Help me become a Londoner!

[Abigail]

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 06:00:27PM +0100, Merijn Broeren wrote:
> 
> > - open a bank account
> 
> This is the one that prompted me to respond. I had lots of trouble with
> opening a bank account. One thing that is strange for a foreigner like
> me and most likely to a .it citizen is that there is no citizens
> register in the UK. So you don't tell the government where you live.
> Which means the bank has nothing to go on to make sure you live where
> you say you do. It takes a rental agreement or a mortgage statement for
> them to set up a bank account for you. Or a paid utility bill, but they
> don't all take that as a proof of address. They'll take a bank statement
> :-) I didn't try switching my .nl bank account to my new London address,
> that might have been worth trying. In the end I just put my partners BT
> bill in my name, waited a month and opened a bank account on the
> strenght of that. 

I opened a bank account at Barclay's in 1996 when I spend a few months
in London. No problems at all. They didn't ask for a rental agreement
(I wasn't paying rent) or a mortgage statement (didn't own property).
Neither did I pay for utilities.

Your story reminds me of the time I opened a bank account in New York.
(Chase: You can open an account with us, provided we can sent your statements
to your address in .nl. Oh, you don't have a .nl address, just an address 
in New York? Can't do that.)



Abigail