Possibility to open a bank account before moving to Ireland.

pravinai

Dears,

Is it possible to open a bank account before moving to Ireland? I will be moving and starting work in the first week of May. Thanks.

Slightly Kwackers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058288538/possibility-to-open-a-bank-account-before-moving-to-ireland

I wish you the very best of luck.

I had a savings account with two Irish banks, one being the Ulsterbank linked to my address here in Ireland. I lived in the UK and it was a source of euro for hols.

You would not believe the problems I had opening a current account. I went in to the BOI with all my documentation spent an hour being interviewed and finally when it came to transferring funds I was told to call back the following day. I went back believing the account to be open but was asked for all the documentation, passport, utility bill on the second day too.

I was not inclined to leave my cash there!

Then more recently I tried to open an account in the Ulsterbank, I used their system that allowed EU citizens to open accounts elsewhere in the EU, so I applied from England through Natwest, gave them all the documentation and they lost it.

My documentation was lost in Hanley, Stoke on Trent, but my complaint was handled in Ireland. The reason: It only cost the ninety quid for their negligence. They assured me my details were secure and could not be passed on to anyone else though.

I wonder how they knew when they lost the bloody things.

Anyway, there were a few other attempts, at KBC I have an "account" it was confirmed, yet after opening it I could not move money, a utility bill or some ID was not the full .jpg it seemed. Although all the information was there the edges were "clipped".

Maybe you will have better luck, I seem to find problems quite easily and banks don't always seem to go to more lengths than burger joints for staff ability.

I would exclude AIB and EBS, my current banks from that comment though! It's wonderful just to be understood when you need to deal person to person.

If banks give you a hard time, just try taking out car insurance. What took half an hour tops in the UK took well over a week here and most advertisers were "brokers" not insurance companies.

I dont think the insurance I have is cheap at all, but once again it is worth the extra just to have a company provide a service that although seemingly beyond every other Irish provider, is just a par for the course purchase that most drivers would need and expect in the UK.

In short, in theory yes! providing you have a checkable Irish address.

In practice, I wish you the very best of luck!

There are signs of improvement though, my last EBS account didn't need the face to face interview and life story to open, so things are looking up.

pravinai

Thanks for the detailed answer. Really appreciated. I do not have an Irish Address; so I guess I have to wait till I get one.

Bank of Ireland Reps

Hi Pravinai,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

If you wish to send us a private message we will take some further details to pass on to our colleagues to contact you back on this.

Thanks,

Declan

pravinai

yes that would be great.