Hi there,

I moved from the UK to Switzerland some months ago and for convenience still keep an account with Halifax UK. Friends of mine have advised me not to tell them anything about the move because they have done it and the bank closed their accounts and half-cut their credit/debit cards. Im intestested in keeping a UK bank account for my travels there but Im also concerned about my bank sending me important stuff like new cards to my old address where theres nobody I can rely on (I was renting). The best solution would be to find a UK bank where they are happy to accept clients living overseas and even are happy to send me letters to my new address. Any suggestions?
Many thanks!

Luisete

Hi, we have UK bank accounts with Nationwide, HSBC and Natwest. We had no problems with changing the address from UK to Switzerland. I'd recommend you call before moving banks.

Hope this helps.

I'm sure that Lloyds (or the modern version of it, I think they merged with the Trustee Savings Bank or something) did it for a long time. Maybe they still do.

i'm with first direct. i changed address to CH without problem and they even send statements etc. here.

The problem you'll probably find is that it isn't possible to open a new account when you live abroad. We have a current and 2 savings accounts with Barclays and they didn't worry when we changed our address from UK to Switzerland. But the savings accounts are old and don't earn much interest so we enquired about opening a better one and they said they're not allowed to as we don't live in the UK, even though we've banked with them for over 25 years. I don't know if this is something Barclays and possibly the other banks decided on their own or whether it's Government policy, but we haven't been able to open one since we moved.

I think you'll have to bite the bullet and let Halifax know if there's no one you can rely on to send things on for you. It's too risky for the cards (sometimes they have to be signed for), plus the credit card companies might also throw a wobbly if you move and haven't given them your new address. Could be a big problem if you wanted to claim against the credit card insurance for something.

I am with the Halifax and have had no trouble at all changing address. Just make sure you establish internet banking to make life easy.

Be aware though that if you go overdrawn it takes way longer that money transfers across from your Swiss account to your UK one- They made a lot of money from me this way last year because they charge per day overdrawn, even on an agreed overdraft facility.

Gal x

The original on-line bank,

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,,3_11060--View_819,00.html

We are with the halifax and they know we are in switzerland my husband has had this account for 30 years and it hasn,t been a problem we even get interest on some savings there so not sure why you got told they would shut it down

I am with Barclays. They said it is no problem changing my address from U.K to Switzerland. I haven't done it though. Just lazy. Before I moved here I also closed ISA as it isn't for non resident. Anyhow interest rates was swimming at the bottom.

I have an account with Lloyds and, although I had no problem changing the address to Switzerland, what I haven't been able to do is get them to send me a cheque book. They refuse because they say it's a 'security risk.
It's been easy in the past simply to put a cheque in the post for someone in the UK, but I suppose I'll have to get used to bank transfers.

With online banking checks are so 20th Centuary!

FWIW Natwest will send a cheque book to CH.

Ah but you can't teach an old dog new tricks

As far as I am aware most existing bank accounts can have a change of address for overseas - certainly my RBS account works just as well. The problem as mentioned before is if you want to open any new accounts such as a savings bond even with the same bank they won't let you. For this if your account is say registered to your parents address you can work round this. Although it depends how honest you want to be!

As for credit cards. I still have 2 UK cards and both are registered here. One is American Express, the other Halifax. Again I don't think they will let you take out a new one so worth keeping a hold of.