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UK bank

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 11:56am
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If you become a Spanish resident can you still keep your UK bank account

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:33pm

Herefordjack

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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:33pm

This is a thorny issue, some banks let you, others don't. There may be some that let you but levy a charge. That was the case with mine four years ago when I moved over. I don't know if they still do, post Btexit.

My solution was to tell my bank I'd changed address to that of my partner's daughter's house in the West Mids. I gave them the landline number there and I gave them the mobile number of my partner, who still retains a UK phone.

My daughter in law is very competent and I trust her to deal with any correspondence I get. I do my UK banking online and I use Wise to transfer money to my Spanish bank, which is not often now that my UK state pension is paid direct to my Sabadell account. Then of course on visits back to the UK, I've got a UK bank card to withdraw cash. 

So far this arrangement has worked well, but it won't suit everyone.

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:35pm

elinspain

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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:35pm

Hello

I think thats a decision for the UK bank. Around the time of Brexit many people here had their UK accounts closed. Not everyone, but I remember topics on the forum on this subject that had mixed replies., sometimes a UK address was required to keep the account open.

I think you should ask the banks & find out who is accepting of this.

Cheers

Elinspain

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:59pm

tebo53

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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:59pm

rds123 wrote on Sun Mar 13, 2022 11:56am:

If you become a Spanish resident can you still keep your UK bank account

Some banks don't like it but other allow existing clients to remain. I live permanently in Spain and my UK bank won't allow me to operate my account unless I have a UK address so its registered to my sons address in the UK. 

Steve 

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:54pm

Cheryl

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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:54pm

We are with Lloyds and we have had no problem with them and no charges, we have even kept the credit cards but Barclaycard cancelled theirs.. Even though we don't use the credit cards we kept all that we were able to, just in case.

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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 2:07pm

TP20

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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 2:07pm

rds123 wrote on Sun Mar 13, 2022 11:56am:

If you become a Spanish resident can you still keep your UK bank account

I still have my Halifax account with a debit card and have done for the 6 nearly 7 years we have lived in Spain. We do not have a UK address, but no problem with just having a  Spanish address. 

Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 4:56pm

rds123

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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2022 4:56pm

Thank you all I’ll speak to my bank.

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:05am

Golandrina

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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:05am

I have lived in Spain for almost 17 years and never had a problem keeping my UK bank accounts.   I do remember that Barclaycard stopped anyone keeping theirs if they didn't live in the UK but I believe that Barclays were different.   You just cannot open a new UK account if you do not live in the UK.

Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:01pm

Anne330

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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:01pm

rds123 wrote on Sun Mar 13, 2022 11:56am:

If you become a Spanish resident can you still keep your UK bank account

First Direct do !! 

Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 6:39pm

Jan1961

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Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 6:39pm

Hi I am a Spanish resident and I have kept my HSBC account in the UK. They have my Spanish address and all correspondence comes here. No charge. I had to declare to them that I am resident in Spain and they are fine with it. Here I have accounts with Caixa and online with N26. All working perfectly. No charges from any.

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