Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Hi All,

I'm finally moving over to join my wife and so the real business of sorting things out is beginning.

I want to keep our UK accounts open and also our credit cards just in case we have to come back anytime soon. I can change my address to my Mum's but was wondering if there are any issues with this?

Are there any tips you could give us?

Thanks,

Scott

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I changed my address to my mum and dad's and had no issues, except with one unnamed cc company who suspended the account when they noticed I was in the US. I paid it off in full and took great delight in calling them to close the account.

I think its def a good idea to keep them open. I also kept my UK contract mobile too - costs me about £50 a year which I don't mind paying.
Good to have this stuff for if you ever move back.

Good luck with the move - it was absolutely baltic today and my car completely froze up this morning - petrol and all. Had to take a taxi to the station. :ohmy:

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

No issues - other than keep both your bank account and the credit cards active (i.e. use them every now and again), so they don't 'die' through non-use.

Also open some online savinigs accounts - eg ING, First Direct, HSBC.

I would also open a brokerage account and some unit or investment trusts before you leave as they are impossible to open once you are a non-resident.

If you have any spare cash, open an ISA before you leave. You won't be able to contribute after you leave, but you can hold on to them.

And sign up for Class 2 NI contributions so you'll eventually get a pension.

:)

PS: Might want to get a Virgin PAYG mobile for when you're back in the UK - a lot cheaper than using a US triband.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Cheers, yeah I saw the report, frostbite warnings! :ohmy:

How did they find out? Do any ask for any proofs of your new address?

Just hoping your card company isnt the same as one of ours as I'm leaving a small amount of them to make sure I have plenty of capital to back us up while I'm looking for a job!

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

How do you sign up for the contributions? Guess I shouldn't be lazy and search the IR pages..

Already got the Virgin PAYG ;) how much cheaper is it than back in the UK!

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I have kept my bank account, credit card and building society accounts. I gave them my US address and phone no. All correspondence is sent to the US...it's never been a problem.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Even easier! Especially as my Mum worries if I miss a payment while there's a balance on the CC someone will be knocking their door!

Did anyone open an offshore account? Looking at HSBC but its £20 a month with the kind of balance I'd maintain..

I would transfer cash back to my UK account periodically and thought it may be easier to do this through such an account than transferring through my US bank.

On the banking subject who would you recommend, esp in the IL area.

Wife's opened one up with Harris bank for now.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Exactly what I did. Most definately worth keeping an account going in the UK; you never know when you might need to transfer some money back and forth for whatever reason. It'd be a royal pain if you close out all your UK accounts entirely.

The other option would be to set up a UK pounds based offshore account.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I know you always seem to push this, but a lot of people regard this as a complete waste of money.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Ditto. We kept both our bank account and bank credit card too. Both have our US address and the credit card automatically draws the repayment from our UK bank. Have not had any problems with either.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

With the tax agreements don't contributions UK and US add up to the same eventual pension amount anyway if here for a decent amount of time?

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Personally I wouldn't go down that route if I were you - use your mum's addy - much less hassle.
The company in question was Egg - I regularly took advantage of their balance transfer offers - then after about 9 months of only US transactions they called my mum and dad's house to ask where I lived.
I went ballistic and phoned them back to ask what was going on. They said that they suspected that I was no longer a UK resident and were putting a bar on the account until I returned. I told them to stick their bar up their proverbial and paid the account off then and their.
Had no such probs with 2 other UK cards.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Why use his mum's address when he can use his own? I've lived here for almost 11 yrs and the Nat West and Halifax have had no problem whatsoever with my US address.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Funny you say that - one is Egg. I called them and they gave me that line as well. I can't see what the issue is. If I was as dodgy as some folks could just do a runner and leave money on it! Don't they realise that you'd only tell them because your still offering them your business?!!

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

aye, but if you've had plenty in the UK and are close to getting the full amount, and young enough to get one in the US, it's worth not using the reciprocal agreement to get two pensions if your going to be long enough.

As for bank, just change address to the US address, it's pretty simple and most shouldn't have a problem with it.

Transferring money, use www.xe.com you'll get better rates, even if it is a hassle to set up, it's worth it in the long run.

Before you move, fill in a P-85 to claim any taxes back, it's just easier to do when your still in the UK...though with the new tax year, you probably won't be getting much back...and register to vote over seas', and set up a proxy voter, because you probably won't have time to send your vote back in the mail, and it's just easier setting up a proxy when your in the UK.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

How do you mean 'using the reciprocal agreement' ??
If I return to the UK and inform them I was here will the contributions I missed be paid by Uncle Sam ??

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

If you've paid enough..yes and vica versa.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Its 11 years contributions here to qualify isn't it? I need to check as I'll have done that and then no point adding to it..prob no state pension available by the time I'm ready for it!

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Enough for what ??

So say I go to the US for 4 years and work the whole time. I could use ss payments made in the US to cover the missing ni contributions in the UK - is that what you're saying ??

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

That's kind of what I was thinking anyway and already opted out of additional state pension payments at home.
I'm more concerned about 'wasting' future contributions should I go back to the UK to be honest.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

You have to have made a certain amount of contributions and I'm not sure what that is. As Bob said there is an agreement between the US/UK to make up the pension payable.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

yup.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

It's 10 full quarters of contributions, but can work out to be less than 10 years.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Ahh, done that. In that case no real benefit from voluntarily adding them as far as I'm aware unless someone corrects me?

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I have LloydsTSB current account and CC's. Both have US billing address though I use online banking to pay CC from another UK account (Barclays) No problem having a US address.

Class 2 conts for pension purposes may be worthwhile if you are within 10 years of a state pension and have a full contribution record. You can get a statement advising your contribution record from http://www.thepensionservice.gov.uk/ which can help to answer any questions you have re current position and future entitlement.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I was talking about the US...don't know about the UK....but if you don't have enough contributions to draw a pension in one country, you can use your countributions in the other as a top up.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I have a Halifax account and had to send a letter to my branch to change my address to my folks and then had to call them 5 times until I finally got to speak to the branch where they said, "oh yes we got your letter and we sent a letter to you for you to confirm that this was from you"..... yep they sent the letter to my OLD address !

With regard to changing to US account, I thought they'd have a problem with sending statements etc internationally and Halifax told me that the least number of statements they can send is 4 a year (quaterly).

Did you have to go into a branch to change your address to US address ?

Actually I have 4 accounts with Halifax and everytime I've moved it's taken me 5 or 6 attempts to get my address changed on all my accounts. IMHO they're a good bank as far as services are concerned but they're a very incompetent when it comes to customer service and basic administration.

R./

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I have several accounts with them too. No I think we just had to put it in writing...they have a copy of your signature on record so it shouldn't be a problem. I just have deposit accounts with them and can't say I've had any problems.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I just love First Direct ... bend over backward to help you ...

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

They sound just like Chase...

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I kept my account with Halifax open and use a relatives address in the UK I had a nightmare with them recently, they had sent a letter to my old address that was returned to them, they then put a hold on my account and when I called they told me it would only be taken off if I went into a branch with proof of ID, eventually got it sorted out but took me 3 calls to do so.
Maybe would be a good idea to have a parent added onto the account so they could go in for you if you have any problems.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Does anyone have any proof of this?

When we moved, I informed NatWest of our US address and also gave my parents power of attorney over our accounts. NatWest send us a quarterly statement if there is no account activity, or a monthly statement in months when there's a transaction on our accounts.

We've been here nearly 4 years now, and in that time neither my wife nor I have used our NatWest credit cards, but they both still show to be active on the NatWest online banking site. Since NatWest hasn't sent me anything to say that the cards are "dead through non-use", I'm guessing that Elvira is... guessing.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

One of my UK was cancelled because of non-use.... can't remember which one..and another which was MBNA I had to pay a small annual fee to keep it active ..

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

Yes my Nat West card was cancelled after approx. 5yrs of inactivity...I just called them and it was re-instated.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

barclaycard stopped mine through non use - no big loss as they have become very uncompetative.

While some financial insitutions are happy to keep accounts open if you move, some are not - especially if you you have loans or cards. If you stop paying them back then it is difficult for them to enforce the debt. I never told anyone and the statements etc get redirected in the mail.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

No, darling, I am not :p

I kept one of my bank accounts registered at my old address but did not use it for a few years. When the debit card came up for renewal, they sent me a cashcard instead. When I called to enquire I was told that my account had been downgraded to a 'basic' account due to inactivity.

A basic account is as good to me as no account as you can do F-All with it.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

One thing many of us should probably consider that I haven't seen discussed here is death duty. If the Inland Revenue can show domicile in the UK they will try to claim taxes from your estate. UK bank accounts, credit cards, cell phones etc have apparently all been used in the past as a way to show this.

I gather that the tax treaty doesn't cover death duty so you could be leaving your heirs less than you think if you leave accounts in the UK.

Disclaimer - This was pointed out to me by a mixed marriage (USC/UKC) friend who works in this field but I haven't done anything with the knowledge yet so I'm very hazy on the details - if anyone knows more I'd be very interested to hear it.

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

I can probably cope without the death duty dosh when I'm dead, but I'd have some difficulty managing without UK accounts while I'm alive... :p :D

Re: Maintaining UK bank accounts and Credit cards
 

depends on the bank...HSBC want activity every quarterly, so I've a deposit bouncing around, either that or it's something like £5 fee.

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I've not had a problem with Egg, but I suspect I have used my card a couple of times a year either in the UK, or for ordering from amazon uk (but delivering to the US). Actually, there have been a few times when I haven't used my card for a while (probably 6 months or so) and they've sent me an email that if I use it to make purchases of £50 or more in the next month and they'll give me £10 credit so I've taken advantage of that. The only time my parents got a call was when I hadn't used it for a while and then used it in Prague - my dad told them that I was in Prague at the time and that was that. It might help that I have a few grand in an Egg savings account too.