Kerfuffles

Thanks to all who've provided invaluable information regarding the hellish pursuit of organizing a bank account in the UK.

I just have a few questions that perhaps the experienced can help with?

Myself personally, I'm moving to London in October with a UK ancestry visa. I plan to rent a room with all bills included and will most likely have a job lined up before I leave.

From what it seems in the forums, you can't open a bank account without your own flat and your own bills, so what happens to regular folks like me who have maybe $4000 in the bank and just want a chequing account to have my employer pay me and do regular bank transactions such as shopping/pay my mobile bill?

It seems to be very confusing and any help would be appreciated. I've contacted HSBC, I may switch to them and try to open a bank account before I leave, however for the premier account you have to have 100K in assets/investments etc. so for most normal people this is a no-go.

Any advice from people in similar situations or with any information would be great to hear from.

Thanks.



As a sidenote, I've been doing some research online with several banks and from what I can see on the Lloyds TSB site, apparently all they require for foreigners from specific countries (such as Canada) to open an account is a valid passport & entry clearance/visa.

This doesn't seem difficult yet I've read some scary posts, any information on this?