Best bank for a recent immigrant?

trashbat_2

My fiancee recently moved to England from her native Peru. After we get married at the end of this month and she gets her marriage visa, she'll be able to start looking for work. At first she'll probably only be earning a few hundred pounds per month, but she's an experienced systems engineer so if she can work her way back into that career then she should eventually be earning a couple of grand a month at least.

Does anybody have a recommendation about which bank she should go with for a current/savings account? She already has several Peruvian and US bank accounts, but this will be her first UK account.

benjus

A Nationwide FlexAccount would be useful to get free cash withdrawals for those trips back to visit family... my wife is from Bolivia and finds it very useful. If she ever wants to send money home she could get a second card and post it to her family.

Having said that, with no credit history and not being on the electoral register she may have a hard time getting a FlexAccount. Would you consider a joint application?

If she wants to open an account in her name only she may have to make do with a basic bank account until she has established herself here. Nationwide could still be a good option, as they may consider her for an upgrade to FlexAccount after a few months if she operates her basic account responsibly.

She will still need proof of address... having her name included in household bills would be a good idea.

trashbat_2

benjus wrote: »

A Nationwide FlexAccount would be useful to get free cash withdrawals for those trips back to visit family... my wife is from Bolivia and finds it very useful. If she ever wants to send money home she could get a second card and post it to her family.

Thanks, we will look into Nationwide. Free cash withdrawals abroad would definitely be a bonus, I hate those charges, especially because when I take out money when I'm in Peru there's a separate ATM charge from the Peruvian bank on top of what I get charged by LloydsTSB.

Having said that, with no credit history and not being on the electoral register she may have a hard time getting a FlexAccount. Would you consider a joint application?

It's something else that we are considering - also I think it'll help when we come to apply for the ILR visa in a couple of years' time.

She will still need proof of address... having her name included in household bills would be a good idea.

Yeah, about to get her name put on the council tax register for that very reason.

Thanks for all the tips

cpdc1030

Hi there,

When I moved to the UK from Canada in early 2006, it was an extremely frustrating process trying to get a bank account open. Despite a stellar credit record back home, and having already started my job in the UK, I had to go through several banks and building societies before being succesful.

At first, I naturally tried to get the highest interest paying account - which at the time was A&L. I was turned down, and told to apply for their basic account (which pays no interest). I was also turned down for this!

About a month and many declined applications later, Barclays finally accepted me for a current account with a Visa electron card. At that point I was so exasperated that I was estatic to just have an account to pay my wages into and be able to make purchases in the shops! Until then I was still having to draw on my accounts overseas.

Although Barclays may not offer the most competitive product, they are your best chance to open an account without hassles. I would be very surprised if Nationwide accepted someone new to the UK (from outside the EU) - they sure didn't accept me.

After a period of about two years, then your fiancee should be a bit more "desirable" to the banks with the strict requirements, and be able to get a more competitive account. I am just now finally able to get a more competitive current account.

benjus

cpdc1030 wrote: »

Hi there,

When I moved to the UK from Canada in early 2006, it was an extremely frustrating process trying to get a bank account open. Despite a stellar credit record back home, and having already started my job in the UK, I had to go through several banks and building societies before being succesful.

I would agree that she would probably face the same situation that you did if she tries to apply on her own. However, I believe a joint application with a British citizen (assuming he is established here with a credit history etc) would be a different matter. When I returned to the UK with my wife, we just went into the nearest branch of my bank and asked for her to be added to my current account to make it a joint account. It took about 10 minutes.

MPH80

Little tip - when in Peru - use ScotiaBank - no extra charge on top of the Nationwide card.

(My wife's peruvian too!)

Second tip - and for ease - add her as a joint account holder on one of your accounts. We did that at Nationwide - and they didn't bat an eyelid as long as we had some bills/council tax to prove residency. Once you do that - providing there's an overdraft - they'll start reporting it to the credit agencies and she'll build up a credit record.

Yes you're right about the ILR visa - collect every single bit of documentation you can - you'll need at least 20 identifiers from a variety of sources over the 2 years.

Final tip - get her registered on the IRIS system at the airports - saves so much time when going through.

M.

Scousebird_2

HSBC Passport account will give her a range of benefits and will help her settle into her first year in the UK. She will get an International Debit card that she can use when she returns home for visits. as well as a few other things and she can open preferrential savings accounts as well to run alongside the Passport account.

Have a look at this link.

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/current-accounts/passport;jsessionid=0000q1KRvKwSonCb94ntaZQVFD4:12ntf2618

skyrider007

Scousebird wrote: »

HSBC Passport account will give her a range of benefits and will help her settle into her first year in the UK. She will get an International Debit card that she can use when she returns home for visits. as well as a few other things and she can open preferrential savings accounts as well to run alongside the Passport account.

Have a look at this link.

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/personal/current-accounts/passport;jsessionid=0000q1KRvKwSonCb94ntaZQVFD4:12ntf2618

HSBC Passport is a good account however I believe they charges £7 per month (with a 12-month contract).

trashbat_2

I've only got the one bank account - a LloydsTSB Classic Plus, which does have a £6k overdraft facility. Sounds as though the best and easiest thing for us to do would be to turn it into a joint account, and perhaps open a basic account with Nationwide too, which we could transfer money into for withdrawal over there (cheers for the Scotiabank tip! )

Thanks for all the useful information, very much appreciated!

MPH80

One final tip for you - something we discovered earlier in the week - get TWO copies of your marriage certificate.

Not only is it a good thing to have anyway (for when a company loses it) ... but when you register your marriage at the Peruvian consulate they'll keep your marriage certificate copy you provide there. E.g. you lose your copy!

M.

nzseries1

When my sister moved here last month, I told her to apply for a Halifax EasyCash (a basic bank account).

She incorrectly applied for a regular Halifax Current Account, which turned out to be a blessing. They accepted her even though she was completely new to the country... the application she did for her National Insurance was proof of address enough for them. So Halifax would be worth a try.