Right to a Dutch bank account

It's happened to many Dutch people living abroad: their current Dutch bank account is suddenly closed. This problem has been known since 2016, and Dutch people living abroad are still facing it.

The consequences are often extremely unpleasant, ranging from small to large: from regular payments to and within the Netherlands (and the additional costs often associated with credit payments), to consequences related to, for example, receiving wages, pensions, state pensions, annuities and other regular income, and the settlement of Dutch inheritances.

In addition, Dutch people also live in countries that do not have their own secure banking system, and for whom the loss of a Dutch bank account can be a very major financial risk.

Moreover, the lack of a Dutch bank account is an issue when remigrating back to the Netherlands, when a Dutch bank account is suddenly required again for many services.

To solve all these kinds of problems, we have proposed to politicians in The Hague to legally establish the right to open and maintain a Dutch bank account from abroad.

This bill has already been drafted, and we hope it will be discussed in the political arena as soon as possible. At the same time, we also need to prepare for when it happens to us, and for that reason, we've contacted Lisa Jie Sam Foek of Fennek Advocaten in Amsterdam. She has prepared a sample letter for all SNBN readers that can be used against a bank when it threatens to close their Dutch bank account.