Lauren’s POV
Probably one of the last things on your mind after
being accepted to study abroad in the UK is banking. Such banalities like paperwork
and transferring money are the least interesting of topics to contemplate. Your
mind is more likely focused on all the fun possibilities in meeting new people,
traveling, or moving to another country. Depending on your length of stay and
banking preferences, there are a couple of ways to go about handling finances.
This post will concentrate on the option of opening up a local bank account as
it is the route I took during my time abroad. I chose to open an account in the
UK because I was studying there for a full year and wanted immediate access to
funds without having to deal with the multiple transaction fees I’d get from
using my bank at home.
There are a few different banking groups to choose
from when opening an account. Personally, I can’t say which bank is better but
I would advise researching the different options beforehand (something I didn’t
do much of when opening my own account). Some brands include: Barclays, Lloyds,
Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, and NatWest. Many banks offer student checking
accounts; a good way of determining which ones are popular is to take a look
around your campus for ATMs and/or small branch offices because they will
probably be the most student-friendly. Your university’s orientation packet
will also likely advise you on suitable options and what kinds of documents you
need such as proof of full-time student status.
My university in Norwich was a little different from
most UK schools in that it had a central campus (instead of being broken up into
multiple areas). On campus, there were three tiny branches where they made it a
priority to open new student accounts during the first week of school. As mentioned
earlier, I didn’t put a lot of thought into which bank to choose, so I
initially opened an account with the one whose name I had heard of the most. To
my surprise, there was a minimum fund limit. I had brought money with me, but
nowhere near enough to maintain the minimum, so I was looking at the prospect
of losing money because I couldn’t keep the base number in my account. Still, I
opened the account thinking that the other banks had similar rules. A couple of
days later I found out that the other banks actually didn’t have the same
minimum requirement, there were actually no minimums at all. (This was at the
time of my stay, but regulations might have changed since then.) So off I went
to open an account at a different bank and I closed the first account a few
days later. The lady at the desk was most likely wondering why I had opened an
account only to close it in the same week. Moral of the story is: research the
different banks or ask other students which ones they would recommend.
On a side note, if you currently have a Bank of
America checking account, you might not need to open a UK account at all. Bank
of America and Barclays are part of an agreement between certain banks
throughout the world called the Global
ATM Alliance. In the Global ATM Alliance, Bank of
America debit card holders can withdraw money from Alliance-approved ATMs (or
cash machines as they’re referred to in the UK) without an ATM transaction fee—the
kind say, you’d be charged if you were to withdraw money from a Wells Fargo ATM
using a Bank of America card. However, you may be charged an international transaction
fee. If you rather not go through the trouble of opening a UK-based account and
already have a B
of A account,
or if you are only in the UK for a semester or so, this might be an alternative
you want to consider.
-L.
