Best Banks for Internationals

[GladtoB]

so I just spent the whole day yesterday going to banks trying to get a bank acct and thought my experience might be useful to some of you.

Most of the banks have said that as an int. student I would only be entitled to what one lady called "the equivalent of a cashbox" - you can put cash into it and use an atm card to withdraw cash. You can't use this card anywhere except at the bank's atms.

TBH this acct sounds absurd. Why not just keep a cashbobx under your bed - surely, it would be more convenient than doing the exact same thing at the bank? I couldn't believe it when they said u can't use the card anywhere at all - in the end you still have to carry cash.


Barclays offered a decent int visa debit student acct but the catch was you have to maintain a minimum balance of 2,000 quid. Ahem - how many students can really afford that?

RBS wanted 5,000 quid and the receipt from your tuition fees to open the int student acct, although they had no minimum balance. Also completely unrealistic. They also don't don't guarantee a "switch" debit card - you could end up with "solo". I'd never even heard of these things but I decided to steer clear when they said you can't use them in most places abroad.

HSBC offered a "maestro" (which the woman claimed u can use at wherever you see a mastercard sign) int student acct with no min balance but 5 quid a month fees. You also can't back out for a year - if you do close the acct - you still have to pay the remainder of the 60quid you would have paid in monthly fees. Disappointingly this was the best of the "int student acct" lot though I have to admit I have some suspicions about "maestro". Needs more research.

Lloyds tsb may be the best option ironically because they don't have an "int student acct". They say that I am therefore entitled to apply for a current acct with them and that they do have int students with this acct. The current acct has a visa debit card, is fully functional (online banking, telephone support, etc aren't marketed as "perks"), and you can apply for an overdraft after 6mths.

Halifax have said they may be able to offer me a similar acct to Lloyds but with perks of free currency exchange, etc and thankfully they don't discriminate btwn internationals and home students. Eligibility is only dependant on a credit check - which is great. This is their standard student acct - the one they advertise as having a huge overdraft. We'll see if that works out, otherwise it's Lloyds tsb for me. The only prob with credit check is not having lived in the UK you have no UK history, but having had US credit history apparently can work in your favor because then they have something to go on.

I must admit I am v. disappointed there are so few options for internationals. Why is it so difficult for int. students to get a basic visa/mastercard debit acct? I'm not looking for an overdraft or a credit card - I have a credit card from the states that I'm keeping open and don't want another - but it's completely impractical for me to use my U.S. visa student checking acct when I am living in the U.K. and am not earning $ in the states anymore. I just want a functional debit acct that I can use back in the states when I travel without having to switch between cards and accts when I travel abroad.

They also don't care if you're a graduate or not, if your parents live here and have accts with the banks, or if you bank with a partner bank abroad. I do think though from what I've learnt about all this - if you can I would recommend getting a recommendation letter from your bank manager if it's a partner bank. They should also be prepared to be contacted if your new bank wants further info - like credit history. It looks like it will be a little difficult for me to do now that I've left the states, but I may try this if I get desperate. Anyway - hope this info helps someone.

[vicxzy]

Hi Glad,

I work for the Halifax at the min so glad you like us
Also the massive overdraft is pretty flexible (but don't say I told u that!)

[chadtnl]

Hi Vicxzy, wanna open an account for me? LOL!!

[GladtoB]

Hi Vicxzy,

Yeah I do like Halifax's account a lot. In the end, however, I decided to go with Lloyds TSB because they have loads of cashpoints where I'll be living, and I can also use post offices for basic payments + withdrawals and the atm machines in the post office for free. I do think the Halifax account is better, but in the end I was won over by the convenience of nearby atms, and post office banking (there's a post office right at the bottom of my street!). There are options for getting an overdraft with the Lloyds TSB classic account but it's nowhere near as large as Halifax's account, and is not a standard feature of the account so I'd have to apply for it after 6 months if I wanted it. Nonetheless - all I was looking for was a fully functional debit account with free currency exchange + travellers cheques because I travel a lot, internet banking, options for direct debit/deposit, and bill payment etc and then either a Visa or Mastercard debit card so I can use it abroad hassle-free.

The LloydsTSB classic acct covers those basics so in the end I just went with them. It was also a little faster to set up the account - I called them yesterday and was approved in 10 minutes and just took proof of identity, etc into a local branch today and walked out an account-holder. When I phoned Halifax they told me the process would take about 5 business days because it needed to go by a central office for credit approval and then forms to sign and bring in would come in the mail. Perhaps it would have taken less time if I'd gone into a branch. I also liked that the Lloyds acct is not a "student account" because I won't necessarily have to change the type of account I have after I graduate - it's just a basic current account and it will stay that way until I change it or upgrade it. (Of course it also means I miss out on whatever perks banks offer to students - I know Halifax had a number of these.) I also liked that I could add features to the LloydsTSB acct, like insurance coverage etc if I wanted to, (at a fee) because this also means that if I don't want them I'm not paying for them. (The Halifax account was free, but I recall that the HSBC acct cost £5 a month, and the Barclays one also cost £5 a month if your balance was below £2,000).

So yeah - as of today I bank with Lloyds TSB. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a positive banking experience!

[Fried_Rice]

This is not what you're asking really, but just a tid-bit of info from last year:

Last year this was true for HSBC:

If your parents/you yourself have a HSBC account overseas then you can, as an international (non-UK citizen), get a UK home student account if you get your local bank to write you an 'introduction letter' to your new HSBC bank.

I had this done last year from the Hong Hong HSBC bank (it was an incredible struggle though to get the HK bank to write me this letter!)

I'm not sure exactly what the differences are (maybe some overdraft differences), aside from that you don't get the free gifts with the international student bank account.

Good luck with, and enjoy your banking! *shudder*

[GladtoB]

Thanks!

Yeah - i think what you've said is still the case with HSBC. It's a really great thing to do if that's an option for you - in my opinion the home student accts are much more functional and have better perks than the int. student accts. Caveat: HSBC isn't in my home country, so it wouldn't have been an option for me. My parents though, do live and work here, and they bank with HSBC, but apparently the referral thing only works across countries and not within the UK. I still don't understand why - perhaps I should have pursued this more but my parents are out of town this week, and the uni branch of HSBC (where I had to go to enquire abt student accts) seems adamant that as an international I'm not entitled to be considered in light of my parents. We'll see; perhaps when they get back we can see if this referral thing could be an option for me. But I still don't like that Maestro isn't as accessible abroad so I think I may just stick with LlyodsTSB for its Visa card.

The international student accts, AFAIK don't have overdrafts, have fewer free gifts, and some have minimum balances or minimum deposit amts to open the acct (see my first post). Some of the banks also didn't give you a visa or mastercard debit card, but rather a switch/maestro or solo - these are not as accepted abroad, though they may not make much difference if you're only going to use the card here. Barclays has a great student acct (visa debit card, and loads of perks and facilities) but you need £2,000 to open the acct and you get charged £5 each month your balance is below £2,000 at any point that mth. HSBCs int. student acct looked pretty good (if you don't mind maestro) - no min balance, fully functional, nice perks, but costs £5 a month. RBS had a similar acct to HSBC for international students but it was free. However, they didn't guarantee Switch - they said you may end up with Solo depending on your credit score. They said that although there is no min balance you need to bring your receipt from your payment of tuition fees and you need to deposit £5,000 to open the acct.

Not all banks offer int. student accts - those that didn't offered basic cashbox accts (see my first pt for expl). Personally I was unimpressed by these cashbox accts, but others may find they don't need more from their bank acct. Lloyds TSB and Halifax were the exceptions.

Halifax has a great student acct that does not discriminate btwn internationals and local students. They also offer a huge overdraft - the biggest of all the student accts I saw (bear in mind international students aren't normally entitled to overdrafts on their int. student accts., so we're only looking at the overdrafts that home students get). The only drawback I found - in my v. limited interaction with them - was that they don't seem to have as many branches or atms as the "Big 4" (Barclays, HSBC, Natwest + LloydsTSB). Because Halifax debit card is a visa card you can still technically use it at atm machines displaying the visa sign - but you may be charged a small fee (£1-£2) by the owner of the atm. I feared this might add up in my case because there was only one Halifax ATM in my town.

Lloyds TSB's student acct is not open to internationals, and they don't have an int. student acct. But instead they offer international students their "classic" current acct. As I understand, at other banks you could only get a current acct if you have a fulltime job and a letter from your employer. The classic acct has a visa debit card and is fully functional (online banking, no min balance, direct debit/deposit, free currency exchange+ travellers cheques) but is not a student acct so all those nice discounts on AA membership, insurance, etc are absent. I found they have loads of ATMs and they let you use the Post Office to pay bills or money into your acct, to withdraw money and also to use Post Office ATMs for free. (They claim to be the biggest banking network in the UK). After banking with them for some time (at least 6 months I'm told) you are eligible to apply for an overdraft and later a credit card,etc if those are things you want. Opening an acct was easy - and when I called to check that I'd be eligible for this acct (they do a credit check) they told me within 10 min on the phone. After that I just brought my ID and letter from school to my nearest branch and the acct was open in about 30min.

Another perk of this acct is that it's not a "student acct", so it doesn't "expire" when you're no longer a student. So you don't nec. have to change accts when you graduate. You also aren't treated any diff from, say, a UK resident, or someone with a full-time job who holds the same acct. All the perks of the acct, in theory, are open to you - although I don't know if this is the case in practice. So you don't feel the bank is lumping you into a category (int students, for example) if you know what I mean.

I haven't actually banked with any of these banks, so take everything I say with a pinch of salt. I'm not endorsing any particular bank - just relaying what I've experienced and learnt - I thought I'd share so that anyone who finds it useful has access to the info. So yeah - you can be sure I'll report any negative experiences I have here, and it's interesting to hear other ppl's experience.