If it’s coming to France in the married name… it’s easy peasy to show one’s credentials to one’s French bank to confirm the “link” is correct.
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You could perhaps click the button on the banner at top of page since Lumon have now joined SF as a trusted partner.
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Its the other way round as im using my maiden name for everything here. its on passport etc so was simpler that way!
Exactly… maiden name in France, married name in UK… no matter, the link is there.
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Message from Starling
My reply
Sending 15 euros from one account in my name to my starling euro account in October managed to trigger it! This is Starling, from what I understand one of the best, most accurate automated machine learning anti-fraud systems on earth. They did a tour of banks in the US and summits at Mastercard HQ for hundreds of global banks as it is considered ‘best in class’ in the industry, and yet they still managed to send me an in-app message asking me what my relationship is to me… 
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I wonder why you want to close it? Do you have another UK bank account? We have been careful to keep our UK bank accounts even though we’ve been living in France for the last 17 years fulltime.
It is not easy to open a UK bank account once you live abroad and we’ve had friends who’ve gone back who have struggled to open a new account / get credit cards etc (no track record in the UK). Also, some small pension companies and the like insist on being able to pay into a UK account.
Even if you loathe the bank, I really recommend you keep your account open and leave a small amount in it and use it occasionally to keep it active,
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Agreed - I use my maiden name most of the time and always sign with my maiden name but in recent years have got used to using my married name from time to time. Never been a problem. In fact in France a woman’s maiden name IS her legal name.
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Sounds like they’ve got a fathead over-zealous AI anti-fraud system! 
It’s difficult for banks to get this right of course - if they let stuff through we will complain and if they query perfectly ordinary transactions we complain…
Anyway FWIW going from Nationwide to Wise I’ve never had an issue.
Then again, Nationwide let through two fraudulent transactions on my debit card from Macchu Picchu in Peru! Luckily I spotted them on my bank statement. You’d have thought they would have flagged those up as suspicious!
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I am trying to keep it but they keep being awkward. I feel its only a matter of time before they force me to close it and i want to move the money out beforehand.
Do you still have a UK address? If so why not move some or all of it to a Nationwide building society account - they are fine with Brits resident in France keeping accounts open.
I’m planning to keep mine after I move to France, just as a backup and also so I can have my private pension drawdown paid into a UK account.
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Oh i will look into that. I do have a uk address thats rented out. Do you think i can use that to open a nationwide from france?
You may have to show proof of residence such as utility bills when opening a new account.
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Would suggest ypu retain 1 or 2 UK acconts if you can. Even with low values in them
When I made my first Optimal transfer I sent a small amount and told them I was doing it to check all ok. They agreed and said it was the correct thing to do.
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It’s what I always do, too. Even if it triggers some security alert, I’d rather be able to confirm receipt into the correct account.
Another happy TorFx client here, but my transfers are small because my UK bank, Yorkshire, limits them to £1,000 a day. Fine for what I need.
Each French banking institution has an obligation to transmit to TRACFIN (a French government anti-money laundering organisation) any transfers above a certain predetermined amount, which is 1000 € per transaction and up to 2000 € cumulatively per client per calendar month. See here for more information.
Fair enough, but @kirsteastevenson was talking about small test transactions triggering an alert, rather than big unexpected sums. And reporting to the Gouvernement is different from an internal bank fraud alert.
It’s a mystery, as Toyah used to say.
@RicePudding do you think its wise then to tell the french bank a sum is on its way?
Explain i am sending uk savings to fr savings, or do you think it makes no difference and they will follow this procedure regardless?
@KarenLot i am trying but my bank keeps trying to force me out as they know i am in fr. I just want to make sure my money doesn’t get stuck if they decide to freeze it or something weird.