Hey folks,
I wanted to report my success story in getting a bank account opened so that others may benefit from this in the future.
Like most everyone else, I came over and tried to get a bank account open with my passport and other forms of ID and US address information and was thoroughly denied due to an inability to prove UK address of residence. After a couple days of walking into banks on my lunch break, etc, I finally ran into a lady in the HSBC on High Street in Staines that told me that she would accept as proof of address a letter from my employer written directly to the bank.
1. The letter did not need to be mailed - simply handed directly over by myself.
2. The letter needed to "introduce" me to the bank and confirm IN THE BODY of the letter the address that my company had on file.
3. The letter also (just for safe measure) included my job title, salary, and start date.
So I go back to my employer and get the nice HR lady to produce this letter. Then I go back to the bank. They took the letter and disappeared for 5 minutes, calling my company to validate the information.
And then she returned and said everything was in order.
Now, let me interrupt my orderly description of the experience for a little colorful metaphor...... GOODNESS GRACIOUS, pre-proof of address I felt treated like some sort of criminal terrorist plotting to blow something up. And as soon as she had decided to accept my letter, her demeanor changed to treat me as if I was part of the royal family. So very strange.
Ok, got that out of my system, better now...........
In the long run, they got a photocopy of the following documents:
1. Passport - first page and page with entry clearance visa glued in.
2. Work Permit received from the UK Home Office by my company
3. My US Address Identification (driver's license)
And of course she kept the original of the letter from my company. She did let me have a copy of that, however, which I am using at other places (car buying, etc).
In the long run, they were MORE then happy to open up a full current account, a savings account, and a credit card with a generous credit limit. I think the whole process is nuts. And everything your read here about the inconsistencies in the system is TOTALLY correct. It's really hit or miss or, as I like to say, customer service roulette.
Persistence and you will eventually get there.
Now, in retrospect, if I had gotten that letter before I even arrived, I think I could have gotten the account opened on my first day in the country.
I should also note that she said that I could use that letter as proof of my identity "because I had not been in the country for 4 months yet". Ok, whatever. Glad its all done with.
