Students - banking w/ HSBC in the U.K.

[hheather]

Hey-

Does anyone know what the benefits are to banking with HSBC if you're NOT a student? I'll be going over to the UK in January and would love to have some of the potential banking issues figured out.

Is HSBC the way to go if you're not a student?

Thanks!

[iancanton]

if u're not a student, then it depends on ur circumstances. if u already have an hsbc bank account in canada, then it makes sense to leverage that relationship. if not, then another bank might (or might not) have a better-suited account or a well-located branch near to where u live or work.

u will usually not be permitted by a uk bank to open a full-service current (chequing) account without a gas, electricity, water, council tax or landline telephone bill as evidence of address.

today, i specifically asked abbey (www.abbey.com) about the government-sponsored basic bank account that major banks are obliged to offer. to open a basic bank account, abbey will require sight of ur passport, but a utility bill is not needed. the basic bank account has an atm card, but no cheque book, and regular variable payments from the account (such as gas bills) can be made by direct debit. i believe abbey pays no interest on this account (other banks typically pay 0.1% per year), but there are no monthly fees and no transaction charges for day-to-day banking if u always have enough money in the account to cover ur outgoing payments. outgoing international transfers are not free and nor are deposits of cheques that are drawn on non-uk banks, though incoming payments by telegraphic transfer (swift) from canada are free, in the sense that u pay only the canadian bank's fee.

https://www.abbey.com/csgs/Satellite?c= ... nfProducto

nationwide building society, which has a good value current account for non-uk debit card use (no foreign exchange loading), makes it difficult for new residents to open an account by insisting on a utility bill, so it is not an option for most.

ian.