UK bank account(s) closure

[niemeyjt]

Any thoughts on Wise - good / bad / indifferent.

My UK Banks has increased its charges to receive money from abroad so on paper Wise looks like a solution.

[elsie]

There have been comments elsewhere of Wise transfers delays of up to 36 hours earlier this year. I've not seen any recent updates or whether large sums were involved.

I use Revolut routinely to transfer up to 1000€ to a French Bank and the transfers have been "instantaneous".

If you are doing a CHF transfer to £ you can do that within Revolut as you can have accounts in multiple currencies (I have £,$,€). The exchange rates follow the market so change every "tick" (which usually means you don't get the precise exchange rate shown on the screen at the time you push the button!) Once you've moved the CHF to £ the transfer to you UK bank should be without cost.

[niemeyjt]

Does a foreign currency account get a corresponding IBAN - so it appears to my Swiss bank to be another Swiss account?

[elsie]

I changed my Revolut, which had a Lithuanian IBAN, to a French Revolut with a French IBAN (but you need to have a French address). That is the only IBAN I have. For my sterling account I get a personal UK Sort Code and Account number but the SWIFT is still The FR IBAN. For the dollar account I only have the same SWIFT FR IBAN account. Dollars transferred using SWIFT would go into my Revolut dollar holding account.
Theses are Revolut CHF help pages
https://www.revolut.com/money-transfer/ ... witzerland
https://www.revolut.com/en-FR/help/maki ... -transfers

As it doesn't cost, why not apply for an account. The IBAN you get will depend on your address.

[manonthemoon2]

Thanks for info Elsie, I've signed up with Revolut, a French account as we live full time in France.

How do I open up a UK account without having a UK address?

I think a UK account will be useful for visits to family if it's possible to have one?

[elsie]

In the app you need to go to Accounts tab and you will see a currency (probably Euro in your case?) Click on the down arrow. You will get another screen and can click on click on +New. That will give you list of currencies to select from.
Then if you go back to the main menu and under the Accounts tab click on the country flag on the RHS and you will see the Local and SWIFT bank account details.
It takes a while to discover all the options!

[Leyla]

Wise transfers delays of up to 36 hours earlier this year

I transfer £10 - 12K a couple of times in the year with Wise - always arrived within a few hours

[Leyla]

How do I open up a UK account without having a UK address?

That's what we are discussing here ......... trying to find a solution.

[suein56]

I transfer £10 - 12K a couple of times in the year with Wise - always arrived within a few hours

Our transfers via Wise arrive in our French a/c in 6 seconds .. so as instantaneous as possible. The sum varies tho not usually over £10K.
So perhaps your French Bank might be causing the few hours delay ?

[Leyla]

So perhaps your French Bank might be causing the few hours delay ?

Ha ha - I'm really not worried about a couple of hours. I think the last time I transferred, it was a Sunday.