefully, but I thought it might be useful for some expats who cannot satisfy the banks' needs re. conventional 'residential' accounts.

Not sure 9/11 has anything to do with - I think they're all paranoid about 'money laundering'.

Also, I think the US has a requirement that all financial products sold to its residents have to comply with US regulations that are in place to 'protect' customers (Yeah, right!). UK institutions do not want to get involved with this - and who can blame them... Which is why we cannot open unit trust accounts and the like with a US address.

Yorkieabroad

Like I say, I opened kids accounts without proof of UK residency or UK passports - just US passports and a UK correspondence address (my mums).

9/11 - money laundering - exactly - most of the institutions tightened up their identity requirements after 9/11 to try to reduce potential money laundering. My mum has banked with Nat west for over 50 years, but when she recently made a transfer of £7000 they wanted proof of id and address and cited crackdowns after 9/11 as the reason. She got a standard letter and went into the bank to see what it was all about - the manager was most apologetic, and embarrassed, but still insisted on the 2 forms of id and address!

As for the US/UK funds etc - thats definitely right - we fell foul of it on some of ours when we moved here - I innocently changed the address, only to get letters back saying I had to liquidate the accounts. Also things like DRIPS on share accounts - most of them had to be terminated and revert to paying dividends as cash rather than shares.