Suggestions on Banks

Hi members,

I am moving to London next month and want to open a bank account prior to arriving and have done some research around speaking to my local HSBC and came to know they can assist me with opening an account in the UK, which led me to ask the question below -

1. What other banks do you recommend other than HSBC and why?
2. Are any banks unsafe or not recommended i.e. meaning I will lose my money or something like that, even bad customer service may be a factor?
3. I used to have an account with Lloyds TSB when I used to study over 10 years ago however I think that bank doesn't operate any more?

Please suggest what bank to use?

Thanks
Sidmoe

This is just for reference...

https://www.which.co.uk/money/banking/b ... q5d8c6dj7y

Some of the bank names I never heard of, so stick to the ones that are big & familiar and on top of the list. I personally have Barclays account for 10 yrs and don't have any issues.

srsw wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 12, 2019 7:47 am

This is just for reference...

https://www.which.co.uk/money/banking/b ... q5d8c6dj7y

Some of the bank names I never heard of, so stick to the ones that are big & familiar and on top of the list. I personally have Barclays account for 10 yrs and don't have any issues.

Many thanks for the information. Really appreciated. I will read through and do my due diligence.

If you want to open an account before arrival biggest issue will be finding a bank that will let you open an account without proof of residence. Wanted to open an account wgen my wife was here on visit visa and had no luck with my bank in UK. When we looked had to be resident and have proof.

For that reason if hsbc will help would go for that option. Can look for another bank here afterwards when have proof of residence. Have an account with hsbc and seem ok although not had any problems which is when you find out how good they are.

Once she was here and had stuff like nhs letter, council tax and BRP was relatively simple.

Lloyds tsb is still around although split into Lloyds and tsb banks.

Unless have more than £85k in the bank then the bank protection schemes will cover your money in event of failure

You can try one of the new challenger banks like Starling, Monzo or Monese as you don't need proof of address to open these. With Monese, if you use invite code MARKS616 you get £5 free credit when you open the account and another £15 free after you have spent £500 using your Monese debit card.

The above are all app based Banks, so search the app store for them to open an account.

All the above also have free worldwide card payments and ATM withdrawals at the MasterCard exchange rate (interbank rate). Avoid HSBC, I have an account with them and they are awful. Of the big UK banks, only First Direct and Nationwide (technically a building society, but it's a UK bank account aka current account) are decent, Virgin Money is also okay and they offer a basic bank account and have a high street presence.