My UK bank is Nationwide. I have spoken to them and they are not anticipating any changes. I am a bit puzzled by this, but do know that because it is a building society it is not caught in the normal banking regulations in the UK (it is regulated by the FCA not the BoE) - perhaps as a mutual it is not affected by EU banking regulation either.
Have you contacted the financial ombudsman? When I first talked to them they said they couldnāt do anything until I had a specific complaint about the service. At the time I was pointing out that if we had our accounts closed there wasnāt necessarily another UK bank that would be prepared to take us.
My pal French Franck, in banking himself, says that HSBC stands for āHow Simple Becomes Complicatedā. And so I found. Glad I was knocked back. Iām with Credit Mutuel, reckoned by French Franck to be āa good bankā.
Seems to be so. Main website in English. Phone app not, but easy and slick to operate. It would get another Brownie Point if the current a/c statement showed a running balance well as a total balance.
Another for Revolut. A.t.mo I use it just as an FX āvalveā ā¦ GBP in - ā¬ out. Iāll continue like this as long as Lloyds holds good to its āpromiseā to me on the phone that thereās no plan a.t.mo to close down non-UK res a/cs. The chap said, āYou have a UK correspondence address with us, donāt you? Thatās all right then.ā
Thereās no reason why one couldnāt use Revolut as a regular current a/c. The FX side of Rev is very slick and instantaneous.
*News just in āā Barclays fined Ā£26m for poor treatment of customers". Not surprised. Lousy bank. When my father died, my mother and I sat in the managerās office, doing the necessary. It didnāt cheer us up one bit to find that instead of closing my fatherās a/c and transfering the D/Ds to my motherās a/c, theyād closed my motherās a/c.
A deceased personās a/c is locked, except for an allowance of [I think] <Ā£2k for funeral costs. So my mother was in the position of having no access to banking at all for some days.
I wrote a stinker to the CEO of Barclayās. Not long afterwards we found that that branch manager was no longer the manager ā¦ and not long after that, the Barclayās CEO was fired, as well! Chapeau!
I too found my application simply didnāt proceed, with no explanation and without even the courtesy of a reply to my emails. Iāll have a look at CM - thanks!
I have heard nothing from our bank, Yorkshire, but am hoping that, as it is owned by Clydesdale Bank and therefore Scottish, it might, with an eye to the future (IndyRef2?), be more friendly towards European customers.
No idea if it is accepting new accounts though.
Clydesdale Bank is owned by Virgin Money UK plc and they intend to phase out the Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank brand names in the future in favour of the Virgin Money brand.
We had a letter with new terms and conditions but it only said they MAY close accounts without a UK address not that they are going to automatically. Call me a cynic but I think some banks will us the passporting reason as an excuse to close none profitable accounts for those expats who only maintain a small average balance.
I canāt move to the next level until I have a decision on my complaint to HSBC.
How frustrating!
Donāt expect the FOS to do anything quickly - Six months in now for me over a complaint about the Prudential regarding a pension issue.
Donāt go there,I lost my pension when it crashed. Waited 3 years to get most of it back without any interest. I had no protection as off shore account.
Not sure that this will help anyone but I have made sure I have two UK bank accounts (Coop and Nationwide) neither of whom have (so far) threatened to pull out of things for us in Europe.
I would like to add another endorsement for Transferwise. I took out one of their cross-border debit cards a while back. I mainly use them for money tranfers for Ā£ to euro but keep a small amount of money with them all the time in a sterling account and a euro account, transfer between the two at favourable rates and have used the deibit card here in France at no cost against the euro account. I am very impressed having had dreadful service over the years from UK HIgh Street banks. NatWest took the biscuit but I could name othersā¦
Iām similar Angels - Nationwide personal account, Co-op UK company account, and Transferwise personal and business accounts - in addition to the multi-currency debit card, the latter also enables me to invoice in multiple currencies, with bank transfer details in each so people can pay us just as they would do a domestic bank transfer.
HSBC have no plans to close accounts.
I use Transferwise too, they usually have the best exchange rates. Transfers take minutes. Every time I use the card I get an email to advise. Can hold numerous different currencies and it automatically takes payment from the correct currency. You can hold your pension in Ā£ and the swap it to ā¬ when the rate is good. Simple to apply for and use.
I have had HSBC accounts in France and UK for about 15 yearsā¦ I have NEVER had a problem with either, perhaps Iām just lucky! My French branch is in Caen, and there is an English lady who always helps me, not that I need much help. Very convenient for transferring money.
given the fees banks charge for Forex, I should imagine she is very happy to help
Our bank here in France is HSBC, and we have had no problems either. As Mark said somewhere earlier in the thread they donāt have many branches - though ours is only 45 minutes away by car - but in any case we never go there - everything is on the internet.
We use Transferwise for currency exchanges - I donāt think Revolut has the same functionality (eg. āvirtualā accounts in multiple countries/currencies) unless you pay for an enhanced account, does it?
The basic (free) Revolut account has multiple currenciesā¦ just that there is a limit of Ā£1000/per month exchange to other than your base currency after which there is a small %age fee but the paid for accounts remove that limitation as well as the amount you can take from the hole in the wall.
There have been no charges whatsoever when Iāve transferred from HSBC UK to HSBC France, and the exchange rates have been similar to Currency Direct, admitting I usually transfer largish amounts, infrequently.
Ever since the mid eighties Iāve had an account with nationwide, which I have continued to use during the last 15 years I have resided in France. I have no problems with them apart from the fact that they recently updated their app and it is not available from the French Apple Store. The only way I can get round it is to change my store back to the UK and then back to French again - hardly seems worth the bother.