American opening bank account in uk

jvefox

Hi, my girlfriend is american and struggling to open a bank account for herself. currently she shares her mothers account. she has told me that she cannot open an account for herself as she is not on any utility bills, as they are in her mothers name.

Can anyone help? Any infomation would be greatly appreciated.

Aegis

jvefox wrote: »

Hi, my girlfriend is american and struggling to open a bank account for herself. currently she shares her mothers account. she has told me that she cannot open an account for herself as she is not on any utility bills, as they are in her mothers name.

Can anyone help? Any infomation would be greatly appreciated.

Most banks will allow a joint account for people sharing the same residence. If she opens a joint account with her mother, the bank should allow her, as the second applicant, to only provide identification. Alternatively, it might be possible to take written confirmation from the mother that the daughter lives with her, along with proof of address for the mother. Depends on the bank.

Some banks will offer a packaged account for people with no proof of address, but these are usually expensive and often totally unnecessary for someone living in the UK already.

jvefox

the thing is that she doesnt want her mother to have the control over her account. i believe that if you were to take out a joint account in this way, her mother would still have the executive control.

are there other ways to prove residence?

i think that if she were to have a bank account in america already (which i can only assume she has), then she could look for a branch over here, who may be more forgiving?

glider3560

There is a list of what Barclays will take on their website:
http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=popup1group&value=7551&target=_blank&site=pfs

Bobby2

hi - where does she live? as i know that places will accept tennancy agreement.

FB13

I am an American.
Lloyds let me open a current account the day after I moved to the UK. I had a choice between classic and silver. They did not require an utility bill, tenancy agreement, or other proof of address. My passport and visa were enough. However, I've heard they are only willing to do this for recent arrivals. If your girlfriend has been here for months, she may be out of luck with them.

I've heard other Americans say that Barclays do something similar.

If she decides to try Lloyds or Barclays, she'll have to go into the branch. I don't think you can do it online.

If she doesn't need a current account, I'm sure someone would let her open a basic bank account. I later got a basic account with Bank of Scotland for the visa electron card to use with easyjet. I think they only asked for one form of ID.

Baldur

HSBC offer the Passport Current Account for "....anyone moving to the UK or recently settled in the country."

It has a monthly fee of £8 (£6 for the first 3 months).

cottager

Apologies for butting in here with something else...
FB13: just spotted a post from one of your compatriots on the Cutting Tax board which hasn't had any replies so far, though only a bit earlier today... don't know if you could help?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2210647

FB13

cottager wrote: »

Apologies for butting in here with something else...
FB13: just spotted a post from one of your compatriots on the Cutting Tax board which hasn't had any replies so far, though only a bit earlier today... don't know if you could help?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2210647

Did what I could

cottager

fb13 wrote: »

did what i could

.........