Anybody who has ever moved to Britain knows the frustration of trying to prove your identity and residence. Getting anything, such as a cell phone contract, library card, car rental, or registering with a physician, requires you to bring a recent copy of a utility bill or bank statement.
This gets really frustrating when you want to open a bank account, because you often need a bank account statement to open a bank account. That would be the Catch-22.
Today I faced the ultimate in idiocy and irony. I opened a business bank account at HSBC (our business is registered and incorporated as of two days ago). To prove my residence, HSBC requires a utility bill (I have none as I’m a tenant) or a bank statement (the bank I have my personal account with is HSBC). So the only statement I can bring to HSBC is what they mailed to me. And they still insist on it!
Rather than just looking in their computer, and seeing that I indeed live where I claim, they need a piece of paper. The lady smiled apologetically, acknoledging this was a bit ludicrus, but rules are rules, so Friday I will be bringing HSBC the very statement they’ve mailed to me so they can photocopy it and file it. That would be the Catch-23.
