Revolut - UK direct debits taken from GBP accounts
Revolut - UK direct debits taken from GBP accounts
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Michael_B

Original Poster:

1,204 posts

117 months

In 2023 Barclays decided to close my UK bank account, apparently no longer able to offer the level of service they consider necessary. I left the UK in 1999 and have been officially (tax-)resident in Switzerland since June 2000. It was useful to have a UK account for visits back to London, dealings with HMRC regarding pension withdrawals (emergency taxed then difference claimed back by making a return), and also for a few legacy insurance policies whose premiums were taken by DD.

Barclays had indeed proved to be a complete shower of st since my departure, so much that I did at one point open an (expensive) GBP account with UBS here, to deal with one pension affair as Barclays refused to send a paper statement to my home address (the pension company rejected any downloaded document and wanted an original on the bank's headed paper.) So it was no big loss in that regard.

I then discovered that Revolut could provide me a GBP IBAN so I opened accounts for me and Mrs B. My DD to Avon Insurance has been successfully taken since then, and premiums for Mrs B's Aviva life policy (ex-Endsleigh from her student days 40 years ago) have been taken from hers. These are small amounts (<£10/month) but given our ages now it would be much more expensive for similar cover under new policies.

A couple of weeks ago Revolut sent me a message to say that they are no longer processing UK direct debits, which is a bit of a ball-ache as that's the only real reason I opened the accounts in the first place. I called Avon and they said it was not possible to do a standing order, or any form of bank transfer. It would however be possible to annualise the premium and pay once a year... by cheque. I asked a UK-resident family member if they could do this, and she laughed and said that she hadn't had a chequebook for years. That said, I've never had one here in Switzerland, but still do a few transactions by cheque from my French account (e.g. fuel oil deliveries) for our place in Burgundy.

So I will be updating my DD bank mandate to her details and will send over an annual payment to cover the monthly outgoings.

Next call on Monday is to Aviva...




Martin_MUC

126 posts

66 months

Also in Switzerland with no UK high street bank account. Went with Wise, have Euro and GB IBANs and although I haven't done so the option to set up a DD seems to be available.
Cheers
Martin

Michael_B

Original Poster:

1,204 posts

117 months

Martin_MUC said:
Also in Switzerland with no UK high street bank account. Went with Wise, have Euro and GB IBANs and although I haven't done so the option to set up a DD seems to be available.
Cheers
Martin
Thanks for the tip, I will look into it straight away !

Merci vielmal aus Genf wink


mikef

5,771 posts

268 months

Yes, I pay my French mobile subscription by DDR from my Wise account (in Euros)

Simpo Two

89,550 posts

282 months

I just wanted to pick this bit...

Michael_B said:
ex-Endsleigh from her student days 40 years ago)
A rep visited the campus and I signed up to £7.50pcm for some kind of policy long since cashed in. In hindsight, my first 'investment'!

ChocolateFrog

32,528 posts

190 months

Endsleigh. That's a blast from the past.

Michael_B

Original Poster:

1,204 posts

117 months

ChocolateFrog said:
Endsleigh. That's a blast from the past.
We still have the original 1985 policy document in the filing cabinet.
I mentioned it deliberately to cause a few of you take a little stumble down memory lane wink