spouse personal account: hsbc vs Lloyds tsb

When I first got here, I went to my hubby's bank to open a personal account for myself. It was HSBC. They would only give me a Joint Account with the hubby - not a personal one.

So, a month later, still without a job, bored, I wandered into Lloyds, and asked THEM if I could open up a personal account, as a spouse... And they said yes. No problem.

I told them I was not working, and they were fine with that.

I told them I had no money to put into the account that day, and that was also fine.

They took my passport, which was under my unmarried name, and my marriage certificate, and they gave me a personal account under my married name.

Now, I don't know, it could have been just that branch, or perhaps just that employee... But, that was what happened.

So, if anyone is having issues with getting a personal account they may want to try Lloyds TSB.

OK, I hope this info is helpful to someone!

xxoxooxox,
L.

Hi,

The UK banking sector is going through a complete mauling in terms of their reputation as well as the whole financial situation in regards to the economy. Lloyds TSB needed a bailout, they've just yesterday announced selling off many of their branches to the Co-Op in order to make some money back so that they can pay back the government. I'm not surprised really they'll let more people open up an account so that any money coming into it will help them.

HSBC have remained (relatively) resilient to the economic slowdown - they are a massive corporation and don't really need any extra supportive funding from independent parties. So they aren't needing new potential customers as such and hence why they're keeping their criteria at a higher level to get an account with them

Also, it does depend 'which' kind of account you go for, some do indeed have lower requirements than others. I was in the USA recently, and I just walked into Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase and opened up checking & savings accounts - within 25 minutes at BofA - they're simple accounts I can operate online for instance  and keep in mind I'm not a US citizen, I don't have a Social Security number nor a US postal address etc.

For other's looking for an account, there's no harm in walking into branches of the same bank in different towns to see if they'll give you an account like experienced above. Of course, do the same with different banks as well.

Hopefully, once this current economic slowdown moves into more growth and positive news for the UK, the banking sector will indeed play properly from now on and lending and good banking as well as them bettering their reputation will occur. Until then, do also look at alternatives to the big banks in the shape of Co-Op bank and Metro bank.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

When I first got here, I went to my hubby's bank to open a personal account for myself. It was HSBC. They would only give me a Joint Account with the hubby - not a personal one.

So, a month later, still without a job, bored, I wandered into Lloyds, and asked THEM if I could open up a personal account, as a spouse... And they said yes. No problem.

I told them I was not working, and they were fine with that.

I told them I had no money to put into the account that day, and that was also fine.

They took my passport, which was under my unmarried name, and my marriage certificate, and they gave me a personal account under my married name.

Now, I don't know, it could have been just that branch, or perhaps just that employee... But, that was what happened.

So, if anyone is having issues with getting a personal account they may want to try Lloyds TSB.

OK, I hope this info is helpful to someone!

xxoxooxox,
L.

I had pretty much the same experience with the Lloyds TSB by Manchester University in March this year. I had no job, no money to deposit had just arrived a couple of weeks before, and wanted my own account because I was lining up some freelance work and needed somewhere for them to deposit my pay. My husband wasn't even with Lloyds at the time; I only chose it because it was a convenient location. I thought it might be a chore, but it turned out to be incredibly easy.

I was able to open an account with Lloyds as a visitor in 2009 (albeit a dual-citizen visitor, but I handed over my US passport and they were fine with it). I did have £10 cash to open the account, but didn't use it until I moved over in February 2010.

Since then it's been a big hassle (but eventually doable) to open a business account with HSBC, a cash ISA with Barclays, and a personal account with First Direct (had to apply 3x with them, finally got approved for a basic current/savings account).

Hi,


HSBC have remained (relatively) resilient to the economic slowdown - they are a massive corporation and don't really need any extra supportive funding from independent parties. So they aren't needing new potential customers as such and hence why they're keeping their criteria at a higher level to get an account with them


Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

I saw something yesterday on the news about HSBC and their handling of money laundering. It is big business for them and they seem to go by different rules than other banks and appear to ignore governments requirements.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18867054