silk1

HI I will move to Canada in 2010 and want to open a bank account in advance from the UK. I have seen that HSBC does it but charges 100£, does anyone else know any other bank?
thanks

Aviator

If you check through the advanced search function, you should come up with all the info you need. There are many threads on this topic.

twotoast

You may also like to check out this link to the Federal Government's website that suggests possible accounts based upon your needs:

http://www.fcac-acfc.gc.ca/eng/consu...ob/default.asp

Whilst it does not help you with opening an account from the UK (- why would you do that, it is quick and easy to do it once you are here?), it does throw up some very good suggestions.

Sam-in-Okotoks

Where in Canada are you moving too ?? If you are coming to Calgary I can put you in touch with somebody who can open an account for you.
Sam

G77

£100 with HSBC was money well spent imo - I had cheques, debit card and credit card in hand before even leaving the UK.

Aviator

£100 to set up a bank account! I used RBC, not charges to open account. I would not dream of paying a bank for the privilege of opening an account.

mandymoochops

All of the banks do it, RBC, BMO, etc. You just need to go to the respective websites, they'll all have 'immigrant' oh sorry 'newcomers to Canada' sections, and you can open the accounts that way.

You won't get your debit card, and the liklehood of a credit card is slim due to the no credit history issue. That said you'll have a chequing / savings account number that you can use to deposit funds via wire transfer if you need to do that prior to you getting here - all you do to activate the account when you arrive is go into whichever branch you allocated to be your home branch - show originals of your ID and then you'll get your debit card, temp cheques and you're good to go.

As was said above I don't really see the point unless you want to send money over before you get here - banks here give you your debit card on the spot - you don't need to wait for 2 weeks like in the UK.

silk1

Hi thank you all for the advise.
my only reason for opening the account in advance is to exchange pounds to CND at more favorable rates while they are still reasonable. They are going down the drain
I am looking at fixing the rates with forward contracts thought so that may remove the problem.

simmo196

Have you thought of using paypal to transfer funds to Canada, i've heard its the best and cheapest way to do it.

lancashirebird

but they charge you to receive money..........
plus with all the horror storys about paypal, i think i would rather trust the banks
Plus they have a clause here when getting a morgage etc that they like to see where your money has come from
we opened ours with RBC, couldnt see the point in paying 100 quid to open an account

LB

G77

It's all about the credit card - £100 to have one in hand before you land with a $5k credit limit was worth it in my opinion.... Rather than having to get a secured card etc etc

lancashirebird

We got this with RBC
We opened the account on recci, deposited some money and when we landed we booked in to see the manager, sorted everything out and walked out with debit cards for me and OH and a $3k credit card (unsecured)
I find speaking to them face to face here works better....plus taking OH info from uk to her and employement contract

Aviator

RBC gave us those too, one for each of us, no deposit asked for or offered. I believe the account we got was the VIP account. They gave us the account for two years no charge then $30 a month, but no additional fees, it includes three accounts and two cards with sufficient limits for our needs.

Aviator

FX houses are the easiest and most cost effective way to transfer funds.

james_smith99

if you think the rates are still reasonable then for gods sake don't look at what they were a couple of years ago !! hopeully by the time you go next year (and far more importantly whan i go next year ), there'll be starting to go back in the other direction