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Keeping English Bank Account


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It varies.  Barclays will let you carry on with a French address and they have a VG online banking service.  On the other hand they refuse to pay interest gross.  On the third hand (yes, my genes are weird....) the interest is usually so small as to make this irrelevant!

Chrissie (81)

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[quote user="Maricopa"]No problem with Nat West, Alliance & Leicester or Halifax either.[/quote]

Don't know about the others but the Halifax on line banking service has dire warnigs about accessing their site if living abroad and seeks to divert you to Bank of Scotland's International or Off shore divisions, can't remember exactly which one.

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[quote user="Maricopa"]No problem with Nat West, Alliance & Leicester or Halifax either.[/quote]  or HSBC or Tescos,  I have a Nat West account and HSBC accounts and still get statements etc, but you will not be able to open an new bank account in the UK now that you are in France.
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[quote user="Newcomer"]

I  am presently with Nat west.   I thought I would have to  close the account as I cannot offer an new english address.

I would prefer to keep the account open.

 [/quote]

I too am with Natwest and over the last 25 years have lived overseas for various periods with no UK address. There have been no problems.

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Many financial institutions in the UK will not pay gross interest to customers with overseas addresses, you have to claim the tax deducted back yourself.  If its for 2005-06  you only have a few days left to get your self assessment in which is the easiest way of getting it back.
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[quote user="Benjamin"][quote user="Maricopa"]No problem with Nat West, Alliance & Leicester or Halifax either.[/quote]

Don't know about the others but the Halifax on line banking service has dire warnigs about accessing their site if living abroad and seeks to divert you to Bank of Scotland's International or Off shore divisions, can't remember exactly which one.
[/quote]

They might have "dire warnings" but that doesn't prevent me from accessing it online from here in France.[:D]

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[quote user="Ron Avery"]... you have to claim the tax deducted back yourself.  If its for 2005-06  you only have a few days left to get your self assessment in which is the easiest way of getting it back.[/quote]

I think you have nearly 6 years to claim back tax.

 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/faqs_general.htm#11nr 

Q11. What is the time limit for making a claim to repayment of UK tax?

If you want to make a claim for any tax year there is a time limit within which you must do so. Each tax year ends on 5 April. For any particular tax year you have up to the next 31 January and the following 5 years to make a claim. For example, a claim for the tax year ended 5 April 2001 must be made by 31 January 2007.

Hoping this is right as we have only just downloaded our form R43 for 2005-2006.

Sue

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[quote user="spg"]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]... you have to claim the tax deducted back yourself.  If its for 2005-06  you only have a few days left to get your self assessment in which is the easiest way of getting it back.[/quote]

I think you have nearly 6 years to claim back tax.

 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/faqs_general.htm#11nr 

Q11. What is the time limit for making a claim to repayment of UK tax?

If you want to make a claim for any tax year there is a time limit within which you must do so. Each tax year ends on 5 April. For any particular tax year you have up to the next 31 January and the following 5 years to make a claim. For example, a claim for the tax year ended 5 April 2001 must be made by 31 January 2007.

Hoping this is right as we have only just downloaded our form R43 for 2005-2006.

Sue

[/quote]

It is not always as easy as this suggests.  UK HMRC owe me a fortune as they kept charging me tax despite me paying tax on the same interest in France.  They owe it back (not the French).  They have now started the "you only have ONE year to make a change to a tax return and after that it is at our (HMRC's) option (if they feel nice that day).  So they may chose to "investigate" or not.  I believe that in my case they ultimately will as they are trying to double tax me for loads and loads more money (which they have no right to).

In my case I know they owe me the money and they are just wanting to keep the money.  It is just a matter of me maintaining the pressure and not accepting their "no" as the final answer.

Ian

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It is far simpler to do it by a self assessment return in the year concerned or you have to mess about with FD 5s and other forms.  Provided that you have your pension paid gross in France, all you do is complete the assessment with the details of the tax deducted and interest paid, (you do NOT have to declare your French taxed pension etc ) and as this is below your free pay you get the tax refunded.  This is the method recommended by the centre for HMRC non-residents in the UK. 

HMRC did not charge you tax Ian, your provider did.  You have to arrange for gross payments by the prescribed methods and the HMRC agrees this when you have completed the process and informs your provider. I cannot believe that anything you are involved with would be complicated Ian[Www]

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[quote user="Newcomer"]

Will my english Bank accept a french address as my main address.   I used Internet banking

so I  did not visit my branch on a regular basis.     Any comments would be helpful.

 

[/quote]Thanks everyone, rang Nat west and gave them my new address, no problems.   I thought you could not have an english bank account if you were not resident in U.K      Credits cards are my next focus.   So I think I will ring now and see what happens.

 

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Yes, Andy, that has also been my experience.  Newcomer, if you want any British savings or investment vehicle, then DO IT ALL before coming over.

Once you've got them, they can't generally make you give them up but they won't let you have them once you have actually moved.

As someone else has pointed out, they may refuse to pay you interest gross of tax but, as has also been pointed out, you can reclaim the tax at a later date.

There are also some savings products that are specifically aimed at people living abroad and these generally do pay you the interest gross.

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I've lived in France now for 2.5yrs.  I spoke to First Direct banking on the phone and have today received an application form to open a current account.  I was told that living in France was NOT a problem.  Could be worth a try of you want a UK account.

I had an EGG account when I lived in the UK, but they said I'd have to close it if I lived abroad!

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[quote user="Spanielle"]

I've lived in France now for 2.5yrs.  I spoke to First Direct banking on the phone and have today received an application form to open a current account.  I was told that living in France was NOT a problem.   [/quote]

IIRC 1st Direct now charge a monthly fee for having a current account unless you pay in £1500 a month, or have one of  their credit cards, or one of their savings accounts, or insurance with them.

Sue

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