Banking, Housing, and Phoning. Which comes first?

Today, our second day in London, was both exhilarating and challenging. A modern incidence similar to the age-old “chicken and the egg” question.

What must come first, the bank account or the housing? You have to chuckle at the situation we’re in. As we anticipated, we can’t rent an apartment without a UK bank account. AND we can’t secure a bank account until we have an address (ie an apartment). AND to make things worse, we can’t dig deep into either housing or the bank account without a dedicated phone line. BUT, you must have been a resident of the UK for 3 years to sign a contract with 2 of the 3 largest mobile carriers (Orange & Vodafone) in the UK.

What to do? Well, we dug into the first of the problems and secured a “pay as you go” cell phone for use over the next couple weeks as we finalize our housing. O2 (a local mobile service provider) will allow us to sign a contract as a foreign national — we just need to secure a semi-permanent address first. Now, we’re free to explore our housing and banking options. We’ll use the pay as you go phone until we secure our housing and then choose a more permanent phone plan.

Banking. We visited a couple banks today and learned that new policies instituted after 9/11 do not (in most cases) allow foreign nationals to secure standard bank accounts in the UK without a permanent street address, proof of employment, and other proof of residence. There are “passport” accounts available that require thorough security checks (require many forms of ID), and a significant monthly fee (the equivalent of $10 per month). Before leaving Raleigh, we did a bit of research and expected this problem. And we’ve prepared the forms of documentation and proof of credit history that they require. We just need a local address to finish the process.

Housing. Today, we made progress in securing a flat. We’ve limited the boroughs for consideration. We’re now focusing on:

• Marylebone
• Hampstead
• Paddington
• Bayswater
• Kensington/Notting Hill

And we’ve scheduled a number of appointments to see properties over the next few days in these boroughs. Fingers crossed that we’ll find a comfortable home within the next couple weeks so that a few of our other pieces may fall into place.

So, which will come first? The housing or the bank account? We’ll keep you posted.