Moving to England

bwaindead

Hi all,

I'm starting Uni over in England in September. I was hoping that somebody might have some advice on sorting out opening a bank account once I've moved over. I'll be receiving the BTEA, but since I won't have a UK bank account I presume I'll just have to get this paid into my Irish bank account initially. Does anybody have any experience of receiving the BTEA when they're studying in the UK?

I've started to compare all the student account packages over in the UK.. however some of the larger banks stipulate that you must be resident in the UK for 3 years, so this rule seems to rule out the banks with the better reps. I'm just trying to get my head around the whole moving my life across the sea.. any stories/advice appreciated!:)

tlee621

bwaindead wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm starting Uni over in England in September. I was hoping that somebody might have some advice on sorting out opening a bank account once I've moved over. I'll be receiving the BTEA, but since I won't have a UK bank account I presume I'll just have to get this paid into my Irish bank account initially. Does anybody have any experience of receiving the BTEA when they're studying in the UK?

I've started to compare all the student account packages over in the UK.. however some of the larger banks stipulate that you must be resident in the UK for 3 years, so this rule seems to rule out the banks with the better reps. I'm just trying to get my head around the whole moving my life across the sea.. any stories/advice appreciated!:)

Hi, I know its very difficult trying to cope with reality moving to another country; but your not alone a lot of people will be in the same boat. You will meet international students from the UK, you will share views and advice; don't worry. Just don't forget to bring everything you need before you leave home i.e a photocopy of passport in case you lose your passport etc.

Banking; I would not worry- the banks staff mostly opens the same bank account for all its students outside of the UK. What is important is that you get a bank which is close to you and easy to access. One bad thing about the UK for international students you cannot get a credit card!!, a bank overdraw but you will get a Visa debt card.

pow wow

The banks will sometimes bend the residency rule if you open the account with an on-campus branch at freshers week (also when they hand out the freebies!). They're also often a little more lenient on the proof of address requirements at the on-campus branches. Be sure to have official photo ID i.e. driver's licence and/or passport as they won't accept anything else. Also bring your birth cert if you have it (you may need it to get your National Insurance number if you don't already have one from living in the UK before).

It's a really exciting experience to move abroad though most things about England will be quite familiar so it shouldn't be too overwhelming - same shops, tv shows, grocery brands etc. There are a couple of threads in the North forum about moving up to Northern Ireland and the info there about banks/national insurance numbers etc. is mostly the same for England.

Congrats on the big move

kathola

I found the best international student account to get would be with Nat West as they give you the most handy stuff like a free rail card (which usually costs £30) and insurance and 25% off gig tickets etc...

http://www.natwest.com/personal/current-accounts/g1/students-graduates/international-students.ashx

I found that no other bank gave such a good array of services for such a small fee and most banks would not give me any sort of student account because they have overdraft facilities. I was told I couldn't have an overdraft because "if you were to run off back to Ireland, we would have to go through the governments to retrieve the money" - not sure how fair that is but two different banks told me the same story.


What's important to note is that you should open this account as soon as you have all your details from the uni in September - had a bit of a kerfuffle trying to open it in October because their student month was up!

pow wow

kathola wrote: »

I was told I couldn't have an overdraft because "if you were to run off back to Ireland, we would have to go through the governments to retrieve the money" - not sure how fair that is but two different banks told me the same story.

Presumably they mean there's an issue across jurisdictions (nothing to do with governments) if you were to take off with the cash. That's the usual reason they trot out for denying the overdrafts to non-UK students though that's a creative (and partially untrue) way of them explaining it. Glad you got things sorted in the end - NatWest were always one of the better student banks back in the day aswell

bwaindead

Thanks for the advice everybody, particularly about Natwest!:)

JohnMearsheimer

Your university can probably give you a letter stating you are studying at the university. You can present this to the bank when opening your account. That's what I did anyway when I went to study in the UK.

CAH61

kathola wrote: »

I found the best international student account to get would be with Nat West as they give you the most handy stuff like a free rail card (which usually costs £30) and insurance and 25% off gig tickets etc...

http://www.natwest.com/personal/current-accounts/g1/students-graduates/international-students.ashx

I found that no other bank gave such a good array of services for such a small fee and most banks would not give me any sort of student account because they have overdraft facilities. I was told I couldn't have an overdraft because "if you were to run off back to Ireland, we would have to go through the governments to retrieve the money" - not sure how fair that is but two different banks told me the same story.


What's important to note is that you should open this account as soon as you have all your details from the uni in September - had a bit of a kerfuffle trying to open it in October because their student month was up!

When clicking on the link to this account, it says this type of account is no longer available

CAH61

I found this thread as I was searching online to try to sort out a bank account for our daughter who is starting Uni in the UK in September this year (hopefully!!).

I tried most of the recommended banks, but kept coming across the same problems: either you have to be 18 years old, you need a UK address, you need to have been resident in UK for last 3 years, etc. She is only 17, no UK address until she actually moves to UK to start Uni at end of September, but Student Finance require her 'UK bank account details' to enable her grant to be available when she starts!

Phone calls to UK are way too expensive to sit there listening to recorded messages, eventually get through to speak to someone, then to have the call dropped mid conversation! I gave up on this and searched online some more.

Today I came up with HSBC Passport Account. There is a charge of £8 per month for this account, with 12 months agreement, but at least we could apply online! Application sent and we should have a reply by email within 2 weeks. I'll keep you updated.....

pow wow

If you have no luck with HSBC one of the local banks here with an arm in Northern Ireland can arrange for you to open an account up there - I know Ulster Bank can do it for example (BOI, AIB and NIB all have Northern counterparts also). It's a UK account but you're allowed to use an address in ROI to manage it and she could change to a mainland bank with better student account options once she's moved over. Local branches can be less than helpful about it though so I hope HSBC comes through for you!

CAH61

pow wow wrote: »

If you have no luck with HSBC one of the local banks here with an arm in Northern Ireland can arrange for you to open an account up there - I know Ulster Bank can do it for example (BOI, AIB and NIB all have Northern counterparts also). It's a UK account but you're allowed to use an address in ROI to manage it and she could change to a mainland bank with better student account options once she's moved over. Local branches can be less than helpful about it though so I hope HSBC comes through for you!

Thanks for that. She already has an AIB bank account, but I never thought of going into the bank and asking their advice. Doh! It might pay to visit them and ask if they can recommend something.

bwaindead

I'm considering just getting my grant paid into my Irish account and making withdrawals over there. I know I'll get walloped with ATM charges that I can't make head nor tail of, but if I use a UK bank to receive my grant, there will be similar charges too. It's all very confusing!!

Richard

bwaindead wrote: »

I'm considering just getting my grant paid into my Irish account and making withdrawals over there. I know I'll get walloped with ATM charges that I can't make head nor tail of, but if I use a UK bank to receive my grant, there will be similar charges too. It's all very confusing!!

It might better to get your grant in your Irish account but then transfer it to your UK account in one go when you have it set up. Check with your banks if this works out cheaper than making regular withdrawals from an Irish account in the UK.

CAH61

Richard wrote: »

It might better to get your grant in your Irish account but then transfer it to your UK account in one go when you have it set up. Check with your banks if this works out cheaper than making regular withdrawals from an Irish account in the UK.

I couldn't use the option of getting the loan/grant paid into an Irish account. My daughter holds a UK passport, so we had to apply for her finance through Student Finance in the UK. They stipulate she has to have a UK address and UK current account, even though we've resided permanently in Ireland for over 5 years. That's been my main difficulty.

Today, we've received confirmation from HSBC that the account will be set up after 'just one more step' - We have to go into our nearest branch and provide proof of her home address (in Ireland) and proof of ID (Passport). Luckily, we're going to the UK on Thursday for a few days for a family wedding, so we can go in and give them this information. She doesn't have the usual 'utility bill' or similar that's usually required for proof of address, but it does say they will accept her letter of offer from the university. That came today too! So.......... fingers crossed!

italy087

i also have a daughter moving to uni this september.
it is very difficult to get a "head" on all that needs to be sorted.
would appreciate any help .

CAH61 wrote: »

I found this thread as I was searching online to try to sort out a bank account for our daughter who is starting Uni in the UK in September this year (hopefully!!).

I tried most of the recommended banks, but kept coming across the same problems: either you have to be 18 years old, you need a UK address, you need to have been resident in UK for last 3 years, etc. She is only 17, no UK address until she actually moves to UK to start Uni at end of September, but Student Finance require her 'UK bank account details' to enable her grant to be available when she starts!

Phone calls to UK are way too expensive to sit there listening to recorded messages, eventually get through to speak to someone, then to have the call dropped mid conversation! I gave up on this and searched online some more.

Today I came up with HSBC Passport Account. There is a charge of £8 per month for this account, with 12 months agreement, but at least we could apply online! Application sent and we should have a reply by email within 2 weeks. I'll keep you updated.....

Richard

CAH61 wrote: »

I couldn't use the option of getting the loan/grant paid into an Irish account. My daughter holds a UK passport, so we had to apply for her finance through Student Finance in the UK. They stipulate she has to have a UK address and UK current account, even though we've resided permanently in Ireland for over 5 years. That's been my main difficulty.

Today, we've received confirmation from HSBC that the account will be set up after 'just one more step' - We have to go into our nearest branch and provide proof of her home address (in Ireland) and proof of ID (Passport). Luckily, we're going to the UK on Thursday for a few days for a family wedding, so we can go in and give them this information. She doesn't have the usual 'utility bill' or similar that's usually required for proof of address, but it does say they will accept her letter of offer from the university. That came today too! So.......... fingers crossed!

If you need to visit HSBC again once back in Ireland, there are HSBC branches in Northern Ireland (although not many).

CAH61

CAH61 wrote: »

I couldn't use the option of getting the loan/grant paid into an Irish account. My daughter holds a UK passport, so we had to apply for her finance through Student Finance in the UK. They stipulate she has to have a UK address and UK current account, even though we've resided permanently in Ireland for over 5 years. That's been my main difficulty.

Today, we've received confirmation from HSBC that the account will be set up after 'just one more step' - We have to go into our nearest branch and provide proof of her home address (in Ireland) and proof of ID (Passport). Luckily, we're going to the UK on Thursday for a few days for a family wedding, so we can go in and give them this information. She doesn't have the usual 'utility bill' or similar that's usually required for proof of address, but it does say they will accept her letter of offer from the university. That came today too! So.......... fingers crossed!

OKay, so we went to a UK branch of HSBC last Friday and all is now sorted! We presented the proof of ID (her passport) and proof of Irish address (letter from University in UK) as requested. All of this was fine, she didn't need to give a UK address/place of residence at all. The staff in the bank (in Whitby, N Yorkshire) were brilliant. The guy took us into a side office, finalised opening the account, gave us account number, IBAN number, etc, and even set up our daughters online banking and showed her how to use it. All we have to wait for now is her bank/cash card to arrive in the post. He said this would be about a week. I would say that the only drawback to the 'Passport Account' is the £8 a month fee and the 12 months contract, but because of our difficult circumstances, we didn't really have a choice. She can always open a standard Student Account next year when she will be 18 and have an address in the UK.

Top marks to HSBC!

ihavequestions

I'm also moving over to England in a few weeks for university, very excited!

My sisters moved over to England within the last few years so I've gotten the low down on it from them. Unfortunately we will all be living in different parts of the UK though!!

They tell me Lloyds bank is the way to go. They are the nicest and friendliest of banks and this comes from their dealings with them when my sisters live at opposite sides of the country!!

They both moved their entire grant to English accounts once it was opened, you have to pay somthing like 25euro to change currencys on top of the money you lose in the difference ,but they both say it's easier in the long run to keep track of what you spend!

nogoodnamesleft

ihavequestions wrote: »

I'm also moving over to England in a few weeks for university, very excited!

My sisters moved over to England within the last few years so I've gotten the low down on it from them. Unfortunately we will all be living in different parts of the UK though!!

They tell me Lloyds bank is the way to go. They are the nicest and friendliest of banks and this comes from their dealings with them when my sisters live at opposite sides of the country!!

They both moved their entire grant to English accounts once it was opened, you have to pay somthing like 25euro to change currencys on top of the money you lose in the difference ,but they both say it's easier in the long run to keep track of what you spend!

It depends on the bank. For instance the exchange rate on a particular day can vary from bank to bank and transfer method. I always watch the ECB rate as well as my own bank.

AIB this morning 08.09.2011 was .869 with 15euro transfer fee.
NIB (credit card) was .864 + 1.75% (foreign currency charge) on the transfer amount.

Thus for £1000 for example cost to you in EUR.

AIB would be 1165.74
NIB (1154.40) + 20.54 = 1174.65

CAH61

CAH61 wrote: »

OKay, so we went to a UK branch of HSBC last Friday and all is now sorted! We presented the proof of ID (her passport) and proof of Irish address (letter from University in UK) as requested. All of this was fine, she didn't need to give a UK address/place of residence at all. The staff in the bank (in Whitby, N Yorkshire) were brilliant. The guy took us into a side office, finalised opening the account, gave us account number, IBAN number, etc, and even set up our daughters online banking and showed her how to use it. All we have to wait for now is her bank/cash card to arrive in the post. He said this would be about a week. I would say that the only drawback to the 'Passport Account' is the £8 a month fee and the 12 months contract, but because of our difficult circumstances, we didn't really have a choice. She can always open a standard Student Account next year when she will be 18 and have an address in the UK.

Top marks to HSBC!

After all that!!!!........ My daughter just had a letter from HSBC (dated 12 days ago!) telling her that her 'Proof of Address' was unacceptable! Apparently, the letter from the University confirming her place is only acceptable if you're opening a Student Account. She couldn't have a student account cos she's not yet 18 (we had to open a Passport Account). This is crazy now! The proof of address has to be a Utility Bill, Bank Statement, etc... She still lives at home with us, so doesn't have these things! Jeez! I'm going crazy.

Why they hell didn't the bank personnel know this when we spent so long in his office when we were in the UK? I'm fuming!

The HSBC letter states that the account they have given her cannot be used unless she produces this proof of address within 30 days (that leaves her 18 days from now, and we're in Ireland!). If she doesn't go into a HSBC branch within this time, the account will be closed.

I'm really furious that the guy in the bank in the UK didn't know what he was doing. I've already passed the bank account details and number onto Student Loans UK and the University Halls of Residence.

Back to square one and really bloody annoyed!! :mad:

bwaindead

CAH61, that's incredibly frustrating, especially after all the trouble you went to while over there.. really bad form on the part of the bank employee for giving you the run around. It's also annoying that you have to apply for student finance from the UK rather than Ireland where you've been residing for 5 years.. For me to apply for student finance from the UK, I would only have had to be resident there for 3 years.

As mentioned previously, get in touch with AIB and see if they can sort something with First Trust Bank (their Northern Ireland counterpart), and possibly set up an account for you there. It might be a long shot, but worth a try at this stage.

CAH61

bwaindead wrote: »

CAH61, that's incredibly frustrating, especially after all the trouble you went to while over there.. really bad form on the part of the bank employee for giving you the run around. It's also annoying that you have to apply for student finance from the UK rather than Ireland where you've been residing for 5 years.. For me to apply for student finance from the UK, I would only have had to be resident there for 3 years.

As mentioned previously, get in touch with AIB and see if they can sort something with First Trust Bank (their Northern Ireland counterpart), and possibly set up an account for you there. It might be a long shot, but worth a try at this stage.

Thanks for that, but I already went into AIB here at home as we have an account there, as does my daughter.... I told them of the situation and they said they couldn't help re. a 'counterpart' bank in the North. The customer services there told us that she'd have to wait until she got to the UK, then go into any bank and open a normal Student Account with her passport and UK address, when she gets one!

She actually starts at Uni next Monday. We have flights booked to go to UK on Saturday, so its going to be impossible to try to sort something with another bank from here at this stage. Our only option is to try to find something with her home address (here in Ireland) that the HSBC will accept. Options include waiting for a copy statement from her AIB account or hoping they will accept a letter we have from the HSE regarding her medical card here. Even though everyone uses 'online banking' these days, the 'electronic statement' that you can print out yourself is unacceptable. Mad times!!

Watch this space.............

Richard

Try ringing some bank branches in NI directly to see if they can help you.

E.g. Bank of Ireland Enniskillen. (048) 6632 2136

First Trust Enniskillen. 0044 845 6005 925

Northern Bank Enniskillen 0044 845 602 6526

Ulster Bank Enniskillen 048 6632 4034

Note that First Trust and Northern Banks will be international calls, whilst the Ulster Bank and BoI will be charged at Irish national rates.

CAH61

Richard wrote: »

Try ringing some bank branches in NI directly to see if they can help you.

E.g. Bank of Ireland Enniskillen. (048) 6632 2136

First Trust Enniskillen. 0044 845 6005 925

Northern Bank Enniskillen 0044 845 602 6526

Ulster Bank Enniskillen 048 6632 4034

Note that First Trust and Northern Banks will be international calls, whilst the Ulster Bank and BoI will be charged at Irish national rates.

Thanks Richard, but we're really running out of time. We have 4 days only before we go to the UK. I'm going to stick it out with the HSBC as I've found one near her Halls of Residence in the UK.... Hopefully, we can sort it there and carry on with her current account application.

Richard

CAH61 wrote: »

Thanks Richard, but we're really running out of time. We have 4 days only before we go to the UK. I'm going to stick it out with the HSBC as I've found one near her Halls of Residence in the UK.... Hopefully, we can sort it there and carry on with her current account application.

Ok good luck - hope you get it all sorted!

CAH61

CAH61 wrote: »

Thanks for that, but I already went into AIB here at home as we have an account there, as does my daughter.... I told them of the situation and they said they couldn't help re. a 'counterpart' bank in the North. The customer services there told us that she'd have to wait until she got to the UK, then go into any bank and open a normal Student Account with her passport and UK address, when she gets one!

She actually starts at Uni next Monday. We have flights booked to go to UK on Saturday, so its going to be impossible to try to sort something with another bank from here at this stage. Our only option is to try to find something with her home address (here in Ireland) that the HSBC will accept. Options include waiting for a copy statement from her AIB account or hoping they will accept a letter we have from the HSE regarding her medical card here. Even though everyone uses 'online banking' these days, the 'electronic statement' that you can print out yourself is unacceptable. Mad times!!

Watch this space.............

Okay, so my daughter is now in Uni in the UK. Her AIB Statement didn't arrive in time for her to take it with her (it took a week to get to us here), I've sent that on to her and its still 'in the post'. She has until the end of next week to 'verify' her address here in Ireland to enable her to use the account.

Unbelievably, she just had her first statement from HSBC! This details 'charges' for the account for the period 26th Aug to 11th Sept. The £8 monthly fee has been applied to the account, even though they told us in the last letter that the account cannot be used until they receive proof of her address! Cheeky sods! So its OK for them to make charges on the account, but not OK for her to use the services of the account! This riles me!

I told my daughter that when she takes in the AIB statement as address verification, she should query the charges, but I know she won't want to cause a fuss (I've always done that for her), but how dare they take advantage.

CAH61

CAH61 wrote: »

Okay, so my daughter is now in Uni in the UK. Her AIB Statement didn't arrive in time for her to take it with her (it took a week to get to us here), I've sent that on to her and its still 'in the post'. She has until the end of next week to 'verify' her address here in Ireland to enable her to use the account.

Unbelievably, she just had her first statement from HSBC! This details 'charges' for the account for the period 26th Aug to 11th Sept. The £8 monthly fee has been applied to the account, even though they told us in the last letter that the account cannot be used until they receive proof of her address! Cheeky sods! So its OK for them to make charges on the account, but not OK for her to use the services of the account! This riles me!

I told my daughter that when she takes in the AIB statement as address verification, she should query the charges, but I know she won't want to cause a fuss (I've always done that for her), but how dare they take advantage.

This still isn't sorted out! Firstly my daughter received a letter from HSBC telling her that the standing order (for her Uni accommodation) that she'd set up has been refused because the 'signatures didn't match', so she had to go into the local branch of HSBC and give another sample signature.

She did this, took all her paperwork into the bank with her, including the recent AIB bank statement proving her home address. She reported back to me that all had gone OK, the signature thing had been sorted out, and the new proof of address given. Also, while she was there, she changed her address on the account to the new Uni Accommodation address to save everything coming to Ireland. So, we though, all is sorted! At last!!

Yesterday, my daughter phoned me to tell me that the proof of address in Ireland hadn't been accepted, yet again! This time it was because there are no transactions on the statement for the last 4 months! Jeeez! Why don't the HSBC staff know what they're checking and verifying. My daughter is only 17, only just finished school, has no money (hence no bank transactions), and has no utility bills for proof of address. What the hell are we supposed to do now? We're told the account will be cancelled if she doesn't take in proper proof of address within 30 days. Surely the fact that HSBC have sent out so many letters to this address in Ireland that we've responded to, is proof that we exist here in itself!

Sod them! She's now decided to try with another bank and has completed an online application with Nat West, hoping that it will go OK as she now has a UK address. Only time will tell.

What a saga!

ac07

Hi, i just read you will be recieving the btea while studying in the uk... I am Starting a second level course in Sept
(pre-nursing) during which i hope to be on the BTEA as i am currently on JA, I want to do my Degree in the UK, is the criteria set out for getting the btea at third level in Ireland the same as the UK?
Grateful for any information,
Thanks

bwaindead

Are you doing the second level course in Ireland? And then you'll be progressing to Degree level next September in the UK?

I went straight to third-level and only started receiving BTEA then. I had been on Jobseekers Benefits up until that point, and got approved pretty easily.

I'd imagine that since you'll be progressing from second-level to third-level the following year, that you'll be approved for BTEA again. It wouldn't do any harm to ask them about that now, or whether you'll have to apply for the regular grant.

It's worked out very well for me. I get my BTEA paid into my Irish bank account and have to make withdrawals, which of course I'm charged for, but getting paid weekly makes it easier to manage my money.