BRITISH BANKS PUT THE SQUEEZE ON EXPATS

British Banks are doing their best to get rid of customers who are UK citizens but resident overseas.  There are about 5 to 6 million who fit that category, of whom about 800,00 or so are believed to live elsewhere in the EU.   

Instance:- Santander Bank UK  summarily and without prior notice cancelled Debit Cards.  In a subsequent letter they maintained that they were not going to replace Debit Cards because of the high risk of interception and the likelihood of fraudulent use 'in your country'. 

People challenged this position by writing to the CEO of Santander UK who passed the issue to an Executive Complaints Department for adjudication.  In the event, the person doing the review came down on the side of the customers, and some have received replacement cards by courier with the promise of PIN numbers to follow.  The reviewer also commented that although the policy had been adopted thanks to some document or another that was circulated to all banks at the end of last year, the policy has now changed and (certainly in the case of Greece) the phrase 'your country' has been removed from the list.

In an interesting twist, however, when speaking to the reviewer he said that the bank had 'made a mistake' in allowing people overseas to continue operating their accounts and in the official letter following the review is the passage 'It is also stipulated in the general Terms and Conditions of your account, that we are a U.K. based bank and do not facilitate customers who live outside the U.K.' 

This last line is the crux of the matter.  As expats will know, it is difficult if not impossible for expats who don't have a UK address to open a UK bank account, change an existing account for a better one, get a credit card etc.  In some cases, private pension providers will only put money into a UK bank account. 

N.B. The EU has four basic 'freedoms' core to the existence and continuation of the UNION. One is the freedom of movement of SERVICES and CAPITAL

But no constraints exist on banks to honour these principles!

The Competition and Marketing Authority in the UK is currently looking at the way in which banks operate Personal Current Accounts (their deadline for submissions is 17th September) so one must write to them at

retailbanking@cma.gsi.gov.uk

AND register any concerns you have over your own personal situation.  The more people who complain, the more likely the matter will be taken seriously.  Hopefully, the CMA will remind banks of their obligations, as operators in the UK of the UK 's membership of the EU and the need to allow unfettered movement of money as well as people and goods throughout the EU at least! "

In all our interests please react, write as above and re-circulate.

As an additional note -I add the UK banks should pay interest gross and thus one can avoid UK tax - Santander has refused this on one occasion known to me. 

To obtain Form R105 to obtain interest without tax deducted at source. Helpful if one is not required to complete a UK tax return.

http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=9BTDOI8ijZ8&formid=805
 

  I am grateful to a correspondent for the above information.

** Another reason why the expats should have the vote!

Unless this following petition FOR REPRESENTATION in Parliament gets another 7,000 signatures within the month till September 2014– it will fail!   http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/55085

Bank Accounts

A correspondent has drawn attention to the following link.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

This ‘forum’ location deals with money matters and it has the headline that if you can, in 50 words, state some improvement in money matters for the British Consumer then the three leaders of the main British political parties have promised to consider such proposals.

I have written the following:-

“It should be illegal for any UK based financial institution to refuse to open an account for any British Citizen resident in the European Economic Area on the basis of non-residence in the UK.

The banks impose this restriction giving problems for expatriate pensioners dependent on income in sterling.”

It would be possible for anyone else to add some proposals relating for example to the non-payment of the Winter Fuel Payment to certain expatriates, or to question a review of the payment for health costs for expatriates, or a review of the Double Taxation Convention with France. I fear all these are complicated matters, but it might draw the attention of the politicians to these issues – maybe.

The topic I raise here has been raised before several times. [See Concern 1 via the Index.] Briefly.. British banks will not open an account for you if you do not live in the UK. If you need an account, as you almost certainly do if your income originates in the UK then you are ‘up a gum tree’. It could be that your existing bank has gone bust or it is non-competitive - and therefore you need one!

On a related but somewhat different matter, I have recently been informed that Lloyds TSB wishes to close Bank of Scotland offshore accounts in Jersey. This is a cussed bind for those who have such accounts. It makes movement of monies between on-shore and offshore accounts more tiresome. One may wish to change all accounts to another bank to smooth this procedure. You would not be able to do this because the UK based banks will not open an UK based account for non-residents.

Further, it is not easy for British citizens returning to the UK to open a fully functional account because they cannot demonstrate that they have been resident for some length of time. This even happened to an ex-bank manager!

Brits who go home. What do they find?

To go to the start of the blog and the Index - click here

The information in the item below is largely borrowed from the newspaper – The French Week of Oct 29- Nov 4 - 2010.

The paper had asked British people who had returned to the UK for their experiences about what they found when they arrived. Here are some extracts:-

‘A common problem is lack of proof of residence. Many doors do not open until one has utility bills, or other proof for the required length of time, even up to two years in some cases.’

A retired bank manager (a touch of irony here) could not easily open a bank account in England. He had kept a sterling account in Jersey but that bank would not transfer this account to England! ‘We have tried to open a normal current account with a high street bank in our home town but this was refused as we have to be on the electoral role for two years before we could be allowed a bank guarantee card.’

‘One or two financial institutions did not take lump sum investments from us unless we had a UK address for at least a year.’

It takes time to exchange the driver’s licence. ‘I did eventually manage to exchange my French driving licence back to the UK , partly as I had kept a photocopy of the old UK one with my driver number.’

Another writer says that she was not allowed to open an ISA or any other special investments because she had been living in France.

Insuring a car in the UK was also a problem. ‘None of the companies would take our French no-claims record into account’.

None of the contacts found that getting back into the NHS was a problem.

The reasons why the Britons returned were various. The lack of money because of the fall in the value of the £ was at the heart of many. The French removal of health cover in 2007 for young retirees, promoted many a move.

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These are all matters which have been raised in this blogsite. Almost certainly many infringe the ‘right of free movement’ within the European Union.

Many of us, myself included, know how easy it is to open a bank account in France. I did so myself before being resident here. It was very easy to change my driving licence to a French one, and the French accepted the no-claims record in England.

Britain should change the law to remove these hidden discriminations against British Citizens returning to live in Britain.
This blog has long campaigned for political recognition of the needs of British expatriates in Europe. That is to say, we need some kind of Minister for British European residents.

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The French Week  newspaper has unfortunately folded.  It had an excellent digest of French political and social affairs and items of interest to British residents in France. (Note added February 2011)