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[istocnjak]

Back again with more moving questions! Having heard various stories about the interesting complications of opening a bank account on arrival in the UK, I came across this service that is offered by HSBC, called "Passport":

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/current-accounts/passport

Basically it allows a person to set up their savings account from abroad, but requires a twelve month contract and a £60 fee to have an account ready and waiting on arrival.

I am sure that this is a nice convenience, but is it £60 worth of nice? Any old hands care to comment on whether there is any point to it?

[expatinuk]

If you have a copy of your employment contract and a UK mailing address you shouldn't have too many difficulties in getting a bank account.

[ukphilosophist]

The vast majority of those services/benefits come as standard, so I'm not sure how much you're really getting for your money. It's not too difficult to get a debit card, even with no credit history here.  It's not clear that they're offering you any kind of preferential rates for international money transfers. As for the mobile phone, you can easily buy a simple pay-as-you-go phone with credit included for £15 or so. It's probably not worth it.

[wegie]

Having dealt with HSBC's so-called Premier service for the past year or so, I'd be very wary of anything to do with HSBC that's supposed to make life easier or more convenient, as those are two words that HSBC seem to have difficulty understanding.

As long as you have your passport, your contract and a bank statement from your home bank, you should be fine. In particular, open an account with the campus branch of your choice of bank or the nearest branch to your university that deals with lots of students, as they should be a lot better about dealing with foreigners opening bank accounts (particularly at the beginning of the academic year) than your average bank branch.

[brummagem]

I think it took over a month before I could open a bank account (tried RBS and HSBC). The obstacle was proving my address; my lease was not accepted because it is classed as a private agreement or something, and it was a while before a utility bill showed up with my name on it. Once you have a lease, you might urge one of the utility companies to send you something right away.

When HSBC finally let me open an account, I asked, out of curiosity, about the passport account option and the guy helping me indicated (in that mildly racist/ classist/ whatever British way) that it was not meant for people like me (White? American? Lecturer?).

Maybe I did something wrong for it to take so long to open an account. In any case, I've found that there is usually a shortcut: I was told I'd have to live in the UK for three years to get a credit card, but within a few months, VOILA!

[seniorscholar]

When I opened a UK account (it happened to be NatWest) a very long time ago, what I needed was a letter of reference from someone who (1) paid local rates (i.e., property taxes) and (2) had an account with the bank. Fortunately, the landlord qualified, and the landlord rather wanted me to have a bank account, too. Being able to take out cash at once is no longer an issue, since you can use the ATM card from your present bank account, but in those days there weren't any such. And yes, I've kept that same account for lo these zillion years, since before credit cards it was useful to be able to order books from the UK without vast hassles, as it is still useful to write a check (or cheque) for conference accomodation at a university that doesn't accept credit cards. (Dont tell the IRS, but I generally ask for the speaking fee or the payment for serving as external examiner or manuscript reviewer in the UK to be paid in pounds, and deposit it in the UK account to avoid exchange-rate losses and the US bank fees for processing overseas checks.)

[wegie]

When I opened a UK account (it happened to be NatWest) a very long time ago, what I needed was a letter of reference from someone who (1) paid local rates (i.e., property taxes) and (2) had an account with the bank. Fortunately, the landlord qualified, and the landlord rather wanted me to have a bank account, too.

Aaah. The wonderful days of common sense before the completely asinine Know Your Customer legislation. Nowadays it has to be a government-issued form of identification to prove who you are and a bill/bank statement/other government-issued ID to prove where you live (or used to live for people from overseas). 

[sandgrounder]

Hi

Although it's aimed at new international students (so substitute contract for letter of admission) you might find the information here helpful.

http://www.nusonline.co.uk/info/money/271452.aspx

[observer3]

I'd be interested to know if that "passport" account means HSBC has finally gotten civilized towards us foreigners. But I won't hold my breath. I love the UK but the bank thing was by far the worst experience of moving and really made me regret my move at first. There is still a power game that happens at these banks; don’t let it get to you.

When I moved I had all of the requirements: passport, lease, work contract, US bank statements, etc. (and an excellent credit rating in the US if anyone had bothered to look at my statements or check). Not sufficient. Why? B/c apparantly my lease counted, as one of the previous posters noted, as a private document and HSBC said they couldn't vouch for the document. They also said they wanted me to get paid first (how the f*** with no bank to cash the check or take a deposit)? Welcome to Kafka’s world.

Luckily, I had picked the same HSBC branch used by my flat management company. When I said that I was sure my management company would be interested in the fact that the bank didn't consider their documents reputable, I was magically granted an account (the company clearly had a sizable account with them).

Because of my apparent dubiousness, I was first granted one of those accounts with which you can only withdraw cash from HSBC machines, no checking, and no debit card (my family and I joked that it was an account into which you could only deposit, not withdraw, money). But after getting paid they magically decided that I might be ok, so these came through after a few months. But of course it was a tough few months trying to set things up in a cash-only way, as if I were singled out to live as if in a developing country. But if you get a moving reimbursement from your job (try to negotiate some way to have cash in your account to survive the first few months) this can help. Or have something to get by. I was "invited" to get a credit card after about 6 months or so.

So it all worked out in the end but not without at least 2 occasions on which I left the bank and went somewhere to cry. I still secretly hate them. In fact, after some years this venting has made me realize that I am still angry about how I was treated!

Some other options I heard of people actually using: 1) get a utility bill faster even if it requires changing your landlord’s name on the bill to yours through the company and then changing it back after and 2) make friends with the bank manager (feudal style). Oh yes, and some friends of mine think that listing their title as “Dr.” helped out greatly.

[august_leo]

I opened an account at Barclays the day I arrived in the UK to apartment hunt. I showed my letter of acceptance from the Uni and gave my departmental address. They were totally fine with that. So much easier than stories I heard later.

[secretweapon]

UK banks can be hotbeds of xenophobia.  It's unbelievable - where do they find their employees?  I don't experience this kind of treatment in other service industries.

One bank official explained to me that foreigners cannot get credit cards for at least six months because UK banks do not have access to other countries' credit records (including the US).  However, on the 4th try I found a bank that waived this for "professionals" with permanent positions.  This was proved on production of a letter from the university.  Dealing with British banks is one time when you should not be coy about your academic credentials.   

[donstefano]

Secretweapon, I had the same problem. I could show them how much I earned, but no credit card, because I did not have a credit score. And thank god they don't have access to foreign credit scores, they would probably loose the information, or put it on the net somewhere. Well, it wouldn't help - bank exchanging such information would be seen as a violation of privacy in my home country, and thus illegal (only for people who are repeatedly in debt they can actually do it).

What shocked me most was their attitude: we don't give a damn (Lloyds TSB). The result is that they gave me the perfect reason not to go there for my mortgage....
And anyway, British banks charge outrageous fees for overseas payments (1£ every time I use my credit card abroad...) Result: I kept the credit card at my previous bank in another country - they don't charge for foreign transactions.

Actually, part of my interest is organisational theory. My credit card experience with Lloyds lead me to some good ideas about excessive formalisation in organisations, and I'm explicitly thanking them in acknowledgements of an article I'm writing on this. No further details, but I even considered labelling the thing I'm writing about 'The Lloyds TSB syndrome', but then I found it is fairly typical of UK customer service

[scheherazade]

I hate HSBC with a passion.  That is one of the most inept, rip-off organizations that exists.

[scotia]

I hate HSBC with a passion.  That is one of the most inept, rip-off organizations that exists.

That makes two of us! They cannot get the most basic instructions right, even when dealing with something as sensitive as dividing up the estate of a former customer. Having seen them in action when helping a friend sort out her dead mothers account I would not trust them with a penny of my money.

[scheherazade]

I had an auto loan with them.  They lost my payment and refused to admit it.  It took a full year for the bank to convince them.  Repeated conference calls, mailings and faxes were made.  They repo'd my car over the payment.  Even after the correction was made, they would regularly call a week before payment was due that month, wanting to know where it was.  When I'd point out the due date, they'd say, "Well, but you have a history of nonpayment."  "No, you have a history of ineptitude, and you're perpetuating it right now."