Back to UK---Bank account??

niamh07

My daughter is moving back to the UK after living in North America for 32years. She is retired, but will have a lot of money (and I mean a lot!) to transfer over here, and needs a bank account. Savings account would do initially. She will be staying with me until she buys her own property. She will have no utility bills, coucil tax bills, nor any other proof of residence guff that all the banks seem to require. All she's got is money! Is there a way out of this situation?? Could I act as guarantor for instance? She is ok for identity, but no proof of residence.
Any help out there?

HappyMJ

If she's still in Canada now she can apply to open a UK bank account as a returning ex-pat. HSBC have a presence in Canada and also in the UK...try them.

jonesMUFCforever

Does your daughter still have her NI number?
If so get her to ask for a copy of her tax coding letter for this tax year to be sent to your address.

A lot of banks have stopped taking introductions from adult family members so this may be a way forward.

niamh07

She has asked HMRC for her Nat Ins number using their online form and my address ( she had a N.I. number in 1983 but has lost it) No reply so far---this was 3 weeks ago, do these guys usually take this long?
Thanks for the replies so far.

jonesMUFCforever

Did you fill in form CA5043?

Roseanne1

niamh07 wrote: »

She has asked HMRC for her Nat Ins number using their online form and my address ( she had a N.I. number in 1983 but has lost it) No reply so far---this was 3 weeks ago, do these guys usually take this long?
Thanks for the replies so far.

Yeah, they are pretty inefficient to say the very least. A lot is down to heavy staff cuts though and everything being centralised. Having a long backlog of mail to respond to is quite normal for HMRC. I believe, the last time I looked, I was told not to expect a reply for nine weeks. :eek:

Incidently, you don't say how much money your daughter has but, if it is more than £85,000, she would be safer to split it so that she has no more than this in each institution. Be careful because the crucial word here is institution. Some banks fall under a group so, for the £85,000 financial services compensation scheme threshold, for example, HSBC, First Direct and M&S bank all count as one institution.

colsten

Roseanne1 wrote: »

Incidently, you don't say how much money your daughter has but, if it is more than £85,000, she would be safer to split it so that she has no more than this in each institution. Be careful because the crucial word here is institution. Some banks fall under a group so, for the £85,000 financial services compensation scheme threshold, for example, HSBC, First Direct and M&S bank all count as one institution.

That's a very good point, and the protection limit comes down to £75K in January.

For no limits in protection, go to NS & I.

pmduk

It might be worth asking if her N American bank has a correspondent bank over here to arrange an introduction?

ST-User

niamh07 wrote: »

She will have no utility bills, coucil tax bills, nor any other proof of residence guff that all the banks seem to require. All she's got is money! Is there a way out of this situation??

When we came to the UK, were in the same situation. We rented a part of a house, directly from the owner so no utility bills on our names. The landlord gave us a hand-written letter, stating that we were living at that address, and gave some of his utility bills to us to prove the address. The first bank refused to open an account, the second one wanted to think some weeks on the question. So we visited their other branch in a bigger town nearby and they opened us the account without any problem.

If you go with her, with your utility bills and confirm personally that she is living at your address, you will surely find a bank that opens her an account.

Round_The_Bend

niamh07 wrote: »

She has asked HMRC for her Nat Ins number using their online form and my address ( she had a N.I. number in 1983 but has lost it) No reply so far---this was 3 weeks ago, do these guys usually take this long?
Thanks for the replies so far.

I was recently told by HMRC that they are taking around seven weeks to process such requests.

eDicky

While she still has a North American address, maybe she can use that to open a GBP account in a third country such as Singapore or Hong Kong, or in Jersey / Guernsey / Isle of Man, with attached debit card for general use in UK. Then later she can change the registered address to UK or open an onshore UK account when more established here.

For example, HSBC Premier account in Singapore, or Santander in Jersey.