Bank Accounts

That is an excellent idea! I never thought about that. I will go in next week and have them change the address. You've just made my day and it is only noon!

Thank you for also easing my worries about the fiance/fiancee visa. We do plan to be married well before the end of my working holidaymaker one, I just didn't want to lose the right to work whilst I was over there.

Thank you so much for your answers!

Seems to me that "debit card" has a slightly different meaning here in the UK than back in Canada. It seems to convey more weight over here.

Back in Canada, a debit card can be used to withdraw cash, or to buy something in a store (with the money directly taken from your account).

However, here in the UK, a debit card seems closer to a credit card:

-you must have a debit card in order to arrange for direct payments (ie for a monthly mobile phone bill).

-you have to upgrade a "normal" bank account in order to qualify for a debit card

-a debit card has the same banking network logos on its back as do the credit cards, but often not the same banking networks as the cash cards (for example, my Nationwide cash card has "Cirrus" and "Link" logos on its back, but when I tried to apply for direct payments for something, and it asked which logo was on the back of my debit card, neither of these two companies were options.... but Visa and Mastercard were!)

It sounds more like a credit card than a "debit card" in the Canadian sense... or is it just me?

It is hard to open an account here and I looked into it lots before I came over.

What I did was opened a HSBC account in Canada and got the statements sent to my address in the UK. Make sure the spelling is correct on the statement. They were going to refuse me cause I had Corfton spelled Crofton even though I had 7 other pieces of mail. I shed a few tears and after a chat with the manager I ended up with a bank account.

As for seeing a doctor. Just register at a Surgery when you get here. They don't ask for anything just a address and you can go whenever you want. I am was told you had to get your own insurance over here, but they wont refuse anyone.

Hope I was of help. I wish I would of known about this website before I came, I had so many unanswered questions. I have a pdf copy of How to thrive and survive in the UK if anyone wants it!!

Thank you! I am going into the bank today to have them change my address to the one in the UK.

Do you know how many statements with that address I need?

Also.. how do you get a utility bill in your name if you do not have a bank account. People said my name can just be added, but is it as easy as it seems?

I cannot believe I have 11 days left to get all of this sorted out.

Yesterday I was given false hope when someone in the UK tld my fiance that they had a bank account set up by Thomas Cook in their home country before going over. I called up Thomas Cook and they said I was the 26th person to ask them in the past 6 months and they have no idea where people get that idea.

So back to the forwarding the bills to the UK idea it is!

You can order landline services from BT without a bank account.

I got an account with Nat West after it was recommended by my CIBC branch. They needed references from Canada which my bank manager supplied. They I paid for a Advantage Gold account which AUTOMATICALLY gave me a credit card.


They also gave me my mortgage for my house and I just moved last July!

(Not this one..the one before..)

I went to an HSBC here and they gave me a 'Letter of Introduction' that they claim will get me a bank account once I am there.

I had asked about them opening one for me and they said they can no longer open them in England or in Hong Kong due to changes in the respective countries banking laws.

I am still going to try the BT thing and have HSBC forward my mail to my UK address.

Hopefully one of the above will do the trick!

(I tried NatWest.. they were so not helpful to me.)

When I arrived here 4 years ago I was told by every bank that I couldn't get an account with out a letter of reference from my bank in Canada. small problem in that I had closed my Canadian account over a year previously when I moved to Ireland.

In the end, the Natwest gave me an account once I had a letter from my employer telling them that I really was who I said I was, and that I really lived where I said I lived.

The letter of introduction from your bank should be enough to get you an account over here, but failing that, I know that one of my Australian friends had her bank forward her statements to her british address, and that's all she needed to open her account with Lloyds TSB.

Well I am covering all of my bases.

1) Letter of intrrodution has been acquired.

2) Water bill has been put into my name.

3) I am about to head out to my HSBC branch to have them change my address to my UK one.

Hopefully.. there is not some sneaky way they can deny me an account this time!

We shall see this week as I arrive tomorrow

They only deny the bank account if you can't prove who you are or where you live. Our banker explained that it is some sort of money-laundering law.(although I can't imagine how it helped prevent money laundering by having me pay my estate agent £2,600 in £20's bundled in a paper bag)

They only want a bill in your name to prove your address. If you have a tenancy agreement with your name on it and your passport, HSBC will accept that. We had the bank account 12 hours after we had an address. The banker did say, though, that the letter of introduction from our last bank helped speed up the review.