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Hola paula, no se mucho del tema pero bueno.. si demora un mes en abilitarseles una cuenta y ningun otro banco puede antes de ese tiempo, entonses supongo que tendran que llevar el dinero consigo o enviarlo por una encomienda a algun familiar de tu marido en UK, el es ingles no?
Saludos

Brigadier wrote:

Hola paula, no se mucho del tema pero bueno.. si demora un mes en abilitarseles una cuenta y ningun otro banco puede antes de ese tiempo, entonses supongo que tendran que llevar el dinero consigo o enviarlo por una encomienda a algun familiar de tu marido en UK, el es ingles no?
Saludos

Hola: No, los dos somos italianos viviendo en Argentina. La idea de llevar toda esa plata en mano suena a locura y no puede ser que esa sea la unica manera... no te parece?
Saludos!

You say you have to "pay almost £10.000 rent in advance" !?? Are you sure about that ? I mean generally you have to pay a month rent and maybe a deposit for one month and a half max... that sounds a lot to me. Check first that the rent you are asked to pay is the same for other people in the area.

That is an expensive apartment!!
Either way, to open a bank account can only be done by appointment and you must have an address in the UK. Do you not have any friends in the UK, which you can use their address? From my experience, if you want to open a bank account on the day, try getting out of London. We went to Hertford (40min train from Kings Cross) and opened the bank account on the day and they didn't request address proof. In London they are for more demanding.

Hope this helps.
Paul

jeanlucb wrote:

You say you have to "pay almost £10.000 rent in advance" !?? Are you sure about that ? I mean generally you have to pay a month rent and maybe a deposit for one month and a half max... that sounds a lot to me. Check first that the rent you are asked to pay is the same for other people in the area.

I know that generally you have to pay only the first month and the deposit, but as we do not have a credit history in the UK or a recommendation we are being asked to pay the whole rent in advance (that would be 6 month + deposit) hence the amount.

paula.giacchino wrote:

jeanlucb wrote:

You say you have to "pay almost £10.000 rent in advance" !?? Are you sure about that ? I mean generally you have to pay a month rent and maybe a deposit for one month and a half max... that sounds a lot to me. Check first that the rent you are asked to pay is the same for other people in the area.

I know that generally you have to pay only the first month and the deposit, but as we do not have a credit history in the UK or a recommendation we are being asked to pay the whole rent in advance (that would be 6 month + deposit) hence the amount.

This story stinks! You never pay this amount in London. If I were you, I would be very careful.

marspy wrote:

That is an expensive apartment!!
Either way, to open a bank account can only be done by appointment and you must have an address in the UK. Do you not have any friends in the UK, which you can use their address? From my experience, if you want to open a bank account on the day, try getting out of London. We went to Hertford (40min train from Kings Cross) and opened the bank account on the day and they didn't request address proof. In London they are for more demanding.

Hope this helps.
Paul

Hi Paul,
Thank you so much for your advice.
Unfortunately we don´t have any friends in the UK so we cannot "borrow" anyones address...

In regards the "expensiveness" of the apartment is because it is a fully furnished and equipped apartment in zone 1 for 6 months in advance. It is actually 400 per week.

Thanks again for your help!!!
Paula

marspy wrote:

paula.giacchino wrote:

jeanlucb wrote:

You say you have to "pay almost £10.000 rent in advance" !?? Are you sure about that ? I mean generally you have to pay a month rent and maybe a deposit for one month and a half max... that sounds a lot to me. Check first that the rent you are asked to pay is the same for other people in the area.

I know that generally you have to pay only the first month and the deposit, but as we do not have a credit history in the UK or a recommendation we are being asked to pay the whole rent in advance (that would be 6 month + deposit) hence the amount.

This story stinks! You never pay this amount in London. If I were you, I would be very careful.

You think Paul? I will be careful then, but more than one Real State Agency (Foxtrons, Young London, and a few others) advised the same...

roberto wrote:

Conosco altre persone che hanno avuto lo stesso problema e si sono dovute portare il denaro in contanti o usare solo carte di credito per il primo mese o due. Purtroppo pare che non ci siano alternative. Amici che sono venuti qui hanno versato denaro sul mio conto e poi io l'ho prelevato per loro, ma questo implica avere amici fidati o famiglia qui!!
Se avete un lavoro qui il datore di lavoro può aiutare per referenze e per accellerare il processo in quanto può provvedere garanzia e ha bisogno del conto per versare stipendi ecc.

Grazie per il vostro consiglio Roberto!

Does HSBC bank have branches in Argentina?  I looked - their website says they do.  If you find a bank that does business in both countries and open an account in your home country, you can use that account when you move to England without any problems, in theory.  A friend of mine did this in the US and banking in the UK was a breeze.  HSBC also offers a new to the UK service to get accounts and cards set up for you upon arrival. 



Buena suerte!

It's probably harder as a couple, but what I did was to get a room instead. You can get an en-suite bedroom while you settle and get a bank account. Usually they don't ask for more than 1 or 2 months in advance.

Go to HSBC in your country and open an account with them in Argentina. Tell them you will be going to the UK and that you want to open now an account in the UK as well. They will organise it now and open up your UK accvount while you are in Argentina.

NewToLondon wrote:

Go to HSBC in your country and open an account with them in Argentina. Tell them you will be going to the UK and that you want to open now an account in the UK as well. They will organise it now and open up your UK accvount while you are in Argentina.

Thanks for the advice, but we already went to HSBC Argentina (we have had an account with them for more than 5 years now) and they advised us that they cannot open any accounts in a foreign country from here; they told us we should go to the UK an open it there... In my opinion, Argentina is like that, nothing works smoothly...

You can open an international bank account on line.  We did.  Your local bank can also help you with it.

I'm running into the same problem. I'm set to move to London in four weeks and am confused about how to get an apartment. If I were doing a flatshare it'd be easier, but my partner and I intend to live together in a (very small!) one bedroom apartment. I've read people's accounts of getting an apartment on day 2 without yet having a fully operational bank account, but I'm not sure how it works.

The only tip I've picked up that was very useful is that rental agencies often do ask for 6 months in advance, but private landlords will often be more willing to work with you. I still don't know how to get them the money, though. Cash? Wire transfer?

Hi Paula,

This might be a bit late, but I thought I'd try to help:

First off, please don't travel with large sums of cash abroad - it's just not safe.

Ok, so what you can do, to get around this problem, is open your UK bank account through a service that facilitates it for you. Like us for example... just saying

So, what is done for you, as long as you have a valid UK Visa, or Passport enabling your entry to the UK, you can have a service register an account for you, before you leave. So, you don't have to bother with finding a quiet branch, 'borrowing' addresses etc.

These accounts are with the top UK Banks, Barclays, HSBC, etc.

Now, there are some prerequisites for opening an International Account, but if you don't qualify for that, you can use an agent to book a same-day bank account appointment for you. They have relationships with certain branches and make all the bookings for you. 

I think we should do a blog post about this to explain the process and the options... 

Hope that helps a bit,
- 1st

Erm, this might be a moot point but have you considered bringing some cash over in cashier's order? We did bring quite a bit over (yes, I know...) when we first arrived and our bank acct wasn't ready yet.

Hope you get this sorted out eventually.