Business Bank Account - Registering without a UK address

[northernladuk]

1. Get an address in the UK! Without this, you are a non person in so many ways. If you have previously lived here then you must still have some connections to the UK, no? Do you have family or friends that you can put down as an address? Do you still have a UK bank account from days gone by?
2. Register on the Electoral Roll
3. Register for and pay your council tax. This will get you a bill in your own name which is a big step.
4. Transfer your driving license to the UK if you have one
5. Engage a UK accountant and see if they have a relationship with a bank that they can leverage to get you setup. You will find that they are bound by much the same money laundering laws as banks so be prepared to have a face to face meeting and bring some proof of identity (ie passport) and a couple of letters to prove where you live in the UK.

Absolutely correct points but none of them are going to expedite his application

[Wanderer]

- has anyone been in the same situation re the registered address? Are any banks sympathetic of this?

Banks are very conservative about these things. It used to be all about fraud but now there are legal requirements around money laundering too.

- what would you do in my position to expedite this?

1. Get an address in the UK! Without this, you are a non person in so many ways. If you have previously lived here then you must still have some connections to the UK, no? Do you have family or friends that you can put down as an address? Do you still have a UK bank account from days gone by?
2. Register on the Electoral Roll
3. Register for and pay your council tax. This will get you a bill in your own name which is a big step.
4. Transfer your driving license to the UK if you have one
5. Engage a UK accountant and see if they have a relationship with a bank that they can leverage to get you setup. You will find that they are bound by much the same money laundering laws as banks so be prepared to have a face to face meeting and bring some proof of identity (ie passport) and a couple of letters to prove where you live in the UK.

[jamesbrown]

Lack of credit history most likely won't be your problem, it will be the lack of a UK address. This will almost certainly be required for money laundering purposes and for their own internal purposes. You'll have to wait until you have a UK address and should then consider opening a bank account through your accountant. I certainly wouldn't go brolly on the basis of not being able to open a bank account because you do not, temporarily, have a UK address (although there may be other good reasons to do so). I'd be surprised if a brolly would take you without a UK address in any case (may be wrong about that though). The whole process of opening a bank account should be relatively quick when you finally arrive, and your accountant may be able to organise this for you or at least assist.

[SueEllen]

What does that mean?

If you can't get a business bank account due to not having a UK address then you will need to use an umbrella company.

[sarphatikade]

Go brolly.

What does that mean?

[northernladuk]

Go brolly.

[administrator]

Have you tried contacting any of the banks you have tried to open an account with and asked them direct? They may be able to give you some information but as you have said, no UK address is likely to be a biggie...

[sarphatikade]

Hi everyone - here's hoping for some valuable advice,

I've created an Ltd company registered with Companies House, Cardiff. I have a three month, full time contracting contract with a major online fashion retailer in London, as well as a 6 to 12 month later of engagement intent. All good right?

Well, no. I'm consistently rejected by UK bank accounts when attempting to creating a business bank account. I believe there's two reasons for this:

• I don't have a registered UK address as of yet
• My credit rating is probably crap

Why so? Well since graduating from university in 2009, I've travelled and worked in India, Germany and Holland. I'm now in the process of moving to London to start this contract and hence I don't have a UK address at the moment. In addition I haven't paid tax in the UK for years so I don't have a credit history (though I'm asking Experian).

*advice required*

- has anyone been in the same situation re the registered address? Are any banks sympathetic of this?
- what would you do in my position to expedite this?

Thanks in advance,
David