That has nothing to do with pensions.
No sympathy for all the families that have been torn apart by Brexit etc. etc.
It was a tangential point, I agree but I’m not clear why you are resisting the idea that the UK state pension is woeful - after all, you are in receipt of one so you must be fully aware of how ungenerous it is.
Prior to the recent 10% uplift a couple both receiving full new state pension alone would not have met the income requirements to move to Spain on a non-lucrative visa, and barely met the current requirements for France. Even after the 10% uplift Spain might be questionable.
If the old state pension is your only source of income (you have said it isn’t, in your case, but I presume you are on the old pension) there’s no chance of deciding to move to the EU.
Anyway it’s tangential to the bank account thing so we can park that part of the discussion.
Yes, I completely agree that, if you have made the necessary contributions where you live, including overseas should have no bearing on your pension, including index linkage (but to UK inflation).
Where we differ is that I completely disagree that means you have the right to a UK bank account in which to have your pension monies paid. At least as long as DWP will pay it into a foreign account. You are not being denied your pension if you don’t have a UK account and, frankly, no one has the unalienable right for the state to optimise their financial affairs for them - that’s down to you I’m afraid.
This was a commercial decision by the banks and, as such, nothing to do with government. Unfortunately this was a side effect of Brexit - faced with significantly increased costs in running largely non profitable accounts when the UK pulled out of the EU banking sphere they simply decided to close the accounts.
In this case I agree that it has caused people considerable inconvenience - if you are looking for a culprit who is responsible for many UK emigrants not being able to optimise their finances I’d shoot at the banks TBH, not the government. I can also see that it must be a source of worry for you if you don’t know how long your present account will last.
I’m sure it is not necessary to break the law 
- I know that HSBC, Halifax, Barclays, & Lloyds do accounts for non-residents but it seems they don’t want to make the terms and conditions easy to find, there are also the newer banks which offer multi-currency banking such as Wise, Revolut, Monzo and a couple of others.
Maybe not compared wit the UK (though I think we’re catching up) but there are plenty of threads on SF regarding the cost of living as well as numerous comments from those SFers who live close to the Spanish border and tend to shop there as it is much cheaper.
Sorry, the government has the obligation to pay you a pension, that’s where it ends. We voted “democratically” <cough><splutter> for Brexit and it has shafted an enormous number of people but don’t look to the Tories for sympathy (or Labour for that matter).
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David, I can see that you have much more important things to worry about than arguing about UK banking with some twat on the Internet - whatever points of disagreement we might have on that subject my thoughts are with you.
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with the exception of ROI. they can and do due to the agreement between the two govts.
The English “we” is interesting. I think We is being used here instead of ‘you’, as in encouraging or admonishing a child.
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You might very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment…
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Update: it seems as if it was idle gossip by Dame Alison Rose
The boss of NatWest has admitted a “serious error” in talking about Nigel Farage’s relationship with its private banking arm Coutts.
Dame Alison Rose said she was “wrong” to respond to questions from the BBC about Mr Farage’s account being closed.
The ex-UKIP leader had demanded NatWest explain how his financial information was made public as the row over his bank account closure escalated.
NatWest said it still had full confidence in Dame Alison at the helm.
Dame Alison’s apology comes after the BBC apologised on Monday for its inaccurate report earlier this month which said Mr Farage no longer met the wealth threshold for Coutts, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Mr Farage later secured a Coutts report which indicated his political views were considered.
Dame Alison said in conversations with BBC business editor Simon Jack “believing it was public knowledge” she had confirmed that Mr Farage was a Coutts customer and he had been offered a NatWest bank account.
The NatWest boss said she did not reveal any personal financial information about Mr Farage.
"In response to a general question about eligibility criteria required to bank with Coutts and NatWest I said that guidance on both was publicly available on their websites.
“In doing so, I recognise that I left Mr Jack with the impression that the decision to close Mr Farage’s accounts was solely a commercial one,” she added.
- The bank boss caught up in the Nigel Farage row
- BBC says sorry to Farage over account closure story
- Farage gets apology from banking boss in Coutts row
When Coutts decided to close Mr Farage’s account, he said it did not give him a reason.
Mr Farage subsequently obtained a document looking at his suitability as a Coutts customer.
The 40-page document flagged concerns that he was “xenophobic and racist”, and also questioned the reputational risk of having Mr Farage as a client.
It said that to have Mr Farage as a customer was not consistent with Coutts’ “position as an inclusive organisation” given his “publicly stated views”.
Dame Alison said she had not been involved in the decision to close Mr Farage’s account, but Coutts had told her it was for commercial reasons.
She said when she spoke to Mr Jack, she had not seen the dossier obtained by Mr Farage.
‘Regrettable error’
“I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case. I want to extend my sincere apologies to Mr Farage for the personal hurt this has caused him and I have written to him today,” she added.
NatWest chairman Howard Davies said Dame Alison “should not have spoken in the way she did” and said it was a “a regrettable error of judgement on her part.”
He said the events would be considered when it made “decisions on remuneration at the appropriate time” but said she was an “outstanding leader” and it was in the “interest of all the bank’s shareholders and customers that she continues in post”.
What the hell is all the fuss about. If Joe Bloggs of 10 Back St had been refused a bank account would there be so much commotion. I couldn’t care less what happens to that creep Farage
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Slippery slope, if this the bank’s standard policy then sooner or later Joe Bloggs will be affected plus once your account is closed other banks won’t touch you as Farage found out.
The NatWest boss has now resigned and quite right too.
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Talk about storms and teacups!
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, “as Farage claims”
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She resigned because of a conversation she had with a journalist about his account, not because of his account being cancelled.
Has his account been reinstated by Coutts?
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Tbh given how things seem to be in the UK at the moment with everyone immediately rolling over anytime the right says boo, I wouldn’t be at all surprised given NatWest is still partly publicly owned I think and that fool Sunak who seems to be trying to make Farage seem like a moderate put his oar in entirely unnecessarily, if they did give him his account back purely to appeal to the swivel-eyes who run the UK currently.
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Some good that may come of this, Farage and his personal interests not being of he slightest concern, is that banks are now being looked at much more critically for their arbitrary treatment of customers as inconveniences.
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the government’s stake in NatWest, which peaked at 84% in 2009, down to 48.1%
March 2022
Coutts became part of the NatWest group in 2000. It’s a private bank and requires clients to have savings of £3 million or to borrow or invest at least £1 million.
I expect that apart from his unsavoury personality, Farage may not have continued to meet Coutts financial requisites. Surely, if it were only his personality and politics they would have ‘de-banked’ him entirely, rather than suggesting he transfer his account to NatWest?
The good thing of all this that may now happen is the government will rule that all UK banks cannot autonomously ‘de-bank’ customers without valid and declared reason.
It doesnt matter if she did or did not talk about financial matters, fact is she is the or was the CEO of a major banking group meeting with a British Bias Corp journalist in a pit stop somewhere. That in itself should ring bells. With her resignation and her admission that she disclosed some information opens the door to possibly some serious litigation against herself and the bank. This will also cause a number of high profile people to think about other possible leaks from the bank and move their assets elsewhere.
An interesting thing that came up on Radio 4 this morning was the suggestion that a basic bank account should be available to anyone, even if they live in the EU. Could be useful for those who’ve had their pre-existing UK accounts closed after giving up UK residency.
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Although he had a reasonable right to expect confidentiality Farage really should crawl back under his stone given the damage he’s done to the country.
One wonders what other headlines need to be buried, given that this fuss is ongoing.
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