Barclays UK closing expat accounts ?

[greeninjapan]

Hello.

Unable to log in to my Barclays account earlier this month, I called Barclays to ask for help.

“Your account has been closed” I was told, with not a hint of regret in the voice of the Barclay's rep.

Their explanation was they sent me three letters informing me that as I am an account holder living overseas, my account would be closed. As they received no response from me, they closed my account.

As I visited a UK Barclays branch in person in December 2022 and completed the postal address change procedure in the presence of a Barclays employee, I am surprised their letters didn't reach me. I confirmed my postal address while on the phone with the Barclays rep and it was correct. I also confirmed my email address was correct - needless to say, Barclays didn’t bother to send me an email to inform me they were closing my account.

So now I need to complete Barclay’s “Claim money from accounts that were closed because you had an EEA address” form and post it in to them.

Has anyone had a similar experience with Barclays?

[RetireJapan]

It's been in the news a lot. Seems a few UK banks are cutting costs by closing non-residents' accounts. Thankfully NatWest have not done so yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do at some point.

You can use a Wise account to get a virtual UK bank account with sort code and account number, which might be a solution if you need a UK account but can't open a new one with a normal bank.

[Deep Blue]

Hello.

Unable to log in to my Barclays account earlier this month, I called Barclays to ask for help.

“Your account has been closed” I was told, with not a hint of regret in the voice of the Barclay's rep.

Their explanation was they sent me three letters informing me that as I am an account holder living overseas, my account would be closed. As they received no response from me, they closed my account.

As I visited a UK Barclays branch in person in December 2022 and completed the postal address change procedure in the presence of a Barclays employee, I am surprised their letters didn't reach me. I confirmed my postal address while on the phone with the Barclays rep and it was correct. I also confirmed my email address was correct - needless to say, Barclays didn’t bother to send me an email to inform me they were closing my account.

So now I need to complete Barclay’s “Claim money from accounts that were closed because you had an EEA address” form and post it in to them.

Has anyone had a similar experience with Barclays?

I’ve done this exact procedure with Barclays . In my case it was a current account that came with the mortgage I had from Woolwich. After that was paid off the current account remained with about 300 quid left.

They closed my account similarly and it took a few visits to their branches in the UK to resolve. They told me exactly what I needed and I think it was basically proof of identity (passport) as well as the old account details.

This was about ten years ago.

[greeninjapan]

It's been in the news a lot. Seems a few UK banks are cutting costs by closing non-residents' accounts. Thankfully NatWest have not done so yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do at some point.

You can use a Wise account to get a virtual UK bank account with sort code and account number, which might be a solution if you need a UK account but can't open a new one with a normal bank.

Thank you, yes, I have a Wise account.

When I visited Barclays in December 2022 they told me I would be sent a letter but they couldn't say when that would be, only that I would have a few months after receiving the letter to sort things out. Now I find my account closed without receiving the three letters they claim to have sent. I guess I should not have waited for the letter and instead taken action as soon after I was told as possible. I'm hoping to learn from this and be more proactive.

[MacAddict]

I posted my concerns here a year ago about Barclays closing my account, and it seems so many of us have been affected. Anyway, one year on and I have a SBIshinsei bank plus Revolut accounts. It's been a tedious process because I have no residential address in UK and have not returned there since pre-Covid. I have to return this year to sort out a number of issues, one of which is retrieving the money Barclays has confiscated from me :-/
I also have to figure out how to get my UK pension (from 2025) funds paid to me given that I longer have a UK bank account and doubt a bank in UK will allow me to open one as I have no official UK residential address. I also see many of you use Wise but I failed; maybe as I tried to register in Japan and have no UK address or telephone number (I don't fully recall - 2023 was a busy year!). In retrospect, leaving the UK over 25 year ago to 'get on my bike' (thanks for that dumb advice, Norman Tebbit!) and be a 'digital nomad' has not been quite so beneficial as one nears retirement. Ah well.

[beanhead]

I also see many of you use Wise but I failed; maybe as I tried to register in Japan and have no UK address or telephone number (I don't fully recall - 2023 was a busy year!).

My suggestion is to make some time and try again.

I created an account with Wise Japan.
Then created a virtual UK bank account with it.
No UK details required.
I can send and receive pounds into that account.

[Beaglehound]

I also have to figure out how to get my UK pension (from 2025) funds paid to me given that I longer have a UK bank account

In principle UK state pension, if that's what you mean, can be paid anywhere, doesn't need to be a UK bank account.

[TokyoSurvivor]

Hello.

Unable to log in to my Barclays account earlier this month, I called Barclays to ask for help.

“Your account has been closed” I was told, with not a hint of regret in the voice of the Barclay's rep.

Their explanation was they sent me three letters informing me that as I am an account holder living overseas, my account would be closed. As they received no response from me, they closed my account.

As I visited a UK Barclays branch in person in December 2022 and completed the postal address change procedure in the presence of a Barclays employee, I am surprised their letters didn't reach me. I confirmed my postal address while on the phone with the Barclays rep and it was correct. I also confirmed my email address was correct - needless to say, Barclays didn’t bother to send me an email to inform me they were closing my account.

So now I need to complete Barclay’s “Claim money from accounts that were closed because you had an EEA address” form and post it in to them.

Has anyone had a similar experience with Barclays?

This is exactly what happened to me. I never had any warning about it although they repeatedly stick to the standard "we sent a letter".

They then proceeded to mess up the recovery of the majority of the funds and took me 6 months to get it all finally put into another bank (Barclays International). Took a lot of chasing and phone calls to get this sorted and they were not very helpful at all.

It got to the point where I made an official complaint and informed them I was contacting the financial ombudsmen after which they suddenly seem to get things sorted.

I'm still thinking I should raise it with the ombudsmen out of principle. I wonder how many people across the world were affected, some of which may not have the resources to keep chasing (for example elderly pensioner's with "nest egg" savings that now live abroad)?

[cmason]

This banking closure issue ( along with the uneven distribution of index linking of the UK state pension for those of use living overseas depending on the country where one lives* ) - is one of the key lobbying issues of the British Overseas Voters Forum www.bovf.org.uk . If the BOVF can reach critical mass amongst the 3 million plus British Citizens living overseas who are entitled to vote ( included those of us who have just had the right restored ) , and where in some marginal constituencies they could form a critical block, then politicians will be forced to listen to our issues.

BTW reading from a BOVF presentation it seems that Nat West is starting down the same path as Barclays in closing accounts.

* as an example of UK state pension index linking in line with UK increases - if living in Japan they are not index linked (i.e. frozen at the level one first receives it ) but if one were living in the Philippines they would be (increasing each year just as if one were living in the UK).

Colin.

[RetireJapan]

This banking closure issue ( along with the uneven distribution of index linking of the UK state pension for those of use living overseas depending on the country where one lives* ) - is one of the key lobbying issues of the British Overseas Voters Forum www.bovf.org.uk . If the BOVF can reach critical mass amongst the 3 million plus British Citizens living overseas who are entitled to vote ( included those of us who have just had the right restored ) , and where in some marginal constituencies they could form a critical block, then politicians will be forced to listen to our issues.

BTW reading from a BOVF presentation it seems that Nat West is starting down the same path as Barclays in closing accounts.

* as an example of UK state pension index linking in line with UK increases - if living in Japan they are not index linked (i.e. frozen at the level one first receives it ) but if one were living in the Philippines they would be (increasing each year just as if one were living in the UK).

Colin.

Argh. I've had my NatWest bank account for 34 years