Banks???

I will be moving to England in August and am wondering if any of you can give any good advice about what bank to bank with? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

What part of England are you going to? I have been doing some research too and it looks like schwab has a good package and they also have a branch in London.  Wrote them to see if transfers between US-UK are painless. I will try to remember to update this post if you are interested.

Not sure if i'd recommend Schwab.
I've never heard of them, and they don't have high street branches that im aware of.
I suppose it depends on what they offer you and what type of banking you do...

I will be moving to hereford. I would like to stay with a big known chain.. SO far I have found Barcleys and Yorkshire. Have you heard of them?

Both are big banks HSBC and first direct are good we find anyway and HSBC has branches in the US also and we have found them to be very good especially when we wanted my name put onto my wifes accounts, they require proof of address (bills) that type of stuff rent book passport that sort of thing.

Good luck

Indy and wife

Barclays was good to me, got me set up right away when I got here without a lot of the hassles I was given when I first went into National Westminster.  I suggest if you have any problems, you can also contact grumpylad here, who is my hero and helped me in so many ways.

The thing about banks is that everyone you ask has different opinions - service can vary tremendously from branch to branch.  You'd be better off asking someone in Hereford rather than just UK residents in general!

Generally speaking you'd be best starting with one of the big high street banks - Barclays, Lloyds TSB, atwest (who are owned by Royal Bank of Scotland), Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), HSBC (who own FirstDirect, Abbey (owned by Santander).

Interest rates etc are often better through Internet banking but it is usually easier to move to that once you are more settled.

If you are going to use the remittance basis of taxation, you should choose a branch offshore to save UK tax.

I wouldn't use Lloyds...they got robbed in the last movie I saw in the theaters.  Sorry had to say it. I would agree with what everyone has said, especially Meg though. It really depends on what you need. I have read tons of things about what people have said, Some side with Barclays, some don't. Some side with HSBC, some don't.
HSBC would be my choice but the nearest branch I found by me (in the US) was in California. So that didn't work out for me.
I liked Schwab because if it's remote accessibility here in the states and then only being an hour away from me in the UK.
However, if you don't need to transfer funds to the US, it might just be a matter of which bank is simpler to open an account.

Hi,

Lloyds TSB was very nice to me when I first came over, and opened up an account for me without a lot of hassle, and has been fine since then.  I don't use them for anything fancy; just a basic checking account with a debit card.

good luck,
Carl

I said I would update on the Schwab route:
They do have a branch in London. They function just like a regular branch in the UK EXCEPT they work in dollars and not pounds!
So..question of my own. Besides trying to get a cash withdraw from there would anyone think this would be a bad idea?
I mean I get to use the ATM card and all the other perks of a bank that uses pounds.

We've always had good service at Nationwide, but then again this was in adding me to Alex's existing account, not from scratch.

I said I would update on the Schwab route:
They do have a branch in London. They function just like a regular branch in the UK EXCEPT they work in dollars and not pounds!
So..question of my own. Besides trying to get a cash withdraw from there would anyone think this would be a bad idea?
I mean I get to use the ATM card and all the other perks of a bank that uses pounds.

If you look at the Schwab UK website, it would appear that the UK branch mainly facilitates US dollar investments; it doesn't operate like a normal high-street bank would.  If you're looking for a place to pay-in your wages and pay-out your bills, I wouldn't use Schwab.

On the individual account you can wire money in and have a debit card to pay for things. HOWEVER I did notice that they have a charge to exchange money and also you have to open the account with $10,000. I don't think I want to invest that much even on a trial run.
The search continues for me.. 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention MrsRichUK. 

If you are going to live and work in the UK, getting paid in pounds and spending money in pounds, you really need a bank that transacts in pounds. Every time you have to  change money from one currency to another you are going to be charged a fee.

I agree with Meg; banks vary from branch to branch. Get recommendations from local people.