Thanks Angela
At last some definitive information.
But dont be fooled re HSBC UK. Yes they will open an account for non uk residents but not easy. Currently 4 months into application and already got £50 promised as a result of bad experience but not yet got an account with them to put it in.
Hopefully, after they changed the goalposts twice, they now have all the documents they need and we will have an account very soon🤞
Great news re Barclays so now we will gave 2 bank accounts, yippee.
Yes I would agree that because of their heritage they remain much more people and customer orientated, not having shareholders mean they don’t have to post 1/2 yearly profit figures and continue with having more physical customer contact.
Good news for you that HSBC opened you an account…was that with only a French address?? Hopefully that means no problems for existing customers
Not open yet!
Yes I am a french resident and applied via my French address but not over the line yet.
Good luck…persevere
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Just spoken with Nationwide (ex BS) regarding none arrival a debit card sent to our UK address. I asked if we could change our address to France without negatively impacting our account. I was told at the moment it was OK, but the customer rep’ said they had closed accounts in Netherlands another EU country post 1st January because of Brexit and she did not know if or when the same might occur for France. But obviously it might be on the closure list. Needless to say I did not continue with my decision to reg’ the account in France.
Our Nationwide accounts have our French address on and have had for a while. No problems so far.
Just keep your fingers crossed that they decide to continue offering accounts to customers with solely French adresses, I suppose its a matter of wait and see.
Same for me with my NatWest account. There has been no indication, at least, not yet, that anything is going to change. I just hope it remains that way.
Without being too negative it seems banks etc are deciding which if any EU countries they want or its economic to have customers.
They are gradually working through decision process, the key is they have ALL lost passporting rights, so have to decide if it’s worth striking country to country deals. A local subsidiary, and few now have them, makes little difference as an account with it is a local one and akin to having an account with say CA.
The only possibility medium term is if a financial services deal is done it might have “equivalence” ie reciprocal cross border banking which might mean a UK domestic bank (now ring-fenced to being uk domiciled) could again offer a UK regulated account to French residents who have no UK address.
That seems at odds with what my bank told me - which was that unless France introduced new fiscal regulations there would be no change in our UK accounts. The went on to say that Holland HAD introduced new regulations - hence the fact that some banks were closing accounts there. My bank is not a large one and has said IF the French authorities introduced new regs. they would not look to comply with them and would instead close accounts. Fingers crossed that has happened yet.
Its all a muddle and no certainty yet one way or the other.
What is the latest on bank accounts, …there was a post about
…any change, I had a small deposit a/c and have successfully opened a current account with Nationwide, who at present are ok with french residency, but admitted it might change in the future.
No problems with Lloyds… not heard a murmur from them about any possible difficulties/problems etc with our accounts …
Ditto HSBC and Barclaycard. But as discussed earlier, we are existing customers with existing accounts. Not sure possible to open any new account or to be a new customer.
@strudball I think in the current situation John no news is good news,
I suppose they are waiting to see if UK and EU grant each other equivalence in financial services, but by all accounts talks not being very productive.
If no agreement i guess they will then do an account trawl for those with EU adresses.
Friends of ours recently got a standard letter with T&C changes from Barclays Bank which specifically referred to Banks right to exercise closure option for customers not RESIDENT in UK.
According to this link… which I have only just noticed/found… Lloyds are closing some accounts, but for only a few countries… NOT the whole EU.
They are not “banning” France… yippee
All seems quiet since the round of news on potential Barclaycard users outside UK having accounts closed and some banks. Like others our Barclaycard and Barclay’s bank facilities continue as normal.
Nationwide, isnt that a building society rather than a bank?
John, you say you opened an account with them recently but did you have any other existing connections accounts with them?
I continue to do battle with HSBC as they are the only bank that offer online current accounts for none UK residents but something tells me after 5 months of trying that they are sitting on the fence to see what happens in the long term.
I have met all that they ask and each time they then move the goalposts.
Even after getting firm instructions from there helpdesk when sending what they asked it was declined.
I am more determined than them and will not be beaten .
That is a very much abbreviated account of progress or not to date, I have a very large file running!!
yes, it was a building society and turned itself into a bank, albeit a mutual owned by members…but to all intents and purpose no different to a normal high street bank…except many more branches and a brilliant online application. And yes I did have a saving account which made it easier to open a current account as we are not in uk. I am still using a uk address, though customer service said that at the MOMENT it would still be OK to use our French adresse.
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I see you already had an account with Nationwide.
Opening an account with HSBC or any other bank where you dont have existing accounts is a totally different ball game.