Opening a bank account in England

[American transplant]

Just thought I would share this with everyone. My family and I arrived in England from the USA on he 5th of July and tried to hit the ground running. The one area we had trouble with was opening a bank account. We went to the Cooperative and filled out the paperwork only to be denied an account because we have no credit history in England. This morning we walked into Lloyd's TSB and our account was active in just under 30 minutes.

[JollyCynic]

Lloyds TSB will allow someone from a Commonwealth country or the US (and likely a few others, the bank employee wasn't able to view a list for me) to open an account with only a single Proof of Residence item.

They have a specific list of items they will allow to be used as Proof of Residence, which is unique to Lloyds TSB, but similar to the same everywhere. One item they allow is a settlement visa. So this is a good place for anybody from Commonwealth nations or the US to open their first account. (I arrived one day before you, had my Lloyd's account on the 5th, and got a Visa debit card in the post the following Tuesday.)

If someone is not from one of the nations from which Lloyds TSB will allow only a single Proof of Residence item, a second item will be needed. This then falls to a much more time-consuming process of getting a utility bill in your name or a letter from the Home Office for something. A long-standing Lloyds TSB account holder who knows you can write a letter to vouch for you, as well.

We had the bank employee send us a statement the following day. It took a week to get to us, but now I've got the Proof of Residence I need to take my KOL, open an account at a building society, or whatever else.