First actual problem re:Brexit

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
markwilding
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 7776
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:02 am
Location: Bilbao Spain

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby markwilding » Tue Sep 22, 2020 2:23 pm

My situation mirrors quite a few for who having a UK account in the UK is rather convenient. Collecting rent and paying for maintenance as well as being able to spend funds generated in the UK there especially as the exchange rate is poor so for the moment, it is better not to change anything into Euros until that changes.
I have also been told my Visa cards will be changed to Mastercard and my bank informed a couple of days ago me that the new cards are on the way. I have a Halifax account with no cards and If I remember rightly the reason is because I live outside the UK.A couple of years ago they told me I wouldn't be able to open new accounts but within weeks back tracked on that decision as it was unfair not to be able to open accounts with better interest rates, The most recent new account I opened was about 6 moths ago with better rates for 12 months. It will be interesting to see if they allow me to open a new one when the offer ends,

Lavanda
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 6191
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:42 pm
Location: Cáceres Province, Extremadura

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby Lavanda » Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:26 pm

Interesting. Halifax was a building society but is now owned by Lloyds who are one of the banks telling customers they have to close their accounts. I suspect we will not get anything certain or concrete for ages yet ...

olive
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 4500
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:13 pm
Location: Poniente, Granada

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby olive » Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:37 pm

A good question to ask is how does it work the other way round.

E.g. French person living resident in UK. Shopping online for their parents back home, paying income into a French bank .

markwilding
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 7776
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:02 am
Location: Bilbao Spain

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby markwilding » Tue Sep 22, 2020 4:02 pm

Lavanda wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:26 pm Interesting. Halifax was a building society but is now owned by Lloyds who are one of the banks telling customers they have to close their accounts. I suspect we will not get anything certain or concrete for ages yet ...
Listening to the link that beachcomber gave I seem to remember that Lloyds were stoppiing services in Holland and one other country. Different banks are doing different things in different countries.

Lavanda
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 6191
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:42 pm
Location: Cáceres Province, Extremadura

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby Lavanda » Tue Sep 22, 2020 4:37 pm

Yes. That’s true, Mark. It’s not all decided. Only the BarclayCard bit.

katy
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 13752
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 3:45 pm

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby katy » Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:02 pm

Well as I said OH has had his Visa credit card changed to MasterCard and he is not an expat. I think you are reading more into it than it is. All the stuff about money laundering is a big issue right now with Barclays and HSBC being the worse culprits. I also had a letter from MasterCard saying they were cutting my credit limit in half as I didn’t use the card but contact them if I wanted it reinstating. I did and it was, just in case I may need it.

How come people have bank accounts all over the world without problems. OH has an account in Geneva as he has a pension from there, I have an account with Bank of America. My neighbour worked most his life in Hong Kong and uses an account from there. If it is a Brexit thing why has there not been any reports from French, Spanish expats in UK when there are hundreds of thousands of them. The Guardian usually has those contact us if you have been affected ads and run features on them. Has anyone asked their banks why?

It is not easy to open a new account here even if people have never left the UK. They ask for 2 official documents confirming address and they do credit checks.

User avatar
fyfin
Resident
Posts: 1143
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:31 pm
Location: Turre Almeria

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby fyfin » Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:47 pm

This passporting issue raised it's head some time ago as well with regard to pensions not being able to be paid into a UK bank if the recipient was not a UK resident. In the event it never materialised and I had written confirmation from Scottish Widows and Aviva that irrespective of any agreement or not with regard to Brexit they would continue to pay my pensions.
I'm not saying this is the same as clearly Barclays and LLoyds have already written to their customers or, at least, the press says they have. However, there is a bit of misinformation floating around on forums on Facebook, I even saw one post from someone that said Transferwise had frozen his account as he had a Spanish address which is, of course, absolute nonsense (perhaps he worked for Revolut).
I contacted the C-Op band on behalf of an elderly neighbour who was worried about all this and this was their reply "Hi Steve, I understand your neighbours concerns. We're closely monitoring the situation and there are no immediate changes to accounts. If changes should be required, we’re committed to providing customers with as much notice as possible. There's more information on our website:" which is petty much the same reply I received from Nationwide which doesn't really tell you anything.
I did argue with Nationwide on the basis that Brexit is not a surprise so they should know what action, if any, they are taking, but to no avail.
We have credit cards and a joint Flex account with Nationwide which we do use but, if all else fails we have the Transferwise, (borderless account), who have already said Brexit presents no problem to them.
I'm not too bothered about the bank guarantee as there's never a lot of money in there anyway, after all they have 8 million customers and are regulated by the FCA, transfer about $5 billion every month so my couple of hundred quid should be fairly safe lol
A man likes his wife to be just clever enough to appreciate his cleverness, and just stupid enough to admire it

Lavanda
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 6191
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:42 pm
Location: Cáceres Province, Extremadura

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby Lavanda » Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:12 pm

BarclayCard have written to me and e-mailed me about my credit card so it is not just the press saying that they have. They have. Agree about Nationwide who have no plans to do anything yet. Maybe Katy will be right and it is all a lot of bother about nothing but it is more the uncertainty of it all ...
Last edited by Lavanda on Tue Sep 22, 2020 8:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

elusive
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 3275
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:49 am
Location: East of Malaga

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby elusive » Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:25 pm

markwilding wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 4:02 pm
Lavanda wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 3:26 pm Interesting. Halifax was a building society but is now owned by Lloyds who are one of the banks telling customers they have to close their accounts. I suspect we will not get anything certain or concrete for ages yet ...
Listening to the link that beachcomber gave I seem to remember that Lloyds were stoppiing services in Holland and one other country. Different banks are doing different things in different countries.
Yeah lloyds said it would effect around 4 countries.holland slovakia and 2 others. Spain wasnt mentioned but still seen reports of spanish customers been contacted. Lloyds said it would effect all their brands halifax etc. I guess they are getting rid of the countries that arent worth saving interms of the business they do and seeing what happens re the others and the brexit negotiations. I doubt this issue has even been thought of. I get the impression the banks are doing this late in the game to give boris and co a nudge. Not that they are bothered as in the scheme of things i doubt they care that much about any deal. Its been going on a good few years as mentioned above. I remember reports in the press. All the other banks are saying no change at the moment. What else can they say. They are waiting on any agreements. Nothing you can do but wait for the email

Any reports in french Spanish etc press . I doubt its much of a news item due to the amount of them living in the uk or the banks have already sorted out their passports because of the business they do in the U.K and as normal the uk banks dont want to sprend extra cash .to busy money laundering.

User avatar
fyfin
Resident
Posts: 1143
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:31 pm
Location: Turre Almeria

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby fyfin » Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:00 pm

Lavanda , so only credit card, not current account
A man likes his wife to be just clever enough to appreciate his cleverness, and just stupid enough to admire it

elusive
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 3275
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:49 am
Location: East of Malaga

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby elusive » Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:29 pm

I dont think the media reports ever mentioned Barclays current accounts. All i ever saw was the mention of credit cards. But i suppose like all of them they are waiting to see what does or doesnt happen

User avatar
fyfin
Resident
Posts: 1143
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:31 pm
Location: Turre Almeria

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby fyfin » Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:35 pm

I've only ever read bank accounts and never saw credit cards mentioned until I saw it on this forum. Just Googled it and it's all about current accounts. Here's one https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/ ... ays-brexit
A man likes his wife to be just clever enough to appreciate his cleverness, and just stupid enough to admire it

elusive
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 3275
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:49 am
Location: East of Malaga

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby elusive » Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:44 pm

Thanks fyfin. The only posts ive seen on social media by ppl with Barclays accounts have been about the Barclays credit card rather than current accounts. So i presume its mis information in the media reports

Beachcomber
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 11081
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:11 pm
Location: Guadalhorce Valley

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby Beachcomber » Wed Sep 23, 2020 6:59 am

The Guardian article also mentions the closure of Barclaycard accounts.

I wonder if these banks will also close the accounts of all the non-resident Russian oligachs and other wealthy non-doms with millions of pounds worth of laundered money in them?

Lavanda
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 6191
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:42 pm
Location: Cáceres Province, Extremadura

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby Lavanda » Wed Sep 23, 2020 8:01 am

I only knew about the BarclayCard credit card as they sent me an e-mail, followed up with an actual letter. Then reports of current accounts being closed appeared in the press. Two separate things but linked to the same idea: some banks will not be offering services to U.K. nationals resident in EU countries post- Brexit.

Beachcomber
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 11081
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:11 pm
Location: Guadalhorce Valley

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby Beachcomber » Thu Sep 24, 2020 6:36 am

This seems also to be affecting the transfer of funds by British non-resident property owners in to their bank accounts in Spain.

A number of my acquaintances have already experienced problems and have set up a system of regular transfers via Currencies Direct in order to avoid any interaction between their UK and Spanish banks

I am hoping to escape the attention of my UK bank. The accounts I have with UK Barclays have always had my UK address and I have never transferred funds one way or the other except when I bought my first property here in the early 1980s.

User avatar
Trooperman
Resident
Posts: 1074
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:40 pm
Location: Fuente de Piedra

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby Trooperman » Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:32 am

Not strictly to do with bank accounts, but Barclays did withdraw "support" for the share trading account I had with them last December. I could still hold the shares with Barclays, but they would no longer accept any instructions to buy/sell/or whatever. Mind you, the amount of paper generated by holding shares must've cost them a fortune to post here to Spain. Not heard from them about current accounts and, at the last look, nothing to read on their web pages.
nil illegitimum carborundum

Lavanda
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 6191
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:42 pm
Location: Cáceres Province, Extremadura

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby Lavanda » Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:35 am

I get updates from gov.uk in my inbox as and when they have something to say. This is from this morning:

Update on GOV.UK.

Living in Europe

Page summary
Information for UK nationals living in the EU, EEA EFTA, Switzerland and Ireland, including guidance on residency, healthcare and the Withdrawal Agreement.

Change made
New information on using UK banks if you live in an EEA country

Time updated
6:12pm, 23 September 2020

You’re getting this email because you subscribed to immediate updates to ‘Living in Spain’ on GOV.UK.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-e ... =immediate

This is the relevant paragraph:

Banking and financial services
Most people living in Europe should not see any change to their banking when the transition period ends (31 December 2020). Whether UK banks can service customers living in an EEA country is a matter of local law and regulation. Also banks are set up differently, and may have taken different actions to continue to serve their customers.

Your bank or finance provider should contact you if they need to make any changes to your product or the way they provide it. If you have any concerns about whether you might be affected, contact your provider or seek independent financial advice.

elusive
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 3275
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:49 am
Location: East of Malaga

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby elusive » Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:46 am

Thanks for posting. So just reporting what the media have. No real info.at least they are aware of it!

katy
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 13752
Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2004 3:45 pm

Re: First actual problem re:Brexit

Postby katy » Thu Sep 24, 2020 11:16 am

So, it seems to be mainly credit cards. I did do a search and as early as 2014 expat residents were then complaining they could not open or change UK bank accounts. When we first moved to Spain NatWest was on the coast. A very busy bank in Banus and Estepona, they had other branches too. Think it was the late 90s when they pulled out of Spain and dumped us with Solbank. Suppose they all have different strategies.

Still puzzled why NatWest are changing their Visa credit cards to MasterCard, although remaining with Visa debit cards. I don’t like the name MasterCard.


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests