Banks - keeping UK bank account

[Jaylen Brit 0]

wow you guys are great Thats lots of useful info - thank y'all SO much.

Hopefully natWest can sort me out an international account but if not Im gonna try one the others mentioned if I can!

Edited May 28, 2006 by Jaylen Brit

[Linababe 0]

wow you guys are great Thats lots of useful info - thank y'all SO much.

Hopefully natWest can sort me out an international account but if not Im gonna try one the others mentioned if I can!

I have a natwest account - chequeing account - I was told by them that I can still keep it and just change the address to the US one and they can send me my statments there - now im not too sure about this - I have to go in and have a long conversation with them - but I have it set on online banking anyways so I could use that. I have a credit card with Capital one - they say I can also pay them online (which I do as a transfer from Natwest to capital one) and I can still use the card in USA. Im not sure about the actual statements. I was gonna use one of my sisters address but we had a big arguement a few weeks back so we dont seem to be talking at the moment Oh well I guess I will have to do the making up with her lol

[Jaylen Brit 0]

If I speak to them before you do I will post it here - but I was looking at theri website and they do a special online international account - which may or may not suit me.

Halifax said their better savings account was not accessible from IPs outside the UK for online banking only for telephone banking (seems a bit stupid and short-sighted of them to ME, but there ya go, lol) but I'm gonna go speak to THEM as well - and use my mom's addy if it improves matters as far as what I need from them. By the time I am ready to leave the account should be rather full so maybe THAT will change their minds, lol

[Toledospod 0]

Here's my two cents on this one. Don't use Halifax at all They suck. I had three accounts with them and had problems dealing with customer service a few times, plus I don't think you can keep a UK account open with them when you move to the US. I've closed all but one of the accounts with them(as I need it to pay my mortgage every month).

I have a LloydsTSB checking account which I have had for many many years(since I was a student at uni)and I went into my local branch the other day to ask them if I could change my address to a US one and keep my account open. They said no problem and gave me a form which I have to fill-in to have my address changed. I use online banking with them all the time and I opted for paper-free banking too, so I never get any paper statements.

Also, I opened up an account with Citibank in London to help me transfer the money I will get from the sale of my apartment here. It was very easy to do and 'cos they are in the US as well, its very easy to transfer money to a US branch of Citibank. I opened up 3 accounts with them, one was a UK online only savings account with reasonable interest rate, one was a UK only instant access savings account with an ATM card, just in case I ever needed access to the money here in the UK through an ATM(they only have 2 branches in London and they're not that easy to get to)and the third one was a US Dollar savings account. This was the most important one for me, as it allows me to keep the money I have here in the UK and transfer it between UK pounds and US dollars with no fees attached at a good exchange rate and it is instantaneous. I transferred about £4000 the other week when the Dollar was at $1.86 to the pound or something and got approximately $7,300 straight away in my US Dollar savings account! I spoke the customer services for Citibank US the phone and they told me that as soon as I get my SS card, I can call them back and they can open up a US account for me and I can transfer the US dollars I have here in the UK to a US account very quickly, with no fees attached and it will be in the US for me to do with as I please . The only slight snag with all this was I had to deposit at least £2000 to open an account with Citibank. When I finally make the moeto the US, I will open up an account with bank more local for me(Citibank don't have any branches near Toledo, OH at all)and wire transfer the money to the new bank account(with a small transfer fee).

Oh and one last thing, my wife has a Natwest savings and checking account and they told her it wouldn't be a problem at all to change her address to US one.

[SteveLaura 0]

I have a Natwest current account & credit card, both of which I can access here in the US online. I wrote to them before I left with my new US address and still receive postal statements from both accounts every month. I pay off the credit card from the current account online. No hassles.