Bank account advice

[tomgolland]

Hi all,

 

I am hoping that as I have several existing bank accounts still in the uk, I will be able to add my Aussie wife to them to create joint accounts without having to start from scratch. Does anyone know if this will be possible or not?

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

[MamaPesa]

It wasn't possible 8 years ago!

 

The UK have lots of laws about proving your address for the last 4 years in the country before they'll let you have a 'proper' bank account. This included putting me on my then partners account which he had open. I did manage to get an account with Lloyds TSB which only allowed me to use their ATMs with no direct debits or anything else. At the time, my best option would have been to open an account through the commonwealth bank here in Aus however, I didn't realise that until I was already in London!!!

 

Having said that, a lot of banking 'rules' really do depend on the interpretation of the person you are asking at the time. Their interpretation depends greatly on how good/bad a day they're having, how sunny it is, how nice you are, etc etc......

[tomgolland]

Thanks for that MamaPesa, We already use the Commonwealth so hopefully it'll be fairly sraightforward to make enquiries! I've also contacted the dvla and have arranged for them to send the paperwork to our address in the u.k!

 

As the move is getting closer, things are coming to my attention in the middle of the night! Do you know an easy way of explaining the child care benefits and tax credit system? It all looks extremely complicated on the websites!

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

[MamaPesa]

Sorry Tom. Can't help much on the child aspect of things. When it started getting into tax credits at my work (primary school) I used to just tell the parents to pop into the council access point next door!