# Opening a bank account when on holiday



## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

I've recently opened a first direct account, mainly for the 5% regular saver you can have with it.

However, speaking with an agent this morning I happened to mention I was in Spain n he said I couldn't open the regular saver till I was back in the UK. Really? 

He was very sure. Surely if my address is in UK that should be fine?


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

jiwawa said:


> I've recently opened a first direct account, mainly for the 5% regular saver you can have with it.
> 
> However, speaking with an agent this morning I happened to mention I was in Spain n he said I couldn't open the regular saver till I was back in the UK. Really?
> 
> He was very sure. Surely if my address is in UK that should be fine?


Sounds as though maybe he does not believe you are not ex-pat Jean.

Geoff


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

So if I'm not ex-pat, I should be able to do it? That was my thinking.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Had a similar answer when trying to do several things from beyond the UK. Seems daft. I make a point of never telling anybody remotely official where I am now and would use a UK based VPN for that kind of stuff online in future. 

Most annoying was a problem selling investments via ebanking, or any other way, through the bank we've been with for donkeys years and where we each have relationship managers (whatever that means). To add to the irony it's Danske Bank. They refused the transaction and asked us to ring them, which we did to find out that their software had recognised that our location was Spain and they wouldn't do it unless we were in the UK. Cobblers. Got it done in the end by posting paper, sent in the first instance to our home address, and then forwarded by a friend. A palaver though.

Similar carry on with renewing my driving licence. Mrs Eb took the renewal form and photos home with her and left them with a friend to post as early as the renewal rules allow. Same friend checks our post once a week and lets us know if anything important comes. After six or eight weeks I realised there'd been no news of my licence. I rang the DVLA who told me hadn't received my application. But good news I could do it online. Great I said, let's do it. Do you have your credit card handy they wanted to know. Oh yes. Paid by credit card and the was asked for my email address. Odd I thought. Yes it was odd. All I had to do now was click on the link they'd emailed me, print the form, fill it in and post it to them FFS. OK. Three phone calls to the DVLA ensued over the next few weeks and each time they said they hadn't received my application. Meanwhile my new licence arrived at my home address apparently as a result of the first application. They never cashed the cheque that was posted with it though. Still I'd paid then while on the phone so they had managed to connected my posted application to that payment. What a carry on. I'm considering getting a Spanish licence instead.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes Alan, it does not pay to open the 'abroad' can of worms. We have had several savings accounts trying to get a small percent extra and all said you must be a UK resident. 
Now with Charter Savings at a measly 1.25%. But easily set up online and only needed the access code sent to my son.

Ray.


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

But I AM a UK resident Ray, only temporarily away from home. Albeit a longish temporary (3 months).


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

As Geoff says Jean, he was assuming.

Ray.


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Ex pats returning, if my niece is anything to go by, have all sorts of hoops to jump through. She went to stay with my brother in America while studying. On her return, to live with her parents again, she could not open any bank accounts or be involved in any other official matters. She had learned to drive in the States so had to start all over again here. It coloured her opinion of the UK for quite a while.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes Pat, two friends who lived here for about 14 years and then returned to UK had great difficulty in setting up any financial accounts even though they still had a rental and cash in the bank. Even transferring the proceeds of their French house ended up a nightmare.

Ray.


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

hi ray and all

i have just been through getting a santander toto Portuguese account (ray at the branch in armacao de pera) i did this so that i can control my friends care home payments

no problems at all but takes a little longer as they now do extra checks on us johnny foreigner's

but know things back in the uk are really tight now as the banks dont trust anyone 

barry


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