Most international students choose to open a bank account in the UK. You won’t be able to do this immediately, so you should think about how much money you will need for the first couple of weeks. Most shops in the UK accept Visa and Mastercard, so you may be able to use your bank cards from your home country until you have set up your UK account, although you should check what the charges and exchange rates are.

You can find some useful information about UK bank accounts on the UKCISA student banking blog and Save the Student: Top UK bank accounts for international students, which includes the banks with the lowest international transfer fees.

Follow this step-by-step guide to opening a UK bank account:

Most banks will want confirmation that you are enrolled on your course BEFORE they will allow you to open an account. For this reason, you can complete steps 1, 2 and 3 of the list below before you arrive in the UK, but you will need to wait until you have completed your course enrolment before you continue with step 4 and request your bank letter from AskBU.

  1. Read the useful information about opening UK bank accounts on the UKCISA website
  2. Do some research into the different types of account available to you
  3. Decide which bank and branch you want to open an account with
  4. ONLY AFTER you have fully completed your online enrolment, request a bank letter from AskBU (we won’t issue letters for applicants as banks will not accept them)
    • Only choose 1 or 2 banks – due to the volume of letter requests, we will not be able to issue more than 2 letters per student
    • Ensure BOTH your permanent home country address and UK term-time address are up-to-date on your record on myHub.
  5. The letter will be emailed to your BU email address (you should expect to wait approximately 10 working days between submitting your letter request and receiving your letter)
  6. Make an appointment with the bank (allow at least 10 working days after submitting your bank letter request form).
  7. Take the letter, your passport and any other document the bank requires with you to your bank appointment.

Keeping your bank account safe

If you think that your bank account may have been misused you should report this to your bank or to the police. You can also let us know as we can provide support and advice. There are organised crime groups who may try to use fraud and scams to target international or UK students' bank accounts. The best way to keep your bank account safe is to remain vigilant and question anything that seems unusual. Please ensure that you:

  • Do not engage with suspicious activities
  • Are being cautious
  • Talk to your bank if you are concerned about activity linked to your bank account(s)
  • Are aware of the serious consequences of involvement in criminal activity.

We've put together a list of the common scams targeting international students. The UKCISA website has some helpful information about fraud and scams for students.