Getting an Irish bank account

daniel3982

Hi,

I am moving over to Ireland in a few weeks time, and will be finding a flatshare and temping once I get to Dublin...

At the moment I have a graduate account with Nat West in the UK with an agreed £2000 overdraft that I pay interest on, I have no problems with this account at all, it's all fine and dandy, I have a £400 credit card with Nat West that I just service the debt on really.

When I move over I've saved up almost £2k so I will be just within my overdraft.

My question is, when I move to Ireland and set up an account how will they take into account my British account? Will having an overdraft in the UK that I intend to keep servicing for the time being affect me? Will they contact Nat West and possibly put my British account at risk? I want to keep my UK account open so a) I dont have to magic £2k out of nowhere, and b) so I can continue to make payments to UK companies/people from it.

Also is there anyway around needing proof of residence to get a bank account. Just as I am flatsharing I might have a nightmare getting a bill in my name, at least for a while. Could a contract count? What do foreigners usually do in this situation?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

daniel3982

From reading a thread about Irish people moving to London I've noticed some UK banks will accept an Irish bank statement as proof of address if it's routed to your new address. If I get my UK bank/credit card to send a statement to a friends address in Ireland will the PPS and banks accept this as proof of address? Would this make it likely that my uk bank/credit card say "right since youre off were shutting your account mr"?

BuffyBot

My question is, when I move to Ireland and set up an account how will they take into account my British account? Will having an overdraft in the UK that I intend to keep servicing for the time being affect me? Will they contact Nat West and possibly put my British account at risk? I want to keep my UK account open so a) I dont have to magic £2k out of nowhere, and b) so I can continue to make payments to UK companies/people from it.

Your UK account will have pretty much no impact, positive or negative - two completely unconnected banking systems.

With regard to changing your address - they should accept that, but they may want something more (a letter from your employer etc as well) and of course, the obligitory photo ID.

Saruman

Since you are with Natwest, you might as well go with Ulster Bank which is the same parent company.
It can be a pain to open an account here. They usually look for a bill with your name/address etc

calsatron

The way I worked it when I moved over was to keep my UK accounts completely seperate and just keep a few quid in them to keep them ticking over, I wouldn't close them when you've repaid your overdraft as they can be useful.

When you first come over get a letter from your new landlord saying your resident at your new address. Use that letter and your UK passport to get an Irish PPS number, which you'll need if your planning on working anyway. Then use your landlords letter, UK passport and the letter informing you of your new PPS number to open a bank account.

Worked for me anyway.

stepbar

daniel3982 wrote: »

My question is, when I move to Ireland and set up an account how will they take into account my British account? Will having an overdraft in the UK that I intend to keep servicing for the time being affect me? Will they contact Nat West and possibly put my British account at risk? I want to keep my UK account open so a) I dont have to magic £2k out of nowhere, and b) so I can continue to make payments to UK companies/people from it.

Having a bank a/c in the UK is of no concern to a bank.

daniel3982 wrote: »

Also is there anyway around needing proof of residence to get a bank account. Just as I am flatsharing I might have a nightmare getting a bill in my name, at least for a while. Could a contract count? What do foreigners usually do in this situation?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You will need a PPS number to work. What ever address you have on that is acceptable to use as proof of address. Your passport satisfies the photo ID requirement.

MollyCoddle

Re proof of address I know PTSB will accept a letter from themselves as proof....i.e. they mail a letter to the address you give them as being yours and then you bring it into the branch a couple of days later.

I found the rules a lot more lax here than the practical fingerprinting I went through to get a UK account years ago!

Fillie

as part of the moneylaundering act you will need 2 forms of id.

one for photo id: passport/drivers license

address verification: household bill, financial statement, pps letter from socila welfare( prob best in your case)

or you could open a/c with your english address using ur drivers license and then when you get proper irish address veri you can change it. otherwise a pps letter you will need.

they are very strict on these im afraid

daniel3982

Cheers so PPS number probably will be the best bet, it's just going to be getting that which is going to be the nightmare by the looks of it! Unless I try Molly Coddles route at PTSB and use the bank statement for the PPS.

When I opened my bank accounts in the UK I opened my first without any id (I was 13 and even have a different name on it; my middle name), and my second at uni with just my uni card, Im guessing times have changed in these big brother days we live in now.

delos

If you plan on temping and you are doing this through an agency get them to help out. The company I work for employs temps (not in Dublin) and the Recruitment Agency have an arrangement with Social Welfare that helps with getting the PPS number a bit quicker - its easier if everything is in place for you. The banks seem OK with a covering letter and a contract - they set up the account but don't activate it until the PPS number comes through.

cazzy

Under the money laundering act you will need proof of ID (passport) and proof of address (Utility bill, something from tax office). Its not the banks being arkward its the law.

Your account in Uk is irrelevant to opening an account in ROI.

Call a branch first as often they will require you to make an appointment to open an account.

daniel3982

Cheers guys, I'll try the temping route as it could take an age for a utility bill to come (and living in a shared house could add to this).

Does anyone else know if the PTSB route stated above will work (ie they post me a letter and that counts as proof of address)?

pow wow

I worked for them a couple of years ago and they did it for foreign nationals.