UK bank accounts when overseas

[thelittlestkiwi]

Our bank wrote to us a few months ago to tell us we have to close our accounts. We still have a mortgage with the same bank on a property we rent out so need an account to manage that.

We have an account with another bank we can shift everything to but we're worried they will do the same. And that our mortgage might also be withdrawn.

Has anyone managed to open an account from overseas without 100k to keep in it?

We have Nationwide accounts that are still open, been out of the UK for 20+ years now. But they won't let us open any new ones.

Apparently (having spoken with various banks / financial services about this) it's down to individual attitudes towards risk within the banks. And it's not even a blanket decision - some banks may close accounts in some countries, but keep others open. It depends on their attitude to possible money laundering and how 'safe' or otherwise they perceive different countries to be.

There are very few UK based institutions that will let you open a new account as a non-resident, even if they let you keep existing accounts open. HSBC is one of the only ones, as mentioned here.

We have HSBC UK, UAE and Expat. Currently living in UAE.

Should have added, we have considerable savings and no debts. We own property in another country and rental income from there goes into our UK account. Salaries go into our UAE account.

I have accounts with RBS but they're not great. I set up a wise account a few years ago as we live in France and to be honest it's been brilliant. Interest paying current account and accounts in any currency.