How do I pay rent, deposits, etc.?

Hi all,
We're at t-minus 17 days and counting until we arrive in Cambridge (both US citizens, both going to work in the UK for a few years). We've researched and researched, and decided to set up an HSBC Passport bank account (especially for foreign citizens) and I've just set up my XEtrade.com account, thanks to advice on these forums. Hopefully these two things will ease the hardship of trying to get money from here to there.

My question, though: Our Passport account gives us only a debit account and a savings account -- no checks. (or rather, cheques.) I don't know why this didn't occur to me earlier, but can we put a deposit on an apartment using a debit card? How about setting up utilities? I'm sort of vaguely aware that debit cards are more common and cheques are less common in the UK, but I don't know if that extends to things like deposits and paying rent. I'm guessing it will be a little difficult to get a credit card, too, but we've got our Capital One cards to tide us over until we might be able to get a UK card.

Also, I've seen this questions asked, but not answered, a few times: What are the anti-money laundering limits on transferring money? I have 10K stuck in my head, but is that one chunk? within a short timeframe? Then again, I haven't started using XE yet, so maybe they have limits that will keep me below whatever I am supposed to obey.

Thanks!
Kate

I wouldn't get too excited about anti-money laundering rules - if the bank has to report a transaction then it will do so.

I don't see how you'd get by practically without cheques for a few of the items you describe but you probably wire money to a landlord ...

Of course if you move money after you become UK resident and this money is from a US account that mixes income (eg interest & dividends) with the capital on the day you ove over here then you'll also be remitting income that will become subject to UK tax.

We got the bank details of our letting agent for the last place in order to transfer the funds for the deposit.
Our rent after that was paid by direct debit. No need for cheques at all as it's all done electronically.

There should be no problem paying in this way for utilities either though they may require payment by card at the start. You will only find out by asking the relevant companies.

I've never written out a check for anything related to rent or utilities.  We paid our security deposit and first month's rent in cash.  Although we had to take out cash over the period of a few days because of our ATM limit.  Our monthly rent payments are paid by direct debit, as well as all of our utilities.  For utilities, our initial deposits were paid with a debit/credit card.  You'll want to get checks eventually, but I don't think you'll have a problem getting your housing and utilities sorted without them. 

Most landlords/letting agents will accept cash for the deposit. If not you can obtain a bank cheque, for which you will be charged a fee (my bank charges £10 I think).  Some people/companies will also accept postal orders which you buy at the post office, there is a small fee but cheaper than a bank cheque. These are particularly good if you need to send money in the post.

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