HELP!!!..U.K bank account nightmares

Hiya'll

We are a newly arrived couple in london .( arrived here july 8th ) My wife is an Eu national and i am American . We have had rejection after rejection in trying to open a savings account . We are currently staying with friends and are in the process of looking for an apartment but we are being turned down by landlords who insisted that we provide a bank statement . As most of you know, to get a bank statement you need proof of utilitiy bills and lease agreement . We have active US accounts with substantial deposits and letters of reference but it has not helped . Can anyone please advise us if there is any way we could set up a savings account ? We have already tried HSBC and Halifax but were turned down . We even offerd to get a letter written from the folks we are staying with to confirm that we reside there but it will not suffice . Is there any way around this catch 22 situation ?

Also if anyone is renting a room/flat in london please email us .

thanks heaps
Zufan

Have you any relatives in the UK who would cosign a bank account?

Is there any way around this catch 22 situation ?

The panacea for the situation where a family arrives with no inland banking connections is a so-called "letter of introduction" - and they don't work in every case; but should work most of the time.   Mostly, they are written by a personnel officer because people arriving on a work permit are in your situation.  Otherwise you can use your lawyer or the correspondent for your American bank.  I do them when I work on a visa application for someone, but they are aimed at 3 or 4 bank managers who I know in the first instance.  And even then it's not always successful.

Also if anyone is renting a room/flat in london please email us .

Do you mean if someone is "letting" a flat?  Do you want somebody that is a landlord and has a flat available?  Or to someone who rents a flat?  Confused.

Here's an old thread on the subject, but it may have some useful info in it. 

http://www.talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=511.0

Let's see... trying to remember how we did it. This may or may not be pertinent to you. We rented our house by getting a guarantor for me (ended up just being a good friend of my boyfriend) and having the rent set up to come from my boyfriend's bank account which he already had since he's a UK citizen and had a credit history. Then we had the lease agreement plus my passport which was all HSBC needed. I didn't qualify for an overdraft or a check guarantee card straight away - just a really basic banking account.

I used to work in the New Account Sanctioning team for a major UK bank....

You say you have active accounts in the US?  Where are your statements for those accounts going?
If they are coming to your UK address, the one you share with friends, that should take care of your Table B (address verification) requirement.

If you go to a Nat West or Royal Bank of Scotland branch, you should only have to show a passport or UK driving licence to prove your identity, and a statement from your US bank addressed to your UK address (!!) to satisfy the address verification part of it.

If you dont have a job, you wont be able to get a current account, but you should be able to get a Step account (Nat West) or a Key account (RBS) or any of several savings accounts.

( disclaimer:  I no longer work in the account sanctioning team, so its possible the rules have changed since i left..)      Good luck!

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I have checked the old threads but the topic on opening UK bank account is over 1.5 years old . I guess banking rules have tightned since then.
We have now gone to five HSBC banks in london and all say that we need the 3 months US bank statements , proof of employment , utility bill under our name etc.

I will try the advice about getting the three months U.S. bank statements mailed  via our temp. UK address . I will email progress report .

About the room/flat rental . We are looking to rent a room or studio apartment in london. If anyone is renting or sub-letting please email me. It would be for my wife and i .
thanks heaps
Zufan

Zufan ... in case you haven't seen it, check your private messages.  There's some info there that might help.

I will try the advice about getting the three months U.S. bank statements mailed  via our temp. UK address . I will email progress report .

MAKE SURE the statements are not addressed to Zufan c/o your friend.... if it says 'care of', they will not be acceptable.  Also, there is no requirement for you to have 3 months statements... just a recent statement that is less than 3 months old.

Thanks heaps Caitlinn & Broxi !!

Didnt realize i had a private message..

Both Your heads up was very valuable, you just saved me a bit from a prolonged run-around.
We have finally secured a studio flat and will be able to to provide the bank with utility/landlord documents .

I will be be back with a progress report.

Best
Kerubel

I'll just throw in my two cents here.  I started applying for a bank account (with Barclays) on June 7.  I brought everything with me that I could think of:

1.  my husband
2.  my birth certificate
3.  our marriage certificate
4.  my spousal visa/my passport
5.  a stack of bank statements from Bank of America mailed to my current UK address
6.  letters from my new UK job
7.  the lease from our current home

NONE of the above was acceptable.  I was asked to produce a UK bank statement (hello, if I had that I wouldn't be applying for a bank account!), and two utility bills in my name (um, how do I do that?  I moved in w/ DH, so his name is on all of the bills and it's next to impossible to be added to most of them!).  Ugh.  Cue total frustration.  I went back to the bank THREE times.  The final time, I brought:

1.  council tax bill (lists me as Mrs. L Lastname)
2.  the water bill (addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Lastname)
3.  all of the above already listed

Now the huge problem was that my name wasn't specifically listed on the council tax.  It had to be "Lola Lastname" because my husband could have been previously married to Lilly or Linda or Louise Lastname.  Same deal with the water bill.  Additionally, the water bill had not been stamped PAID (because we don't pay bills in person...who does?), and they wouldn't take my word that we'd paid the £13 bill anyway.  Also my passport is in my maiden name and the bills listed my married name.  I POINT TO THE MARRIAGE CERTFICATE AND THE SPOUSAL VISA.  Ugh. Cue frustration again.

All told, I sat in the bank for nearly 3 hours on that last visit.  I was told that the "head of operations" would have to be called re; my maiden v. married names, the L instead of Lola on the bills, etc.  I was promised a phone call with my account number on June 10 or 11.  I never got the call.  I left 5 messages over the next couple of weeks and never got a call back.  My husband got so frustrated that he went to the bank himself and demanded that something be done about my account (or lack thereof).  Ultimately, it took nearly another week until I had a bank account number.

We've just back from holiday (on the 12th), and I do now have a debit card, but no cheques came through the post.  Also, they appear to have signed me up for some funky account that transfers my money all over the place to 3 separate account (apparently it makes "my money work harder" for me...uh huh) and I have to call and get that sorted.  God help me.

My point?  Don't go to Barclays.  I've NEVER seen such half-assed service.  Blech.   

 

If you are in London, you might want to consider Citibank as they are tied to the US and might be easier.  I know my job helped me set up my account there...but it sounded as if they are a bit "nicer" to Americans than some others.  Best to you!

Don't take this the wrong way -- but I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who had a nightmare just to OPEN a bank account!!  What's that saying?  Misery LOVES company!!   

Don't take this the wrong way -- but I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who had a nightmare just to OPEN a bank account!!  What's that saying?  Misery LOVES company!!   

Yeah, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one, too.  I'm telling you though... I was FUMING when I left Barclay's the first time.  I've worked in banking before (in the US), and it took about an hour to open a  bank account for customers...and they left with checks (albeit the unprinted ones that nobody will accept, but still!!!), an account number, and an actual account!  It took FIVE WEEKS for me to get a UK bank account...compared with the FIVE MINUTES it took to get my spousal visa...sheesh!

(Can you tell that I just can't let go of this experience?)   

Thanks again for the heads up everyone.

I am finally moved in to an east london area ( hackney ), not the greatest area but its very vibrant and full of life. I will check out Citibank on monday and see what they say.
Does anyone know how long it takes to get the utility bills sent to our address ?
Also, i did not bring any bank statements from the US because i had switched to online banking so i make online payments and transactions. The problem is that USBS will not accept online statement print-outs , but hopefully i can get my bank in the US  (Wells Fargo ) to send me a one-time paper statement to my UK address .

Best regards to all
Zufan