Thank you NatWest.

So when I first got over here I opened a current account with Santander. All they would give me was the most basic of accounts. They told me that they would review it in 2-3 months to see if I could then get an account with checks.

Last weekend I went in to my Santander branch to see about getting my account reviewed. They told me to wait 1 year! Argh!

So long story short I ended up in NatWest (by mistake, I was tired and distracted and thought I was going into Nationwide. They gave me a current account with checks with no issue at all. I had my passport and utility bill with my name on it.

So thank you NatWest. Just had to share that with y'all.

Good to know, thanks for sharing-- This sort of thing is always useful to newcomers!

It looks like you've been living in the UK just under 4 months-- so it's worth noting that NatWest seems to require minimal (if any) UK history. 

The other bank I've seen a lot of people have luck with (myself included) is Lloyds TSB.  Similar to NatWest, I got a current account with them with just my passport and a letter from my University.

Good to know, thanks for sharing-- This sort of thing is always useful to newcomers!

It looks like you've been living in the UK just under 4 months-- so it's worth noting that NatWest seems to require minimal (if any) UK history. 

The other bank I've seen a lot of people have luck with (myself included) is Lloyds TSB.  Similar to NatWest, I got a current account with them with just my passport and a letter from my University.

I had good luck with Lloyds TSB as well.

Id say stay away from Santander. They wanted me on a utility and then it was a basic current account only. It did not seem to matter how much money I put in there.

Another annoying (to me) thing is that about every 2-3 electronic transfers I make out of that account to say, my husband, they call to check that it was me making the transfers before they complete them. So after yesterday's call I just moved all but 5.00 out of my account. I'll use it as a long term savings because it's there, but I won't do anything else with them now.

I've had the worst day of trying to open an account with NatWest, the first time I visit Natwest I was talking to an advisor and was told my national insurance number letter would be fine, so when I finall got my national insurance number I got told to apply for a tax coding which my DH looked up for me when we got home and nothing on HM Revenue and Customs website had any forms to apply for a tax code. I'm truly glad NatWest worked out with you, Meghan.


So, I'm gonna go for Lloyds TSB on monday.