Banking after Brexit
After yesterday’s bonkers ramble I thought I’d just put up a few images, but then I heard from my bank… I’ll drop some photos in to lessen the tedium.
I don’t know if you’ve been following the news, but one of the many gifts of Brexit without a trade deal is that some people are going to lose their bank accounts and banking services in the UK. These are people whose British bank accounts are held with a European address. In some cases, banks have said they will cease the accounts on a specific date and send the customer a cheque for whatever balance they have in there, and that’s that. Any income after that will be returned to sender. I assume overdrafts will be referred to a debt collection agency, I’m not sure.
Obviously, this has sent some waves of panic through those who have pensions paid into UK bank accounts, who have homes there and need to pay council tax on them, and so on, and others who, for whatever reason, still hold a British account though pay tax in their European country and live there permanently. It’s all been running smoothly for all these years, but now with the yUK Gov blathering about breaking law and treaties they recently signed, it looks increasingly likely there will be no trade deal (perhaps, who can say?), and so things for the millions of Brits abroad will become problematic. One of the problems is the negotiation of bank licenses which now have to be renegotiated between UK banks and EU countries due to the B word, and that’s what’s caused this issue to come up. I’m one such European who has the misfortune to be caught up in the Farage-Cummings-Cameron-et al disgrace that is Brexit as I have a 40-year old account with Barclays held since 2004 under my Greek address, as I mentioned yesterday. But…
Having read all kinds of hearsay on Facebook, and a couple of reports in reputable newspapers, I wrote to my bank via their online banking and received a reply a few hours later. Barclays has told me that my current account will be unaffected, but Barclaycard services will be stopped. I have asked them about Visa debit cards, as that wasn’t mentioned, but as I don’t have a Barclaycard, I can stand down as it looks like my account will just carry on as usual. Hopefully, the debit card will also be okay, as that’s what I use when I am travelling, not that I’m planning to do any of that for a long while, but it’s useful to have on hand so I can dip into my savings in emergencies. So, that’s what I discovered on this subject, and I thought a first-hand experience might be of interest to anyone else in my position. It would appear from the news reports the general outlook depends on what bank you are with, what country you live in, and what services you have, but the sensible advice is to ask your bank directly and not listen to hearsay. I hope that’s of use.
