Quick joint bank account question

I'm British with a UK bank account that I've held since I was old enough to have an account, my American wife is moving over this month to live in the UK.  How easy is it likely to be to get her added onto my account as a join account holder?  I'm not sure if all the ID rules apply to her since she'd be getting added to my account - will we need to get utility bills and what-not in her name?  I'm with RBS if that makes a difference.

I think she's still going to need proof of identity and proof of address.  As I stated in another post, I had my US bank mail a statement addressed to me at the address where I was going to be staying in Scotland.  That fulfilled their requirement for proof of address; I used my passport for proof of identity.  My account is also with RBS.  Are you currently in the UK?  Might be worth popping into your local branch...I seem to remember they gave me a pamphlet that listed the requirements and what was considered acceptable for ID.  Come to think of it, they may list that info on their website as well...

Yeah, I know the stuff needed for a new bank account, I just thought it might not be required for a joint account.  Well, it's gonna be a pain in the erse but we'll have to get something addressed to Scotland in her name.

I moved over from the States in September on a fiancee visa and we had very little trouble converting my British fiance's long-standing current account into a joint account.  We made the council tax office our first order of business; once I was added onto the bill, we waited a couple of days for the new bill to arrive then used it as my proof of address for everything we needed to do.  We showed the folks at Barclays my passport, my US bank card (Wachovia) and the council tax bill, filled out a few forms and answered a few questions, and that was that. 

Of course, they still refused to give me a bank card - both our names are on the checks and statements, and I can withdraw money from the bank in person, but I can't access our accounts via card unless I use Chris's Connect card and PIN.  It's incredibly annoying, especially for someone who's been banking self-sufficiently with a Visa Debit card for the past ten years, but apparently that's the way the cookie crumbles.  (They offered to give me a Visa Electron card, but only if Chris was willing to give up his Platinum Connect card and switch to a Visa Electron card as well.  We told them thanks, but no thanks. )

Hope this helps!

My husband has been a long standing RBS client, and that is where we got our joint account, however the situation surrounding it was a bit weird, so I'm not sure what the actual rules are.

We went in and met with one of their advisors and she said that in order to open the joint account with debit card/cheques etc., I would have to open my own account first. This was fine with us, because she was offering to open a good account for me (debit card, credit card and all) and because we had the necessary proof of address (I was a student here in the past, so had an old NatWest bank account statements being sent to my new address).

A couple of weeks later, we got a call from RBS saying that that employee had left, and that she had messed up some of our paperwork for our joint account. At that point my personal account was all set up and I had received the cards/cheques. We went in and filled out the correct paperwork for the joint account, and we now have that all set up as well (we both have Maestro cards for it, and it comes with a special savings account as well).

It's not clear if the original employee was correct in that I needed to set up my own account first, since she muddled up the rest of the application so badly. We didn't question it with the second person we met with, because at the end of the day I'm happy to have my own account as well. All in all the process took over a month between filling out paperwork/ receiving checks and cards/going in to the branch for pin numbers etc.

I would say she got it a little bit muddled.  All they would have had to do, which is what you did the second time, was add you to your husbands account to turn it into a joint account.  Legally (for anti-money laundering laws) they just have to prove a) who you are b) where you live and c) what is the source of the money you may put into the account.  (That is why they ask you all those silly questions about where your money came from when opening your account).

Yeah, kitsonk I'm not suprised if she didn't know what was going on. She seemed really on top of it at the time, but then it all just started to unravel after she left the branch.

Since then we've had no prob with RBS, but when we tried to turn my husband's already existing account into a joint account at Alliance & Leicester, they refused to do it because I was a foreigner. We got the application in and all my evidence 'approved' at the branch, but then we had a call from them down the line saying they couldn't do it. We spoke to a manager, but that didn get very far. I think one of the things that they were insisting that I show was a UK license or provisional license, which made no sense since I could quite happily live the rest of my life here without getting one! My husband closed his account with them after that.

I'll echo that you still need the same proof for a joint account as a single account.  I've had to still get everything in my name as well as my husbands.   He had been an account holder for 22+ years, but I was still denied for "not being on the electoral roll" which I'm now taking to mean that they didn't like my lack of credit more than my voters roll status.  They offered me a cash only account, but I declined.  I'm going to go look for an individual account elsewhere.  I had already provided them with all of the proof of my residence they required.

It is a pain in the ass. We went down with all sorts of documents (birth, marriage certificates, medical letters, tax letters, passports, all with the same address on it which is the address on the account), and because we did not have a utility bill in my name and I was not at the time on the electoral roll (it hadn't been updated yet), they "were unable to add me". Aggravating to say the least.

So we called up ntl to get my name added to the bill and our next bill came addressed to Mr & Mr Doe. 

I'm on the electoral roll now, but we just haven't bothered to go back as it was such a bollocks the first time.

my experience was pretty painless.  When i moved over in August 2006, I signed up with HSBC for a Passport account (geared for immigrants who don't have credit over here).  In January, Dan and I created a joint account.  He had also been with HSBC (mind you for 23 years as opposed to my 5 months).  Since he has several accounts with HSBC and has been a client for many years they allowed it, but they did indicate that had he not been with them for so many years they might not have been able to allow it. 

Just as a side note, by creating a joint account you are in essence merging your credit history.  So if your UK partner has less than stellar credit and you as an american have none you won't be doing yourself any favours.  But if your partner has great credit, it will help to get your credit rating up there quite quickly, faster than on your own.

I was a bit concerned as Dan has perfect credit that my lack of credit would potentially bring his down as I was an unknown to the UK system.  The bank explained that that was not the case.  We decided it was win win all around so we created the joint.

All the benefits of having a joint account could be diminished if your establishing credit score is hit by a partners past credit history.

Yeah, my husband's rating isn't the greatest.  It could be much worse, but still . . .  I've decided to apply for my own account.  I had been using his account and just withdrawing cash, but I didn't stop to think about the fact that with the lines down the check here, I wouldn't be able to instruct them to deposit my checks in his account.  Now I have checks that I can't deposit, so it's off to the bank today to see what happens.

I had my husband added to my RBS account a few years ago.  He did have to show a utility bill in his name at our address here and I think his passport as well, and they added him.  They would not let him have a Switch card for 3 months either.  That was 2003, not sure if things are still the same.

Natwest wouldn't let my husband add me as joint on his student account.  Student benefits didn't apply to our household apparently    They said that they wouldn't let me even if it wasn't a student account, unless I had bills in my name here and 2 forms of ID --US driving license didn't count so get her to apply for provisional license ASAP.  Needless to say it took me over 6 months to get a bank account here.