Barclaycard closing our a/cs on November 16th!

[anon65742194]

Obviously sufficient notice and justification is required.

But thus isn’t down to the UK banks. It is because some, not all, EU27 coutries are proposing to block UK banks from providing banking services across the EU27.

This is a failure of the EU27 (collectively or individually) to protect our fundamental rights. The UK has protected EU27 citizens in the UK against this sort of sanction.

Letters of protest need to be sent to the heads of government of the EU27 states that we reside in!

Fortunately my UK bank has not decided to block our accounts, so far.

[graham]

Of course @SuePJ redacted to remove the personal bits…

[JaneJones]

@anon65742194

But thus isn’t down to the UK banks. It is because some, not all, EU27 coutries are proposing to block UK banks from providing banking services across the EU27.

The UK has left the EU. If it wants to continue banking within EU countries each banks needs make specific arrangement. The agreement about UK firms being able to “passport” within the EU ends on 31/12/20. Yes the Bank of England has a process to allow EU organisations to continue to operate within the UK - that is in the UK’s interests to do so.

But it is for each bank to decide whether the scale of business is sufficient to justify setting up branches in different countries to allow them to operate. The EU is not proposing to block anything, it is merely requiring that the UK follows EU rules, if it doesn’t then THAT IS NOT THE EU’S FAULT OR RESPONSIBILITY.

The UK has left the club. So it no longer has right of entry.

[anon65742194]

Jane,

That is a simplistic point view.

Our UK bank has not said that they cannot continue to service our accounts.

This is NOT due to the UK leaving the EU, it is due to some banks and EU27 states blocking our UK bank accounts.

If the EU27 states had protected peoples interests in the same way that the UK has then no UK citizens living in the EU27 would be penalised for having UK bank accounts.

The situation is a complete mess, provoked by the UK without a doubt, but made far more difficult by the EU27 states ignoring basic EU citizenship rights.

Grahame Pigney

P Help save paper - please don’t print this email unless you really need to.
P Sauvegardons la planète. Avez-vous vraiment besoin d’imprimer cet e-mail?

[anon88169868]

@anon65742194

This is NOT due to the UK leaving the EU,

Of course it is.

[graham]

@anon65742194

by the EU27 states ignoring basic EU citizenship rights.

When will you come to accept that you are NO LONGER an EU citizen? The UK left the UK - get real
and oh, if you are still struggling with your email signature and you use Gmail you might find this reference useful… just do what it says in reverse…
https://www.howtogeek.com/691564/how-to-add-an-email-signature-to-gmail/

[SuePJ]

@graham @anon65742194 Please, please guys. This is not the place to be going back and forth on the EU. There are plenty of threads elsewhere where you can debate this endlessly
As I’ve said earlier, if you dominate here, people will switch off and stop reading what at the moment is a useful thread.
Speaking of useful - it does look as if HSBC is pretty committed to France, so for anyone who is hoping to maintain full-on sterling banking arrangements and has concerns about their own bank, it might be worth starting overtures to HSBC. Not least, I think it will be interesting for the rest of us as to how you get on. I’m already with HSBC, so I can’t test the waters. HSBC have however told me categorically they are not opening joint accounts -I thought OH might be able to swap if NatWest changes their mind - but that’s not going to work

[Wozza]

@anon65742194

@graham

if you are still struggling with your email signature and you use Gmail you might find this reference useful… just do what it says in reverse…

How-To Geek

How to Add an Email Signature to Gmail

Google’s Gmail service supports configurable signatures, which it will attach to each email you send. You could add your name, job title, social media details, phone number, or anything else you want to your signature.

Or spice it up a bit from time to time!
Don’t print this, OK!
Please consider filing this email in an email folder and refraining from printing it, since that would be redundant and a waste of space, time and paper. Just make sure you backup your hard drive, you idiot.

Please respond to this email as soon as possible, as I am soon unplugging all my electrical devices and moving to the woods. And this should go without saying, but you should NOT print this message since the more you print, the fewer woods I will have left to live in.

Trees have feelings too, please don’t print this

Printing is murder !

Sorry folks, I’m feeling a bit mischievous ce soir!

[graham]

@SuePJ

This is not the place to be going back and forth on the EU. There are plenty of threads elsewhere where you can debate this endlessly

This all arises because the UK has left the EU and thread drift is allowed and encouraged anyway on SF.
If you have any concerns about that, ask @cat to lock the thread to prevent anyone from posting in it ever again…

[graham]

EU based Britons to lose UK bank accounts? - French Currency Exchange

[SuePJ]

@graham

If you have any concerns about that, ask @cat to lock the thread to prevent anyone from posting in it ever again…

That would be a shame Graham. There’s some useful info here and that’s likely to continue as we learn more. In fact you’ve just added to it with the article/advert about Moneycorp. OH used to be with Moneycorp - then moved to Currency Fair. So I’ve suggested he gets back in touch with them and asks some tough questions.

Interestingly, using my Transferwise Borderless account recently has reminded me, it’s worth bearing in mind these accounts are not instantaneous and they don’t work over the weekend. So there isn’t quite the same rhythm as there is with “normal” banking.

[graham]

@SuePJ

That would be a shame Graham. There’s some useful info here and that’s likely to continue

Quite, so best to allow it to morph into whatever it will become overtime…
The community owns the thread which you very sensibly introduced in to the scheme of things and it is the community (and of course the Team) which will influence how it progresses.

[graham]

This view on the subject from Quora…

[anon48648089]

Thread drift is one thing - like most normal conversations with groups of friends.
BUT - in this case - it is TOO important to allow thread drift into Brexit area - that’s been done too often.
We need THIS thread to Stay On Subject - please. Because I’m in same situation as most on here.
As to ‘opening a new UK account as non-res’ - I don’t think that has been possible for a long while, certainly before Brexit. Which is why there was always the advice to keep as many UK bank/savings/etc accounts open as possible - as a just-in-case.
It is up to US, you and me - the posters - to stop any drift - we don’t need that on this thread - this is WAY TOO IMPORTANT - there are facts, and suggestions - and a pro-forma letter - which we should all use. We should all be adult enough to use common-sense without having to drag the Mod in to rap our knuckles.

[graham]

I don’t make the rules @anon48648089
This issue IS about Brexit and thus is on topic. If it were not for Brexit, this issue would not have arisen

[Mat_Davies]

@graham - just stop Remoaning!

Try to see the positive in Brexit and reach that happy place _________It just may take a while to come up with a positive!

[graham]

why shoot the messenger

[Sue_Young]

Interesting article with some info about which banks are closing accounts and where.

UK banks to shut thousands of British expats' accounts - what to do if yours...

[Mat_Davies]

I received this email from Revolut today:

New European license

Hi Mathew,

We wanted to update you on our plans to make sure that Brexit does not impact the services we provide to you.

You are currently a customer of our UK company, which has an electronic money licence. As you may know, we have a company with an electronic money license in Lithuania as well. We set up this Lithuanian entity to ensure that our service would not be affected by Brexit.

In one month’s time, we will start moving our European customers over to this European electronic money license. You don’t need to do anything. We’ll take care of everything and contact you again when we have made the switch.

This will ensure that your Revolut service will continue smoothly, when the Brexit process is concluded. You’ll still be able to use all of the services and features that you love.

European terms and conditions

You can read the Terms & Conditions of the Lithuanian entity that you will be transferred to [here]
These T’s & C’s are largely the same as your existing UK ones, with a few changes to comply with local laws. Here is a quick summary of the key changes:

• The Revolut entity that will provide your services will be Revolut Payments UAB, an electronic money institution authorised by the Bank of Lithuania. This is the same type of licence as our UK entity (Revolut Ltd).
• If you ever need to make a complaint about our Lithuanian entity’s service, you can do so through the Bank of Lithuania - a member of the European System of Central Banks - which investigates disputes between consumers and financial services companies impartially and free of charge.
• The T’s & C’s of your account will be governed under Lithuanian law, and the Lithuanian courts will have jurisdiction to hear claims in conformity with all applicable EU laws and respecting your fundamental rights as an EU citizen. In some circumstances, as an EU citizen you may have the right to make a court claim in your own country under the laws of that country.

These Terms & Conditions will automatically apply to you once we transfer you to our Lithuanian entity.

Your account details

We’re expecting your account details to remain the same, but if any details have to change based on local regulation we’ll let you know before we migrate you.

Unhappy for any reason?

We’re confident that the migration process will go smoothly, and that there will be no, or minimal, disruption to your services. If, however, you would like more information about the migration.

If you would like to speak with a customer support agent or to make a complaint please get in touch with us through our in-app customer support chat.

If you are still not happy with these changes, you can close your Revolut account for free by selecting your Profile icon in the Revolut app, tapping on the Settings icon, scrolling to the bottom of the page, and choosing “Close account”. You can do this at any time before the transfer, or after we transfer you to our Lithuanian entity.

Thanks for reading.

Team Revolut

[SuePJ]

@Sue_Young Good article Sue. One of the things that concerns me about all this is the assumption that we are able to get close to any level of seniority in the bank. In virtually all cases our contacts these days are with call centre staff and in some instances they are on the other side of the world so this has no context for them whatsoever.
If you are talking to your individual bank - the article suggests you might trying appealing against the decision - and you are talking to a call centre:

• ask if the call is being recorded and press for the recording to be “passed up the line”
• write to the chief executive at the bank’s UK head office (google for their name if it’s not obvious from their website) - at least seek ways to make your feeling felt about the collective injustice that the UK banking industry is inflicting on its overseas customers.
• send a letter rather than email. Without doubt these days letters have more impact. An email address will just be looked at by a minion.
• copy your letter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It’s essential they see our strength of feeling BEFORE our accounts are closed, even although normally they only act once the deed is done. In this instance that will be too late.