Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

My husband (the Brit) and I (USC) will be returning to Scotland after living the last 7 years here in the US. He has been offered a job that he will be starting on 27 June. Initially, he will be staying with his parents, while he looks for a rental. He has no bank accounts, and the credit cards he had back in 2003/04 have since all been cancelled.

How difficult is it going to be for him to get a bank account open? He'll have his passport and the job offer letter as proof of income, but I don't know what he could use as proof of address? All the bills at his parents house will be in their names, not his. The added difficulty is that my OH has spent most of his life outside the UK - he was born and raised in South Africa and only spent ~4yrs in Scotland before moving to the US - so his knowledge of the credit/banking system isn't all that in depth. When he moved from SA to the UK, he did have extreme difficulty in getting an account open as well, and he's afraid of a repeat.

On top of that, he needs to go over with about £10k in order to get established..esp to buy a car and some home goods. How should he bring the £10k with him, if he has no bank account to put it into right away? Traveler's check, cashier's check? Wire transfer isn't an option I would think, since he needs to buy a car right away, and w/out a bank account to already send it to, it could take a week or two to send it over.

Oh the joys of relocating! :lol:

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

My USC son who hadn't lived in UK since he was 4 walked into Bank of Santander and opened a savings account with about £100 he didn't have any bills or anything, just his passport, and US drivers license, and they gave him a cashpoint card to go with it. He kept it till he started work and has switched over to HSBS for his main account and kept Santander as a savings account.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

Look at HSBC, you might be able to open an account from there before you go. It's what we did when we came to Canada, and they keep advertising it as something they do. That way you could electronically transfer any funds to bring, and it would already be in place. Changing address once you're there is very easy.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

When we moved to the US in 2001, we wired our life savings (about $20,000 I think it was at the time...) to my sister-in-law's bank account (we stayed in their basement for about a month.) She simply paid stuff out for us until we were established and had an account, then she wrote us a check for the unspent remainder.. low-tech, but it worked well. maybe he could do that with his parents?

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

Excellent idea Robin. I think we're going to look into sending the funds to his parents' account, and then once he gets there and get his own account open, we'll transfer the money over to his. We feel much more secure with this method, as carrying that much money on you is never a good idea.

Now I just wonder what the best route for the wire the money over is. I wonder if we should just use our bank (US Bank) or something like XE or HiFX? Need to do some quick research into this.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

That was such a bad idea.

She could have changed her mind about giving it back, died (in which case it would have gone straight into her estate), gone bankrupt, and so on.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

There could also be potential tax implications with moving that amount of money around. For both parties. Check the information here - http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/hsbc-interna.../moving-abroad, just click on the country you are moving to and go from there :) It all stays in your name then, no worries about access or anything.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

I disagree with you.. I think it was a pretty good idea. All those eventualities were pretty remote. She's married and has a joint account, so both she and her husband would have had to die in the 3-5 weeks period of us settling in..! Also she & husband are EVEN MORE financially conservative than us so going bankrupt was not on the cards.. and, if you can't trust family, who can you trust??

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

Don't see how there are tax implications on the money from this side of the pond. We've already paid our taxes on it in the US.

Now, I would be curious to know how it could affect his folks, if at all.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

There is no way I would transfer money into someone else's account. As JAJ said...you don't know what could happen. Besides there is a limit as to how much money you can 'give' someone before it being subject to tax.

I would contact a few banks...explain your situation and see what they can come up with.

Edit: In the US forums several people have said they've opened accounts in the UK (AMEX and HSBC I think) who have banks in the US. Then when they've moved their accounts have been transferred. Surely if they can do that...accounts can be transferred from the US to UK.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

I think it could be a good short-term solution if BL cannot open a British account easily from here. We had a nightmare trying to get hold of our money when we first arrived, due to an utterly incompetent banker in the UK it's true.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

Well, not to be TMI about it, but we've had concerns about opening up an account with a bank here (i.e. HSBC) that has also has presence there due to the fact that we have had to file bankruptcy (due to my job loss last year). We are concerned that somehow our bankruptcy here will effect our credit there if the 2 banks talk to each other. I don't even know where to begin in trying to search and see if this is a possibility. :huh:

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

Also, is it common to pay a monthly maintenance fee on a bank account in Britain? I noticed the HSBC passport account charges £8/mo, and while that isn't much it just rubs me the wrong way that I would have to pay to have access to my own funds. :thumbdown:

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

Can you call or email some of the UK banks? There was a thread a couple of years ago...either in The Lounge or this forum about opening UK bank accounts...someone named a bank that they had opened an account with.

Edit: Found it.... http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...K+bank+account Post # 26...Lloyds Bank. Don't know how reliable the info is though. :unsure:

It may be worth searching the MBTTUK forums to see if there is other info.

Just thought of one more thing...any overseas accounts totalling $10K or more has to be reported to the US authorities.

Re: Returning UKC & Lack of Bank Account Concerns
 

Lloyds TSB appear to be interested in business from new residents of the UK:
http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_acc..._to_the_uk.asp

Although be aware that if the account is at a Lloyds TSB branch in Scotland it will probably be "sold" to someone else:
http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_acc..._to_the_uk.asp

Alternatively, it's easier to open an account in the Isle of Man or Channel Islands. This can be used for regular payments like any onshore UK bank account HOWEVER, you need to be aware that the deposit protection (in case a bank goes bankrupt) is quite limited in these territories. Many people lost a lot of money in 2008 when certain bank operations in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands went bankrupt.

For example, HSBC:
http://www.offshore.hsbc.com/1/2/int...g/ways-to-bank


Does your husband have a green card and if so, is he planning to abandon it?