This post is about getting a bank account in the UK.
Basically you need to be in receipt of a utility bill, some kinds of accomodation dont have utility bills.
Mostly its only council flats (a foreigner will almost never get one) and houses (quite expensive for a start).
You need to proof your address as a countermeasure to m
oney laundering.
So, how to proceed? Insurance number registration could take upto 2 months, and only possibly they may accept such a confirmation letter.
Theres also the possibility of receiving correspondence from a financial institution.
Actually I do have a bank account. But how to notify my bank of the address change?
Its possible via internet banking using a security dongle.
OK two days ago I found the dongle. Didnt power up I was thinking its the batteries.
So yesterday I bought new batteries. Still didnt wort, checked the batteries, they are both good.
Opened the dongle (doh).
What I found was the conductive foil from the LCD had disattached since its a few years old.
After some hours, I managed to make it working briefly.
Next step, log into internet banking.
OK 3AM, server maintenance. The dongle was detoriating again quickly. By the time servers were working again,
dongle didnt work anymore. Opened and closed many times. Somehow the display turning on gradually!
Then I entered the PIN wrongly I was thinking its my tablet PIN.
Called my bank with skype rental number at 6AM.
They advised me I could use PIN unlock services even in the UK using an ATM.
Theres one down the hill! Good, so I tried. On my way I found we have 2 resident squirrels here. Nice! They were looking at me.
Tried at the ATM, the machine said transaction cancelled because timeout.
Popped in the card into the dongle, and, actually it was unlocked. The top line almost not showing, but the bottom line of the small LCD
actually visible. Entered the challenge code from the internet banking portal. Got returned the security code.
After this I was able to proceed to change my address with my bank. Its a matter of days, I will have proof of address from a financial institution.
It was quite a nightmare to unscrew and put back together the small dongle, mind the foil pitch is 0.3mm, attached a piece of sticky tape + a piece antistatic foam pushing down the connector foil on the PCB tabs. Got it working briefly just to create one code. But most people wont be able to do this. Guess if you order a new dongle obviously its sent to your currently registered address. The only other way is to go to a branch in person!
I was lucky the card wasnt locked totally, guess how that would be, not able to go to a branch of my bank and no other source of income like benefits.
Guess how it would be without sufficient funds to top up phone, buy a UK phone, without a working tablet + skype rental number.
Youd be pretty smashed.
Wannacry leaves me cold Im prepared to do factory reset, use Android tablet, use secondary netbook, or power up linux desktop.
But for someone with no alternative device for internet access a pretty tough situation could arise from a piece of malware. Even if you had funds in the bank. Same loosing your wallet or passport, pretty bad when youre not fully setup yet somewhere.
Basically you need to be in receipt of a utility bill, some kinds of accomodation dont have utility bills.
Mostly its only council flats (a foreigner will almost never get one) and houses (quite expensive for a start).
You need to proof your address as a countermeasure to m
oney laundering.So, how to proceed? Insurance number registration could take upto 2 months, and only possibly they may accept such a confirmation letter.
Theres also the possibility of receiving correspondence from a financial institution.
Actually I do have a bank account. But how to notify my bank of the address change?
Its possible via internet banking using a security dongle.
OK two days ago I found the dongle. Didnt power up I was thinking its the batteries.
So yesterday I bought new batteries. Still didnt wort, checked the batteries, they are both good.
Opened the dongle (doh).
What I found was the conductive foil from the LCD had disattached since its a few years old.
After some hours, I managed to make it working briefly.
Next step, log into internet banking.
OK 3AM, server maintenance. The dongle was detoriating again quickly. By the time servers were working again,
dongle didnt work anymore. Opened and closed many times. Somehow the display turning on gradually!
Then I entered the PIN wrongly I was thinking its my tablet PIN.
Called my bank with skype rental number at 6AM.
They advised me I could use PIN unlock services even in the UK using an ATM.
Theres one down the hill! Good, so I tried. On my way I found we have 2 resident squirrels here. Nice! They were looking at me.
Tried at the ATM, the machine said transaction cancelled because timeout.
Popped in the card into the dongle, and, actually it was unlocked. The top line almost not showing, but the bottom line of the small LCD
actually visible. Entered the challenge code from the internet banking portal. Got returned the security code.
After this I was able to proceed to change my address with my bank. Its a matter of days, I will have proof of address from a financial institution.
It was quite a nightmare to unscrew and put back together the small dongle, mind the foil pitch is 0.3mm, attached a piece of sticky tape + a piece antistatic foam pushing down the connector foil on the PCB tabs. Got it working briefly just to create one code. But most people wont be able to do this. Guess if you order a new dongle obviously its sent to your currently registered address. The only other way is to go to a branch in person!
I was lucky the card wasnt locked totally, guess how that would be, not able to go to a branch of my bank and no other source of income like benefits.
Guess how it would be without sufficient funds to top up phone, buy a UK phone, without a working tablet + skype rental number.
Youd be pretty smashed.
Wannacry leaves me cold Im prepared to do factory reset, use Android tablet, use secondary netbook, or power up linux desktop.
But for someone with no alternative device for internet access a pretty tough situation could arise from a piece of malware. Even if you had funds in the bank. Same loosing your wallet or passport, pretty bad when youre not fully setup yet somewhere.
