Opening UK Bank Account

kevinmcc

Hi,
I might be moving to Northern Ireland soon and I was wondering is it hard to open a bank account. I take it I need a NI address as they wont take a ROI address? If so I'll only be renting and probably wont be able to get proof of a NI address so would a recent bank statement from AIB at my Irish address do? Anyone have any idea on this?

grumpytrousers

I moved to England in 1999 and had an awful time trying to open an account - no more than yourself, I was renting and while it would take time to get my name on any household bill, the banks weren't very understanding in the short term.

Your best bet is to get some kind of letter of introduction from your own branch, works best if you're from a small town where you're actually known, such that they effectively vouch for you. Perhaps get them to sign a photocopied page from your passport or something.Go to a branch of same bank in NI, and you're half way there - i.e. if Mary in Castlepollard branch says that you're Joe Bloggs and has signed your ID, then the folks in, say, Coleraine will be a bit easier on you.

What I ended up doing was give the two fingers to barclays et al, and instead one of the girls in my home branch rang the UK branch of Bank of Ireland, introduced me, and they were happy with a Passport...

silverside

Ulster Bank in Newry used to open accounts with a southern address. You will need a passport/d.licence + bills (ESB etc) as proof of identity. Not too many questions asked. Don't know about other branches of UlsterBank - ring and ask.

However this is not linked up with the Nat West bank in England so not the best if you want to operate the account from outside N.I.


If you did want to open an English account, be prepared for a lot of hassle. They will ask for UK ID with proof of address. Some of the easier ways of getting UK ID include:
changing your d/licence to your UK address
getting your Irish credit card statement posted to your UK address.
getting a letter from your landlord/college showing your address.

They can still be quite fussy. It helps a bit if you say you will be paying salary into it.

In England I found Nationwide and Nat West the most helpful.

BuffyBot

If you're moving to NI, try to use the same banking group (see below), as a reference from your own branch may help speed the process.

AIB own First Trust Bank, Bank Of Ireland/Ulster Bank are both same as their ROI equivelants and NIB's sister bank in NI is Northern Bank (both are owned by the same parent National Austrailia Bank).

0utshined

If you're working, or will be, for a company in the UK, ask their HR dept to give you a letter of introduction to their bank. It should do the trick.

0

beer enigma

BuffyBot wrote:

If you're moving to NI, try to use the same banking group (see below), as a reference from your own branch may help speed the process.

AIB own First Trust Bank, Bank Of Ireland/Ulster Bank are both same as their ROI equivelants and NIB's sister bank in NI is Northern Bank (both are owned by the same parent National Austrailia Bank).

Best route...I moved to NI for 2 years through work & had an account with AIB, one call to my manager & they arranged a First Trust account with no hassle...

shoegirl

0utshined wrote:

If you're working, or will be, for a company in the UK, ask their HR dept to give you a letter of introduction to their bank. It should do the trick.

0

This only works if they are opening an account in the bank that they deal with. The easiest way to do it is to change the address on your credit card or bank here and order a statement. Quick and easy.

Also they tend to want proof of income, otherwise they will only give you a basic bank account (something that doesn't really exist here in the bigger banks). They might take a job offer or contract as proof of income. UK banks are far tougher on laundering legislation than the banks here.

eth0_

If you have an MBNA credit card, you can change the address to your Northern one as they operate in the UK also, gives you proof of address pretty quickly.

I opened an account with cahoot.com, great bank (had to lie and say i'd been in the UK 3 years tho ). Don't go NEAR the Halifax. Pack of fools.

grumpytrousers

I opened an account with cahoot.com, great bank (had to lie and say i'd been in the UK 3 years tho ). Don't go NEAR the Halifax. Pack of fools.

Oh - Forgot - if you're gonna apply for a UK based Credit Card - be sure to say, (as eth0_ said) that you've lived at that address for 3 years.

Do not, REPEAT, do not say 'I've lived here 6 months and the last 2 and a half in the republic' , as your Irish address - sans postcode - will draw a blank, you'll be refused the card, and you'll get a black mark on the credit history. Tell a wee white lie and you're laughing.

obv if you're not gonna live long term there, this ain't a problem, but the 'bad credit history' can attach (second hand) to the property as well, and if you're residing with mates or anything, you may well p*** on their doorstep!

ChipZilla

grumpytrousers wrote:

obv if you're not gonna live long term there, this ain't a problem, but the 'bad credit history' can attach (second hand) to the property as well, and if you're residing with mates or anything, you may well p*** on their doorstep!

Not any more. Equifax, Experian, etc now recognise that people can actually have flatmates ot tenants and that people living at the same address might not be related or into in cahoots for the purpose of getting dodgy credit. You can write to these companies for a report on you and your address once you have some ID (You need to send them proof of who you are and proof of address). If you find that something bad shows up on the report, you write to them and tel them you want to be dis-associated from the bad entries.

kevinmcc

Thnaks guys i'm going to ring around the banks and see first and maybe go down the AIB -> First Trust route.