Opening a bank account while 'seeking employment' (i.e. unemployed)

Can anyone recommend any banks at which I might be able to open a current account without being employed?

I opened an account at Lloyd's without being employed. I had savings in the States, but that's it. I don't know if it helped that my husband banked there, but we weren't married at the time so he had no legal standing for my debts.

Why would being employed be a condition for opening a bank account?

Most banks won't give you a cheque account if you don't have a regular income because they don't want you going overdrawn. Try Abbey. They do some very basic current accounts with no overdraft facility.

Heh. Lloyd's actually tried to put me down as "seeking employment" -- which, as I was in on a fiancee visa at the time, made me hyperventilate.

I also opened an account at Lloyds. I told them I was seeking employment, it was no problem. There are certain types of accounts you can only open if you're paying in a certain amount into your account each month. The basic ones don't usually require that you have an income. I got a basic one with a debit card and a check book.

Just give your normal occupation, or the job you plan to be doing after finding employment.

Just give your normal occupation, or the job you plan to be doing after finding employment.

That would be fine but they usually want to know your income and maybe your employer's name & address. Also, if stating your usual occupation instead of unemployed leads to you obtain credit (ie an overdraft facility), that's a serious offence.

I've been able to TCOB without writing a single cheque in the (almost) year I've been here.  I really like being able to do electronic payments.

I got my account with HSBC without a problem or a job.  I think I could have gotten cheques, but I opted not to.

That would be fine but they usually want to know your income and maybe your employer's name & address. Also, if stating your usual occupation instead of unemployed leads to you obtain credit (ie an overdraft facility), that's a serious offence.

Is it common to ask for an employer's name & address now?  I don't recall ever being asked that in the past (just wondering, as I've been self-employed for years so never encountered that recently). 

If you just want a basic checking/current account without any credit facilities, and tell them so, I don't see the problem.

Is it common to ask for an employer's name & address now?  I don't recall ever being asked that in the past (just wondering, as I've been self-employed for years so never encountered that recently). 

When my husband and I opened a joint account in March, the bank wanted our employers' name and address as well as our yearly incomes.  I got the feeling it was just a standard question.  We were applying for a current account though, which does come with an overdraft.  However, if you are very clear that all you want is a basic bank account with absolutely no overdraft facility , I don't think there'll be a problem opening one up while unemployed.

I also opened an account at Lloyds. I told them I was seeking employment, it was no problem. There are certain types of accounts you can only open if you're paying in a certain amount into your account each month. The basic ones don't usually require that you have an income. I got a basic one with a debit card and a check book.

This is weird because I opened an account at Lloyds while fully employed, making very decent money which would be paid by standing order into my account and was well over one of the requirements they told me about when outlining income requirements on various accounts. Yet they did not allow me to have anything but their rock-bottom basic "Cash account" with a debit card but NO checkbook (and of course no overdraft facility). It was pretty humiliating.

I don't care about the overdraft option as I'd rather not have that to tempt me anyway, but as I was employed and earning a healthy salary at the time, I still don't know why they refused me a higher class of account.

I don't care about the overdraft option as I'd rather not have that to tempt me anyway, but as I was employed and earning a healthy salary at the time, I still don't know why they refused me a higher class of account.

Most likely it's that you didn't have a long enough UK address history for the last few years/not enough recent activity on your UK credit report.  But again, banking is so variable- you may well have been approved for a current account had you gone to a different bank.