Banking In The UK

[harleyj]

Hopefully someone on the forum can answer our query about the best way to transfer our funds to purchase a boat next June/July. Are we better to set up a bank account in the UK and are we as foreign nationals able to do that? And along those lines would we be able to have an everyday account for day to day banking in the UK. We plan on spending up to six months a year on the canals as I know quite a few Aussies do so someone in the same situation may be the best to answer my question.

Looking forward to any help from fellow forum members.

[Alan de Enfield]

Not a direct answer to your question but :

 

It has become an absolute 'bugger' to try and open a bank account, you now need to provide :

 

Photographic evidence of who you are (Driving licence or Passport) Proof of ID

Evidence of where you live and (at least) two utility bills with your name on them (gas, council tax, electricity etc etc) proving you are of 'fixed abode'.

 

I'd suggest that you open a local (to where you live) bank account with a multinational such as HSBC and then talk to them about opening a line of credit to their UK operations so you can draw on it whilst here.

[harleyj]

Thanks for your reply Alan, looks like we will just have to pay the foreign transaction fees.

[Boat&Bikes]

With respect to Alan, it is not a nightmare to open a bank account. You need as he said proof of id and address. Not difficult. As far as I know you shojld be able to open an account here fairly simply.

 

Ian.

[costalot]

We have an account with HSBC Australia and managed to open an account in the UK with them. It has to be done before leaving Australia!

[Phil Ambrose]

 

Costalot beat me to it, I was going to suggest talking to your local bank who would, I'm certain, sort it out for you.

Phil

Edited September 24, 2015 by Phil Ambrose

[harleyj]

Thanks for the advice and I will contact HSBC and endeavor to set up an account.

[bigste]

Yes it is not that simple for someone without a UK track record. First of all you MUST have a UK address. As you don't I'll not bother telling the rest. There may be ways round it if your bank has a uk branch.

Edited September 24, 2015 by bigste

[MtB]

With respect to Alan, it is not a nightmare to open a bank account. You need as he said proof of id and address. Not difficult. As far as I know you shojld be able to open an account here fairly simply.

 

Ian.

 

 

So are you saying that proof of the OP's address in Australia is adequate for them to open a UK bank account?

[Alan de Enfield]

With respect to Alan, it is not a nightmare to open a bank account. You need as he said proof of id and address. Not difficult. As far as I know you shojld be able to open an account here fairly simply.

 

Ian.

 

OK - maybe 'nightmare' was the wrong word.

 

When we sold up and retired we had a reasonable 'wedge' - we already had bank accounts with 3 banks, but to get the 'financial compensation scheme' (banks going bust etc) we needed to deposit some in 5 other banks - all of which had to be independent to each other and independent to the accounts we already had.

 

Example -

1) Lloyds Banking Group, which was formed by the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS has two banking licences.

To make matters more complicated, there are a number of brands that operate under the HBOS licence: Halifax, Bank of Scotland, BM Savings, Intelligent Finance, The AA and Saga. If you have money in both the Halifax & BM savings you only get one allowance protected.

 

2) Santander, the former Abbey building society, Alliance & Leicester, ASDA, Bradford & Bingley & Cahoot are all 'one'.

(formerly Abbey)

Alliance & Leicester

ASDA

Bradford & Bingley

Cahoot

 

Going into all those branches, proving ID, residency filling out firms, money laundering regulations - where has the money come from ......................

 

I wonder how liveaboard CCers go about opening Bank Accounts, or, do they sort it out before cutting the Land-Line ?

[RockSodem]

Maybe have a look at some of the pre-paid foreign travel debit cards?

[harleyj]

Those are not an option as they charge you 1% of any money deposited

Edited September 24, 2015 by harleyj

[roland elsdon]

Gooday from Victoria

Answer nab have a UK connection to Yorkshire bank ( not building society) you open account here on line transfer funds to UK accounts. When you rock up in England you phone for an appointment at your selected branch we used Ellesmere Port cos our boat was there wander in and they set up an appropriate account, debit cards etc. later you give them your UK address.. Or not. Ozzie service in UK system stunning. We even used ozforex to transfer the cash to the UK cos their rates were better and nab had given us the UK account numbers.

Just got back after 5 months.

[Boat&Bikes]

 

 

So are you saying that proof of the OP's address in Australia is adequate for them to open a UK bank account?

Didnt mean that just that it's not to hard to open an account, could have worded it better I know.

 

OK - maybe 'nightmare' was the wrong word.

 

When we sold up and retired we had a reasonable 'wedge' - we already had bank accounts with 3 banks, but to get the 'financial compensation scheme' (banks going bust etc) we needed to deposit some in 5 other banks - all of which had to be independent to each other and independent to the accounts we already had.

 

Example -

1) Lloyds Banking Group, which was formed by the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS has two banking licences.

To make matters more complicated, there are a number of brands that operate under the HBOS licence: Halifax, Bank of Scotland, BM Savings, Intelligent Finance, The AA and Saga. If you have money in both the Halifax & BM savings you only get one allowance protected.

 

2) Santander, the former Abbey building society, Alliance & Leicester, ASDA, Bradford & Bingley & Cahoot are all 'one'.

(formerly Abbey)

Alliance & Leicester

ASDA

Bradford & Bingley

Cahoot

 

Going into all those branches, proving ID, residency filling out firms, money laundering regulations - where has the money come from ......................

 

I wonder how liveaboard CCers go about opening Bank Accounts, or, do they sort it out before cutting the Land-Line ?

. Regards the financial comp scheme Alan are you aware that it's been reduced? We have just had to open another account to allow for the change.

[Alan de Enfield]

. Regards the financial comp scheme Alan are you aware that it's been reduced? We have just had to open another account to allow for the change.

 

Yes - but thanks for mentioning it.

 

Shifted some to Cambodia - no compensation scheme but getting 7% interest with one bank & 10% interest with another. - worth the risk ? (we will see) Interest pays for our flights and 'spending money' when we visit Son in Cambodia.

 

Loaned some to Son No1 to buy his boat (getting 5% on that)

Edited September 24, 2015 by Alan de Enfield

[Boat&Bikes]

 

Yes - but thanks for mentioning it.

 

Shifted some to Cambodia - no compensation scheme but getting 7% interest with one bank & 10% interest with another. - worth the risk ? (we will see) Interest pays for our flights and 'spending money' when we visit Son in Cambodia.

 

Loaned some to Son No1 to buy his boat (getting 5% on that)

. Charging your son 5% tut tut . Far to low a rate...

[Peter X]

This might be useful to clarify things: the amount covered by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) is currently £85,000 for each institution (as Alan de Enfield says you have to beware that each one can be trading under several names due to past mergers), and will be reduced to £75,000 at the new year. The UK banks, and most foreign banks offering accounts in the UK are covered by it, some by similar schemes in other countries such as France.

[roland elsdon]

It's even harder for temporary Australian residents like us who spend 7 months in Oz and 5 in the UK but are actually British citizens . UK banks treat us with huge suspicion because we like 90% of rural dwellers us a post office box for our mail ( credit cards left in the servo for pick up or in an ice cream box on a stick 500 meters from the front door or in my sister in laws case 5 Kms from the house is so yesterday in terms of security. HSBC in UK insisted on sending my credit card to the house address, so I sent them a photo of the aforementioned official mailbox, at which point they decided to agree to the PO box but as for the inland revenue don't go there..the mention of a post office box makes you an international money launderer overnight.

[harleyj]

Thanks for all the help especially Roland. We were hoping to get some info from someone like Roland as he has been there, done that. Great bit of advice about Ozforex as our bank is offering about 2 pence less per dollar.

[Sadelady]

We have used Ozforex for large sums. For small sums Transfer wise is great. Do not use banks for currency transfers they will rip you off.

[madcat]

Not wishing to de rail this thread but I'm not sure how someone like me would cope as I have no photo ID . Old style driving licence and out of date passport in maiden name.

[john6767]

Not wishing to de rail this thread but I'm not sure how someone like me would cope as I have no photo ID . Old style driving licence and out of date passport in maiden name.

Surely you can apply for a new driving licence and passport, then there is no potential issue. However if you look at the requirements for DBS, which is I think a good benchmark for identity proof, that does accommodate you, so possibly banks would be able to as well.