No proof of address when opening bank account

Hello

I have been living abroad for 10 years now and am planning to return to the UK.  I have no credit history there and will need to open a bank account.

I have a british passport but no proof of address as we are going to be staying with my inlaws for a couple of months. 

Will I still be able to open a bank account with only a passport.

S.

Hi Sassy,

The British Bankers Association website has a good guide on proof of identity, which should hopefully be of use to you:

http://www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=146&a=536

 This is the kind of problem our daughter is having.  She has only worked abroad on and off for the last two years, for an English company, but has stayed at various address on her temporary return to the UK so has no official proof of address in the UK. She does have a full 10 year UK british passport.

She has just started at University and has tried to secure a student overdraft but because she has no proof of address and is not on any electoral role the bank has found her linked to a number of temporary addresses and have refused her an overdraft.  As she has been able to prove student status and halls of residence address they have let her open a bank account but not much help to a student without an overdraft facility.

We too have been abroad and just returned to the UK having lost our jobs in the travel industry and unfortunately ended up in the position of claiming Job Seekers Allowance, it was only for 3 years and we were working for an English company, but we have had to go through so much paperwork proving previous residency etc etc. We lost our accommodation which went with the job also so are sharing a house until things improve !!

We have not found it easy returning to the UK it is ok if you are the 'norm' but if you step outside that there are so many questions and we really feel for our daughter as we are not in a position to help her at the moment.

I am sure once the wheels are in motion again the headache will be worth it! It really is the best place to be after all said and done and despite the current situation.

Good luck with your bank account.

 All the banks have to comply with the rules on verifying customers' identity to guard against money laundering and fraud. However, they are required to take a 'risk based approach' which means that they should tailor their procedures according to the risk presented by each account type.

This presents a bit of a problem for accounts like current accounts. They are very common, and pretty much everyone needs one, but they do allow cash to be paid in and then a cheque or electronic payment made to anywhere in the world...so they are relatively high risk from a money laundering viewpoint.

However, the rules issued by the snappily titled Joint Money Laundering Steering Group do allow accounts to be opened up with a single piece of evidence such as a UK passport which shows a photo and either full address or date of birth. So in theory it is possible to get an account without separate evidence of address, but not so easy in practice.

Opening an Account with a local (foreign) branch of a UK Bank whilst abroad (Barclays) made it much easier when I moved to the UK from France.

Having  different accounts in different banks make it  easy for us to travel from country to country without carrying cash.

 Lisa11