Banking in Scotland

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Hey everyone,

So there isn't much going on for me to tell you about so I think the next few posts might just be about day to day life in Glasgow.

So Banking is the UK is difficult for someone from overseas. I tried to set up a bank account first thing when I got over here but that didn't really work out. For starters you need to be aware that debit cards aren't the same as in Canada; over here they're a mix of credit cards and debit cards on one card. This means that to get one of these you need to pass a credit check, which is impossible if you've only been in the country for a week. So I went into the bank and applied for an account. There's student accounts that will give you a debit card and a little bit of credit and I was told at the time that even people with no credit history had been passing the check so it sounded good. I heard back from the bank about 10 days after and had been declined, which really wasn't that much of a surprise.

So no debit card, which means I can only use ATMs and have to carry cash, but oh well what are you going to do right. So I go back to the bank and ask about the basic account and how long that will take to set up. I'm figuring a day or two tops. It turns out that basic accounts, and this is for all banks that I went to, can only be applied to by mail and it takes anywhere from 10 business days to 3 weeks for the claim to be processed. FRUSTRATING. Anyways I of course went with the one that said they would be quickest because they were all basically the same and because I needed a bank account before I could pay my tuition and housing (not to mention that the sooner I could deposit the money I had on me the better).

About a week after applying received a letter saying I had been approved and it came with a cash card; the cash card only lets me take money out of ATMs, it can't be used in say a store. Great that's done I thought, but no I now need to wait for them to send me my PIN before I can actually use the account. That letter shows up around a week later.

All in all the process of setting up a bank account took about 3 weeks from start to finish. So remember that if you ever need to set up a UK bank account. I did learn through my research after I got here that HSBC does have an account (with a monthly fee) that you can open from overseas but you need to have an address. Still it would have been nice to know before hand and it would have made it easier.

Oh and for anyone interested I'll be home for about a month for Christmas.

Cheers,
Nate

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