Barclays are Closing our U.K. Accounts

Can anyone give us any advice on this one? We had an official letter from Barclays (it’s genuine and not a scam) telling us that they will be closing our U.K. based current in November because we live abroad and have no official U.K. address.

We have three private pensions between us and I think that we should be able to get them paid into our Spanish bank account. The problem is that we have some direct debits that can only be paid from a U.K. bank account and we haven’t got a clue how we can get round this. One of them is a life insurance policy that has been running for years. We also have an NS&I savings account that also requires a U.K. current account to pay money from and to. Without such an account our U.K. based savings account will also have to close.

We also send the grandkids the odd tenner now and then and again, we need a U.K. account that operates in £s and not €s to do this.

Has anyone else got any ideas as to how we can legally get around these issues? Are there any U.K. banks that allow accounts for people living in the EU?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Sam

Can you not give a change of address to the bank and use your son or daughter’s address?

I use my dads address in the UK.

I have no problem with HSBC and they send my statements to Spain, hope that doesn't change.

You could use a 'British Pound' account with Wise

I had the same letter from Barclays just before Brexit. They later back tracked, as there is a reciprocal agreement in place with Ireland where I live.
However, prior to that, I, as a previous poster stated, managed to open an a/c with HSBC as, I believe, they hold a licence to operate in the EU.
Not sure about NS&I, but some financial co's would not accept a Wise a/c, as they are not a bank. They would accept a UK Building Society account though.

Good luck!
Gordon

We have First Direct and HSBC accounts both with our Spanish address. No problems at all.

Yes we had same letter. Joined HSBC who have a "switch team' in place to ensure all moneys paid into old account and any Direct debits, are notified/carried over to new HSBC account upon closure of old a/c.

Change the address to someone you know in UK. A family member of friend.

I had the same, opened a Wise account, pension now paid there and direct debits no problem. Every time there is a transaction they e-mail you and let you know. Left 10p in Barclays just to annoy them.