Bank account!

hey everyone, so I'm moving to London in less than 2 weeks and I plan to be there for about 1.5 years. I need to set up a bank account so I'm not using my American debit card and account again like I did when I studied abroad -- annoying and expensive. I was wondering how I would go about this. Should I try to set something up before I get there? Should I do nothing? Should I get money in travelers checks? I literally don't know what to do, but I'm just trying to be prepared on the necessary steps to take BEFORE I go to London, because when I get there, I plan to open up a bank account. I really just don't know the steps to take beforehand so I can put my money into it.

THANKS!

Usually to open a UK bank account, you need to go into the UK bank in person, with your passport and visa and proof of UK address (i.e. utility bill).

I think there are a couple of international passport accounts that can be set up from outside the UK (I think maybe HSBC does one?), but you will have to pay for them, and to be honest, if you're moving in the next couple of weeks, it may be cheaper and easier to wait until you are in the UK before opening an account.

We didn't do anything before we left.  We went to HSBC to find out what we needed (the basics really- for use, passport, employee contract, visa) and set up an appointment to come back and got the account set up.  We didn't have a permanent address at that point either.  I think we used our B&B or the banks address and had our debit cards and pin numbers sent to HSBC (usually they don't like to do that but they made an exception and it worked out). 

I was able to open an offshore NatWest account for my husband and I before I got here.

http://www.natwestinternational.com/nw/offshore-banking.ashx

I did need to mail them notarized copies of my passport though (basically we went to our own bank and got a notary to sign the photocopy and fill out a form saying that she had checked our documents and that we were who we said we were).

I am waiting until I get there to open a bank account, but in the mean time I upgraded my American Express to a platinum card. There is an initial $450 fee, but there are no foreign purchase fees, and they credit $200 a year back in airline fees (for those 3 extra checked bags and cocktails on the plane  ) There are also perks like free companion airline tickets, hotel upgrades, travel and baggage insurance, and club access at airports and a ton of other things that sound really good but I will probably never use. When I looked into just the insurance and baggage fees it costs way more than $450. I don't know if I will keep paying the fees after the first year, but for the initial trip it was money well spent. I don't know if it helps you, but if you are in a time crunch, it might be easier and less stressful than trying to open an off shore account.

Not sure if you are studying or if you have a job, but I know my future university issues a "bank letter" to international students so they can open a bank account. I feel as though most universities should be able to advise you there.  If you're there for a job then I'd just do what other posters are saying and find out when you get there what the bank requires and then get those docs.

I've done 2 several month long stays in the UK, most recently for four months last fall.  I ended up opening a capital one Venture card because of the rewards and the lack of international fees. I took over a lot of UK cash with me that I order from my bank here ahead of time and lived off my credit card and that cash. The only issue I ever ran Ito was the fact that most UK cashiers are bamboozled by our swipe cards. So I certainly plan to get a UK bank account and chip and pin card when I move next year.

Setting up a bank account has been a major pain in the a**!  After several tries, my employer finally discovered the right set of words to put on the paper so I could open an account.  However, my spouse who does all our shopping etc. still cannot get an account.  Even though we are married, the bank still requires a utility bill in HER name before we can attach her to our account.  She can't even open an account with her own money.  It's been enormously frustrating.  We're hoping that her name will appear on our water bill, whenever we finally get one.

Our U.S. bank has been worse.  Their website won't handle U.K. phone numbers or post-codes, so I cannot enter our U.K. address correctly.  Any time there is the slightest issue, we have to go back & forth several times, usually starting with them telling me I have to visit my nearest branch.    Doing a simple wire transfer from them to our U.K. bank took nearly two weeks.

Then there was my Chase credit card, which was frozen after we landed at Heathrow and I tried to pay for a cab.  If it hadn't been for my wife's card (based on her bank) we would have been without access to any money at all.  It took nearly a month to convince Chase that the "secure message" I had sent them earlier about moving to the U.K. was, in fact, true.

If I had to do it over again, I would definitely set up an account with a real, international bank.  HSBC may be the way to go, I can't really say.  But I can't trust U.S. banks any farther than I could heave one of their bloated executives with my left pinky.

A wire transfer should never, EVER take nearly 2 weeks. My last one was initiated at 9:30 am in the US, and was in the UK account that same day. The only reason for that sort of delay is an error by the bank - incorrect IBAN or sort code, or similar which cause the transfer to bounce back.

There were no incorrect codes or numbers; our U.S. bank didn't believe it was really me.  When I didn't hear anything for a couple of days after my initial request I e-mailed them and they told me I had to stop into a local branch to verify my identity.  After several e-mails I finally convinced them that wasn't an option.  Finally we called them long-distance so they could ask me some "security" questions to be sure it was really me.  A day or so later they finally initiated the transfer.

Now you tell me I could expect a same-day transfer?  That's just mean. 

I've done a few wire transfers over the years and it seems to take 3 or 4 business days for me.  Never been so lucky as a same day!  But mine have been from totally unrelated banks (not HSBC or Chase which is in both the UK and US).

My husband and I do wire transfers from our US bank to our UK account - all done the same day as well.  We didn't go via our banks - we use Xoom.com.

My husband and I do wire transfers from our US bank to our UK account - all done the same day as well.  We didn't go via our banks - we use Xoom.com.

Oooo, I'll remember that for the future!

My husband and I do wire transfers from our US bank to our UK account - all done the same day as well.  We didn't go via our banks - we use Xoom.com.

We use XE.com for our transfers to/from our accounts in the US and UK. It usually takes about 4-6 days.

I'm assuming you lock in an exchange rate...a lot can happen in 4-6 days. If I like the rate my US bank offers, I send the transfer as GBP. If I'm gambling on the rate being more favorable, I send as USD.