Ring-Fencing of UK Banks
Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 2:19 pm
Any of you having fun trying to prove where you live - or don't live, if you see what I mean?
There's something happening to the UK banking system called Ring Fencing. Basically the banks are no longer allowed by the Government to operate on-shore and off-shore at the same time. Isle-of-Man, Jersey, etc. They have to be broken into two parts. UK and International, and you can't bank with both of them at the same time. All of this has to be sorted out by 1 Jan 2019.
So, basically, if you don't "live" in the UK (strictly speaking) you're no longer entitled to UK On-Shore banking or UK-based Credit Cards.
We're a couple from Manchester who've been working in the Middle East for the past thirty-odd years and we're now planning to buy in Spain this year - ready for a well-earned retirement. We've banked with the off-shore arm of a high-street British bank since the mid-eighties. Last year, out of the blue, they decided that we were now UK Resident because we've got a house there. A house which they've known about since 1987. It took a year and probably cost me 150-quid in courier costs and international phone calls to get it sorted.
When they were finally happy that we actually did still reside in the Middle East we thought it was over. But no. The next thing we received were emails from their famous Visa-based credit card arm telling us that our cards had been cancelled, with the explanation that "since you live in a foreign country or overseas territory we are no longer able to service your accounts".
I've spoken to both the bank and the credit card people and they assure me that its the Government who are making them do it to prevent another banking collapse like 2007 - to protect the man in the street in the UK.
And I've just received an email from that same bank telling me that they've sent me a new Debit Card for the same reasons. Heaven knows where they've sent it to because they won't deal with my UK address anymore and I certainly won't receive it here in the Middle East - there's no postal system.
At the same time we've also got the TIN (Tax Identification Number) system being applied world-wide which can "muddy" the waters a bit.
So we'll be arriving in Quesada in just under three weeks with the possibility that none of our cards will be working. Anybody lend us a tenner?
BB
There's something happening to the UK banking system called Ring Fencing. Basically the banks are no longer allowed by the Government to operate on-shore and off-shore at the same time. Isle-of-Man, Jersey, etc. They have to be broken into two parts. UK and International, and you can't bank with both of them at the same time. All of this has to be sorted out by 1 Jan 2019.
So, basically, if you don't "live" in the UK (strictly speaking) you're no longer entitled to UK On-Shore banking or UK-based Credit Cards.
We're a couple from Manchester who've been working in the Middle East for the past thirty-odd years and we're now planning to buy in Spain this year - ready for a well-earned retirement. We've banked with the off-shore arm of a high-street British bank since the mid-eighties. Last year, out of the blue, they decided that we were now UK Resident because we've got a house there. A house which they've known about since 1987. It took a year and probably cost me 150-quid in courier costs and international phone calls to get it sorted.
When they were finally happy that we actually did still reside in the Middle East we thought it was over. But no. The next thing we received were emails from their famous Visa-based credit card arm telling us that our cards had been cancelled, with the explanation that "since you live in a foreign country or overseas territory we are no longer able to service your accounts".
I've spoken to both the bank and the credit card people and they assure me that its the Government who are making them do it to prevent another banking collapse like 2007 - to protect the man in the street in the UK.
And I've just received an email from that same bank telling me that they've sent me a new Debit Card for the same reasons. Heaven knows where they've sent it to because they won't deal with my UK address anymore and I certainly won't receive it here in the Middle East - there's no postal system.
At the same time we've also got the TIN (Tax Identification Number) system being applied world-wide which can "muddy" the waters a bit.
So we'll be arriving in Quesada in just under three weeks with the possibility that none of our cards will be working. Anybody lend us a tenner?
BB