Full Timing and finances

[bob690]

Hi all, I,m posting this thread after unforseen problems changing Banks.
Ive been full timing off and on for four years now, I,d been with the Halifax bank for over twenty years, but they made several cockups over the last two years which resulted in me closing my current and savings account in October last year. I thought I,d be able to take my pick of accounts as I had never gone overdrawn without permission, had several credit cards for years and payed on time religiously, and even payed loans back before they were due. Boy was I in for a shock. Because I had not been on an electoral role for four years, nobody would give me an account. I got my credit file and discovered the first bank I applied to, put a danger marker on my file because I was truthful and told them I travelled wherever I wanted, Europe included. Even though I have never done anything wrong, the plank I was interviewed by decided I was either a drugs dealer or a money launderer.
My postal address is my daughters, who lives on her own with her young son, if she had put me on her address she would not be able to claim the 25% council tax rebate, and I could be called for jury duty(which Ive done once for six weeks). It has taken five months to get things sorted out. So be warned, big brother wants you to conform. For me at my age now, it was an incovenience, but to younger members it could affect your ability to get a mortgage/loan whatever. I cant give you the answer because we all have different agendas, but TAKE IT INTO ACCOUNT!

 

[Deleted member 207]

Two years ago I walked into a Barclays Bank and opened a chequing account within 15 minutes - got a Barclaycard/Visa, cheque book, etc. in the mail. I'm not a UK resident any longer, although my family still live there and I used their address. I asked the clerk about acceptable ID and he was not interested, he told me it used to be hard to open an account but he was paid a bonus on each new account so he was not about to reduce his earnings. Maybe thats why the banks are in such crisis now

 

[Hazy-thoughts]

The UK is getting worse everyday, Big brother is getting beyond even Orwells wildest dreams. I posted a week or two back about the new E - border regulations and controls. It is absolutely ridiculous that a non uk european citizen can come in and out of this country with a driving license or id card, and we are subject to such discrimination.

Rant over.......

 

[Belgian]

The UK is getting worse everyday, Big brother is getting beyond even Orwells wildest dreams. I posted a week or two back about the new E - border regulations and controls. It is absolutely ridiculous that a non uk european citizen can come in and out of this country with a driving license or id card, and we are subject to such discrimination.

Rant over.......

'A bear wen tover the mountain to see what he could see, and all that he could see was the other side of the mountain'
Same, idem dito, on this side; if that comforts you

 

[Coolasluck]

Hi all, I,m posting this thread after unforseen problems changing Banks.
Ive been full timing off and on for four years now, I,d been with the Halifax bank for over twenty years, but they made several cockups over the last two years which resulted in me closing my current and savings account in October last year. I thought I,d be able to take my pick of accounts as I had never gone overdrawn without permission, had several credit cards for years and payed on time religiously, and even payed loans back before they were due. Boy was I in for a shock. Because I had not been on an electoral role for four years, nobody would give me an account. I got my credit file and discovered the first bank I applied to, put a danger marker on my file because I was truthful and told them I travelled wherever I wanted, Europe included. Even though I have never done anything wrong, the plank I was interviewed by decided I was either a drugs dealer or a money launderer.
My postal address is my daughters, who lives on her own with her young son, if she had put me on her address she would not be able to claim the 25% council tax rebate, and I could be called for jury duty(which Ive done once for six weeks). It has taken five months to get things sorted out. So be warned, big brother wants you to conform. For me at my age now, it was an incovenience, but to younger members it could affect your ability to get a mortgage/loan whatever. I cant give you the answer because we all have different agendas, but TAKE IT INTO ACCOUNT!

Sorry to hear of your problems,my wife and myself are currently changing from the halifax to the abbey as we have also found the halifax to be a load of crap.We are hoping that being with the abbey or santander will give us some sort of advantage when we full time and spend winter in the south of spain.As we dont have kids and will be selling our house to help fund full timing,we fully realise that we will not be getting mortgages and loans e.t.c becouse of the the electoral role problem.Once we full time as far as we are concerned thats it Gordan can stick it up his backside.And hopefully we can gain some degree of freedom and come and go from the dustbin of europe when we please,such a great shame really as their really is no place like England on a hot summers day.What a state politics has left this country in.
Incidently we should all take a leaf out of the Pakistani contingent we have in this country and use cash only.They seem to have us all worked out.
I wont get to political though!!!
As an afterthought what other problems would we be liable to get?

 

[watchthis]

Hi all, I,m posting this thread after unforseen problems changing Banks.
Ive been full timing off and on for four years now, I,d been with the Halifax bank for over twenty years, but they made several cockups over the last two years which resulted in me closing my current and savings account in October last year. I thought I,d be able to take my pick of accounts as I had never gone overdrawn without permission, had several credit cards for years and payed on time religiously, and even payed loans back before they were due. Boy was I in for a shock. Because I had not been on an electoral role for four years, nobody would give me an account. I got my credit file and discovered the first bank I applied to, put a danger marker on my file because I was truthful and told them I travelled wherever I wanted, Europe included. Even though I have never done anything wrong, the plank I was interviewed by decided I was either a drugs dealer or a money launderer.
My postal address is my daughters, who lives on her own with her young son, if she had put me on her address she would not be able to claim the 25% council tax rebate, and I could be called for jury duty(which Ive done once for six weeks). It has taken five months to get things sorted out. So be warned, big brother wants you to conform. For me at my age now, it was an incovenience, but to younger members it could affect your ability to get a mortgage/loan whatever. I cant give you the answer because we all have different agendas, but TAKE IT INTO ACCOUNT!

Hi Bob 690
just to put in my two-penneth
When I got divorced many years ago I was having problem with my bank accounts and my address--I got over this by going to my bank and they suggested that I use my mothers address but only as a (care of) This satisfied the bank as my Mum banked with the same bank but also satisfied the council regarding as it was then the dreaded poll tax!!!. After this all my account details always read my name and then (care of) then the address
it worked for me for many years but I still got (skinned) with the divorce but thats life!!!
bye for now
Freddie

 

[Polly]

Hia
When my hubby died i was in and out of the bank sorting out our affairs and each time they kept offering me loans and i kept saying yes i will have your money but i cannot pay you back or what can i pay you back with
They soon got the message

They don't seem to invite me into their little office anymore

 

[ajs]

'A bear wen tover the mountain to see what he could see, and all that he could see was the other side of the mountain'
Same, idem dito, on this side; if that comforts you

you a mate of eric cantonar beljin



regards
aj

 

[Channa]

Hi all, I,m posting this thread after unforseen problems changing Banks.
Ive been full timing off and on for four years now, I,d been with the Halifax bank for over twenty years, but they made several cockups over the last two years which resulted in me closing my current and savings account in October last year. I thought I,d be able to take my pick of accounts as I had never gone overdrawn without permission, had several credit cards for years and payed on time religiously, and even payed loans back before they were due. Boy was I in for a shock. Because I had not been on an electoral role for four years, nobody would give me an account. I got my credit file and discovered the first bank I applied to, put a danger marker on my file because I was truthful and told them I travelled wherever I wanted, Europe included. Even though I have never done anything wrong, the plank I was interviewed by decided I was either a drugs dealer or a money launderer.
My postal address is my daughters, who lives on her own with her young son, if she had put me on her address she would not be able to claim the 25% council tax rebate, and I could be called for jury duty(which Ive done once for six weeks). It has taken five months to get things sorted out. So be warned, big brother wants you to conform. For me at my age now, it was an incovenience, but to younger members it could affect your ability to get a mortgage/loan whatever. I cant give you the answer because we all have different agendas, but TAKE IT INTO ACCOUNT!

I truly understand your frustration, But it is matter of understanding how underwriters work.

The fact you have not missed a penny in payments on previous mortages loans albeit commendable doesnt mean a jot. Whilst it displays history lenders consider your ability to repay in the future and consider circumstances which you may use to prevent payment

If you are not on the electoral register, you are not easily traceable. Therefore there could be more effort in tracing you if you were to default

If a bank were to offer a creidt card has an example with a couple of thousand quid outstanding, it is expensive for them to trace and recall the debt when the cardholder is outside the Uk ...( or potentially ) ...Uk law has no clout once the other side of the drink.

You may well have 100 percent integrity, but your profile ...and that is the thing to remember fits with those not so inclined act with integrity.
tarred with a brush springs to mind.

Banks have set parameters ..if as a result your chosen lifestyle falls outside those parameters they take flight.

Banks and their scoring systems cater for the mainstream ,,,they dont have any inclination or just reason to consider those who dont fit the mainstream

Their attitude is pretty much we have enough potential customers that 'fit ' without having to consider those that dont ' fit'

It doesnt help your predicament ,but perhaps understanding how banks work may help in the future

Channa

 

[walkers]

Sorry to hear of your problems,my wife and myself are currently changing from the halifax to the abbey as we have also found the halifax to be a load of crap.We are hoping that being with the abbey or santander will give us some sort of advantage when we full time and spend winter in the south of spain.As we dont have kids and will be selling our house to help fund full timing,we fully realise that we will not be getting mortgages and loans e.t.c becouse of the the electoral role problem.Once we full time as far as we are concerned thats it Gordan can stick it up his backside.And hopefully we can gain some degree of freedom and come and go from the dustbin of europe when we please,such a great shame really as their really is no place like England on a hot summers day.What a state politics has left this country in.
Incidently we should all take a leaf out of the Pakistani contingent we have in this country and use cash only.They seem to have us all worked out.
I wont get to political though!!!
As an afterthought what other problems would we be liable to get?

Just to put my 2 penny's in , being with the same named bank won't necessarily make things any easier. I am with Barclays UK and ES but as is normal as they are based in 2 different countries they are 2 different banks though they do allow free money transfers from your uk account to your spanish account but not the other way round (incidentally there is Halifax in Spain too). I also have an account with Nationwide(uk) they don't charge for foreign transactions and usually give a good exchange rate (based on the current rate).
As for other problems if you are refering to your time in spain, do not if you can avoid it go on any official registers (padron, nie, residencia etc) unless you are really planning on staying. If you register everything you do they want money out of you you may think the uk goverment is corrupt, if you do and you come here and decide to live here you will be in for a surprise, register your car/motorhome you will be taxed they hide it as something else but it is really a tax, sell a house tax and they dip into your savings and tax you on that(wealth tax) so don't let anyone talk you into 'becoming resident' unless you really are intending to stay forever, being a resident will give them a licence to dip into your pocket.

As for the original post, would it not have been to your advantage to 'help' your daughter with the loss in council tax discount as the benifits to you are obvious(a lot easier life with financial institutions and insurance)?

 

[petercheason]

I can concur with the Spanish problem and registering but if you need to buy anything major from a washing machine or even a camera in some stores you need a padron number . I lived in Spain for about 4 years and always kept the Nationwide current account that I had in the UK and had no problems .

However I I tried to I nvest some money in the Uk high interest accounts and ALL the major banks refused me because I was living abroad and I was forced to go offshore , then that Bank collapsed and I was not covered under the FSA in the UK even though it was in the IOM ! So be warned it is a minefield ! will keep my money under the mattress in future

 

[bob690]

Thank you once again channa, I also have lived on this planet too. I do understand how banks, traceability etc works. My original post was to make people who were thinking of full timing, aware, of how they may be treated by financial institutions, with regard to the electoral role and the implications thereof. Without being condescending!
I have no interest in being on the electoral role in case I am once again picked for jury duty, I lost a lot of money attending Preston crown court for six damm weeks, and I aint doing that again...!

 

[Channa]

Thank you once again channa, I also have lived on this planet too. I do understand how banks, traceability etc works. My original post was to make people who were thinking of full timing, aware, of how they may be treated by financial institutions, with regard to the electoral role and the implications thereof. Without being condescending!
I have no interest in being on the electoral role in case I am once again picked for jury duty, I lost a lot of money attending Preston crown court for six damm weeks, and I aint doing that again...!

I apologise if you felt my post was condescending ..I assure you that was not my intention. And having re read it I can understand why you perceive it that way. I made the 'mistake' of constructing an answer that commented on the circumstances you experienced.( and the written word is one dimensional in terms of interpretation)

I would hope that you agree that if my context were changed to that of advice to a third party I am agreeing with what you are saying and my comments are an expansion and explanation.

Channa

 

[guerdeval]

We sold our French house and are presently looking around for UK house, both Nationwide and HSBC (and Morgan Stanley credit card) used to be OK about living abroad and having a UK address and they're all still OK about us NOT having a permanent UK address as long as we use " CARE OF" at our friends address. Its the "care of" that was important apparently.