Bank Account and/or Access to Money
May 14, 2018
You’ve spent all this money on your visa and registration and flights and who knows what else, but if you do (hopefully) have any left over, this is the time to think about where to put it.
Some options are;
1. See if you can open a bank account before you leave home. Some banks have international branches, or agreements with other banks overseas. Best plan? Go to your bank in plenty of time before you’re due to leave and make an appointment to talk about what they can offer you.
2. Open a bank account when you arrive in the UK. Get your documentation in place as soon as possible, even before you leave if you can, and rock up to a branch once you dump your gear.
a. As of March-May 2018 HSBC will accept a passport as proof of ID, and a letter from an employer on company letterhead stating your full name, address, and job title as proof of address. They will, of course, accept the normal proofs of address (mobile phone plan bills, utility bills, etc) but an employer letter can be easier to come by at times.
b. Another option for proof of address is changing your address to a UK address (if you know where you’re going to be living/have friends who don’t mind/have cleared it with your AirBnB host/etc) on your Australian bank details, then going to your bank and getting them to print a copy of your statement in branch with your UK address on the statement. Some banks will accept this as proof of address, even though it’s from an Australian bank.
c. If you register with a GP once you’re in the UK (it’s free!) you can use that as proof of address for some banks.
NB: you will also need to think about money for before you get a UK bank account, which we will talk about at the end of this post.
Opening a bank account in the UK used to be a doddle, or close enough to a doddle that you could still call it one. Apparently, however, they now have concerns that have made it rather less of a doddle (Brexit? What Brexit?). If you read on forums about ‘this or that bank allows you to open an account with just a passport!!1!’ smile fondly as you reminisce about the good old days and then sigh as you close the tab.
Or, in my case, read the blog posts that recommend ‘get your new housemates to put your name on one of the bills in your new rental place and use that as proof of address’ and resolve to wait for that.
Then a lovely rental property becomes available, and then you apply, and then you find out that you’re required by the agency to have a bank account.
So you try whatever you can, go to every bank, and every one of them asks for a bill (which you don’t have), a rental agreement (which you wish you had), or a national insurance letter (which, as mentioned already, is not the quickest thing in the world to bring into realisation).
So you go home, have a bit of a cry, make yourself a cup of tea, and write a blog post.
Well, it’s cheaper than therapy, at least.
I did eventually end up getting an account with HSBC, somewhat later than was strictly necessary. Why later? Well, in true Kelsey fashion, I botched it a bit.
I’m sure you’re all used to hearing that by now.
To explain, let’s go back – I worked in the UK as a Gap Year Student at a lovely school when I was 18. I had an account with HSBC at that point, and while I was pretty sure that it had been closed, I thought it couldn’t hurt to go in and check if there was still a record of me in the system. There was, but the account had been closed a long time ago and they weren’t going to just open it again. So I left it at that.
And for some reason, I didn’t go back to HSBC. I don’t know why. I think maybe I just assumed that I couldn’t open an account there again? I don’t know why, don’t ask.
Anyway, I tried most of the other major banks with varying bits of identification. Lloyds told me that if my employer wrote a letter on company letterhead confirming my address, I could open an account. Well, one person at Lloyd’s told me that. The next person took one look at the letter from my employer and said, no, you MUST have a National Insurance number. The person I spoke to on me third trip to Lloyds was downright rude.
Such a shame. They have an excellent TV ad with lovely horses, but they might want to spend some of that ad money on social skills training…
Some weeks later, after Santander (next available appointment to open an account would be in a month), Lloyds (rude), Natwest (nope), Barclays (nopenope), etc, etc, I headed back to HSBC. Actually, my dear friend Steph asked why I hadn’t tried them again, and I realised I had completely written them off for no reason. And it really was no reason.
They were lovely.
More specifically, the lady who set up my account was lovely. I didn’t have the letter from my employer with me at the time, so she booked me an appointment for the next day and walked me through the whole process with kindness and calm. She explained absolutely everything and made sure I knew exactly what I was signing. It was a very un-bank-like experience.
Clearly, HSBC is my pick, just for ease of setting up and customer service. You can always switch once you’ve settled a bit more, but getting a UK bank account gives you a bit of a foot in the door, so to speak. Beyond a bit of financial security, it also means that you exist, to put it bluntly. For the first few weeks when you move to a new place, you don’t exist. There’s too few records of you, your footprints are too light. You may as well be a ghost.
A bank account gives you something closer to corporeal form.
In regards to money while you’re waiting for a bank account, there are also a few options;
1. Cash. The old favourite. If you’re looking to exchange a large amount of cash, don’t leave it to the last minute. The pound isn’t an uncommon currency, but the last thing you want to do is have to go to the dodgy place with the terrible exchange rate because everyone else is out of sterling.
2. Travel cards. Because I used to fly with Qantas for work, I ended up using my Qantas frequent flyer card for a long time when I first arrived in the UK. The exchange rate isn’t the best, and I probably could’ve found something better if I’d sat down and searched, but it was convenient and, as we know, I have a tendency to botch things, so at least I had something! There are all kinds of travel cards these days, so you should only need to do a little bit of research to find something decent.
3. Credit cards. You can, of course, use your credit card overseas. But, outside of an emergency, why would you? It’s pretty much like holding up a sign to your bank and saying, please, rob me blind, I’m begging you.
Emergencies only, people.
Emergencies only, people.
Even though, as I said, the exchange rate probably isn’t the greatest, I don’t really have any complaints about the Qantas card. You can get one even if you’re not a frequent flyer. I never had a problem with it, as far as I can remember, and while not flash, it did what it said on the box. It let me use my money overseas with very little hassle, and I can’t ask any more of it. Oh, and you can use it as a contactless card on the tube too, from memory. Not too shabby.
Feeling overwhelmed yet? Don’t. We’ll get there, I promise. For all your hard work and to sustain your mental health, here’s some birdies!
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