Likewise with Nationwide, they’ve remained very good over several decades.
I keep my 36 year old Flex account (one of the first!) open because one can use their card reader to verify online transactions and the bottom of our gorge has poor cell phone reception, so with our CA current account SMS confirmation is very unreliable and usually times out. Also they only charge a few p for the conversion from € to £.
First Direct is actually HSBC so that would match with other comments
Well, that’s the perfect answer then!
Echoing comments around using a friends address, one would surely have an ID check at the least at that address - and even as a ‘soft check’ some sort of online presence may be required? Credit check for banks who give overdrafts etc? Or maybe as someone suggested one could provide ID requirements if failing the online check - passport / and HMRC tax notice / local tax bill / credit card or bank statement - ah, doh!
Generally the last part of the ID check is the card. There are various (many) reasons the address on a credit file may not match, so people are used to that. Of course changing anything else to that address would likely solve that issue anyway, but as I say, the last part of an application check will be sending out the card to the address. The first card will always go to the address on the application, and will then need to be activated, obviously people using a false address to apply in most situations wouldn’t be able to get the card so wouldn’t be able to activate it. Banks are incredibly hot on taking action as soon as someone contacts them claiming they moved between the application and receiving the card, or their first card going ‘missing in the post’ or such because it’s an immediate obvious fraud flag.
As such if you have another document with that address and can receive the card, there likely wouldn’t be an issue. All of which I’m saying for factual information purposes, not because I’m suggesting anyone should do anything illegal or against the terms and conditions 
I’ve a UK HSBC account and it costs me zero. Now, I have had it for decades and it is linked to my (more recent) HSBC France account but only my (minuscule) UK pension goes into it to pay UK direct debits, and I have a debit card too. I use Wise to transfer euros into it as and when necessary.
Vote conservative and it wont matter.
I see that this has been discussed before on the group Brits living in the EU27. There might be answers there that suit you position
Starling maybe? Unlike Revolut, you get the 85k protection, very good exchange rates and a free Euro account, I swear by them, as a frequent visitor to France. I tend to swear at Lloyds.
Have I missed something have Lloyds given you a problem???
I’m a long-standing Lloyds customer, Stella, and am highly unimpressed by their instant access savings rates. I voted with my feet a long time ago. The current accounts are fine but what’s the marketing line? By your side? My backside.
I’m also pretty disgusted that they regularly promote P&O Ferries in their cash back thing. But hey ho.
I’m happy with Lloyds because I don’t have an account with them, but they do continue to allow me to have a long standing (20 or 30 years) credit card with them. 
I bank with the Co-op from a French address.
But did you open it from a French address, lots of us bank with British banks from a French address, but we couldn’t open one from here.
Poor you! 
Bristolpete. If you have a Wise account, you can switch on the “Interest” option on the account and they will invest your money in money market accounts. You retain instant access, but you get the ECB or Bank of England interest rate less about 0.25%. Better than normal bank accounts or fixed interest accounts.
Thanks for posting that, it looks ‘interesting’ haha. Are you using these? - I’ve had a quick look look at the euro one - blackrock premier came up on the wise link.
For the last 5 years its gone down slightly, there doesn’t seem to be a blackrock performance report for part year, e.g. Jan - June 2023, but on another site it looks like it’s gone up 1.2% so that would be approx 2.5% annual less the wise fee 0.19% so about 2.3%
I have a Livret A and that’s 3% tax paid up to about 22K euro - so presume I’d still be better to use that up first?
The revolut euro deposit is 1.19% so wise is looking better, the revolut account is so easy to use though with the app - is the wise account easy too - I see there’s also a wise app. One could send euro’s from the revolut euro account to the wise euro account?
Cheers.
Yes, I do use the Wise Interest accounts. I was using the Revolut Vault, but their interest rate is not particularly good, so I moved it across to Wise. Effectively a money market fund attempts to replicate the Fed/ECB/Bank of England base rate by buying low duration bonds which have a rate very close to the Bank rates. The last 5 years would include the interest rate cuts due to Covid.
If you have a share dealing account, you can buy money market funds without the small commission charged by Wise, but then the Wise account is very flexible. The Wise app shows your accumulated interest and the rate . For the GBP it is currently 4.12%, EUR it is 2.71% (after Blackrock and Wise commisions)
The Blackrock GBP fund says it tracks SONIA which is the LIBOR replacement
And the current value of SONIA is (from the Bank of England website)
The run on the smaller banks in the US recently was caused partly by depositors withdrawing their cash from banks and depositing in money market accounts to take advantage of the higher interest rates which the banks were not passing along.
Thanks for the tip, Peter. My money’s going back I to a property shortly, but I’ll bear that in mind for the future.
I’m getting about the same with Kroo and Zopa at the moment. It’s definitely worth shopping around.
Pete
many thanks for the heads up, I shall investigate further, I wonder if I can get the sterling one in a SIPP - the standard life plan is doing better, but not 4.12% !
And the the euro one looks good too. If only the exchange rate would settle at 1.18 
Been waiting a while for that now…
Just for info, I have a Tandem which is 4.1 (same as Kroo from the 1st) and to make you all jealous my old co-op saver plus turns out to track base less 0.5%, so is on 4% at the mo and will be going up to 4.5% next month.
I think the diamond in my crown though is a new savings account tracking base rate, so I’ll be looking forward to 5% on that from the 1st July. Only up to 50K though and it’s postal.
You can get a better rate on Euro, tax-free too, if you have in Livret Developpement or Livret A, which is 3%
