Money and Banking in the UK

Surprisingly, you can get away with at least £30 a week! (In Newcastle anyway)

Questions answered in this blog

How much money do I need to bring to the UK and what do I need to buy when I arrive there?

→ Go to 'Checklist'.

Can I use Malaysian banks in the UK?

→ Go to 'Malaysian Banking in the UK'.

Which UK bank should I open and how do I open it?

→ Go to 'UK Banks'.

Should I get an online bank?

→ Go to 'Online Banks: Starling and Monzo'.

What's the cheapest way to transfer money?

→ Go to 'Ways to Transfer Money.'

Comments for Singaporean students and further general comments:

→ Go to the end of this post.

Checklist

• The amount of money in cash you will need to bring initially depends on what you plan to spend when you get here.

• Be weary as well about accommodation, as in the accommodation hunting post, there may be hidden costs!

• As a guideline, here is what you will need to buy with physical cash or using your international banking account (eg. Maybank debit, Monzo, etc.) when you arrive…

Bedding: total around £35

(Mostly got bedding from Primark and T.J Hughes, opposite of Tesco Metro)

• Duvet (10.5 tog is best for all seasons, while 13.5 tog is best for a very cold night, not much heating): £11

• Bedsheets: around £10

• Pillow: around £5

• Pillowcase and duvet case: £10

Kitchen utensils: Depends on your accommodation

(Mostly got from Ikea and Wilko)

• Depends on how much your accommodation initially provides for you. Prices for kitchen appliances can be found here, at number 7: https://sabbo123.wixsite.com/website/post/10-exclusive-things-to-bring-to-the-uk-from-malaysia

• For me (Sabrina) it was a total around of £15 for pots, pans, plate and bowl.

• There's always gumtree, garage sales and you can always try to contact Malaysians in Newcastle!

Groceries: First week will be around £30-40

(Mostly got from Tesco Metro)

• Around £20/week.

Clothes: Depends on how much you brought from Malaysia

(Mostly got from Primark and H&M: a low quality coat from Primark costs around £10-£20, while a higher quality coat from H&M can cost £30-40)

• For me it was a total around £70 over the course of a couple months (bought jacket, hoodie, other winter clothes)

The total of bedding, room items, kitchen utensils, food, etc. should be around £100+.

• Therefore, you’ll need around £200 in cash to get you through the first week, while you wait for your UK bank to open. You should bring £500 just to be extra cautious, in case there is a delay to open your UK bank account. Some people bring up to £1000.

• You can always search up garage sales or use gumtree or get into contact with students selling their stuff.

Malaysian Banking in the UK

Some of you are wondering whether it’s a good idea to use your Maybank/ CIMB cards overseas, and the answer is yes! You can!

Make sure you activate Maybank ATM overseas debit card activation before you leave to the UK, you can do this via Maybank2u. This will allow you to make payments like contactless while overseas. Using this is a good backup in case of an emergency, but we wouldn’t recommend using this way as your main method of buying thing due to three reasons:

• The exchange rate is quite high using Malaysian banking debit cards to make payments, and depends on the bank. Here is Maybank’s for your reference.

• You can’t buy stuff online unless you change your TAC number. You can change the TAC number by calling the overseas number for Maybank, however you would be charged for the overseas call and have to wait 5 working days.

• Cash withdrawal is charged.

UK Banks

To make life easier, you should open a physical bank account in the UK. Physical banks are safe as they are insured and protected. So if there's a fraud case where people are stealing your money and it's not your fault, these banks will get you your money back. ATMs that allow free cash withdrawal are scattered all around Newcastle city, so it’s easy to get your hands on some cash (make sure to sanitise it though lol!)

Most banks are not that different from each other. There are two options (if you are here for one year, like the BMS students from NUMed): HSBC and Lloyds. If you are studying in the UK for more than a year, there are many other banks to choose from, for example Barclay’s. However this blog will only go into detail about these two banks.

There is the HSBC Global Account that you can open in Malaysia, allowing your parents to transfer or physically put money into the account, which gets converted from Malaysian Ringgit into British Pounds without any further steps. This one can be opened in HSBC Malaysia. However your parents have to be present when you open it because if you are a student, it is a requirement that it be a joint account with your parents.

There is also a basic current and savings account you can get under Lloyds and HSBC.

A lot of students have complained about HSBC services (especially on Malaysia’s end). Most students opt for Lloyds, as their service is good, and it has the cheapest telegraphic transfer fee (£12, or around RM65).

HSBC and Lloyds physical branches are at the Monument, in the city centre. This is a 10 min walk from campus.

Opening a UK bank

Opening a UK bank account is a bit different than Malaysia. A lot of students are worried about the process but it is actually not that complicated.

1. Getting a bank letter

To open a bank account, you are required to have a bank letter from your university. This is to prove that you are indeed a student of a UK university. On the registration day, there will be a specific booth to assign bank letters for international students. If you happen to come early, just go straight to the admission office and ask for a bank letter. The staff will simply ask for your student ID number for this.

2. Booking an appointment with your chosen bank

Using the bank letter, an appointment must be made at the bank. The bank will hold the bank letter and give an appointment card to you. This can take up to a week, and it can get especially busy during the first weeks of uni.

3. Attend the appointment

Lastly, just attend the appointment. The staff will help you to open your bank account and help set up your mobile banking. By the end of the appointment, your bank account is open, so you can deposit money into your account (manually, through the bank worker).

4. Wait for your debit card.

The bank will send you your debit card by post, which may take another 1-2 weeks.

Some points about Lloyds:

• In their app, look for "Everyday offers", they offer cashback on some stores/shops/groceries. Just activate it and use your Lloyds card when paying

• Lloyds is available to add in your Google Pay wallet, but not available on Apple Pay wallet (AFAIK)

Online banks: Starling and Monzo

You might be interested in open and virtual banks such Monzo and Starling. They are very convenient to use for anyone who likes to travel as they don’t charge any fees when paying abroad and the exchange rate is very good - the same as what you see on Google.

How to create an account

1. Install the app

2. They will ask you to take a picture of your BRP or any official identification

3. You will be asked to record a video to ensure that it is really you.

4. Your bank card will appear by mail after a few days

5. You can activate (or deactivate) your card through the app so it is safe until the card is in your hands.

Ways to Transfer Money

• Transferwise (The cheapest way, which will be explained in more detail later in this blog)

• Western Union*

• HSBC Global Account (doesn't really count because it's just a bank account with different currencies)

• Maybank2U Direct Debit

• Normal TT (Telegraphic Transfer) service

* Zahra: DO NOT USE Western Union as has hidden charges up to RM100 on behalf of the sender (in this case your parents). This is more expensive than Lloyds!

Transferwise: The cheapest way to transfer money

(According to Social Science students, Hanif Ahmad and Sarah Roz)

Transferwise (https://transferwise.com/) is a money exchange service that is free to use.

When transferring, they use google rate and only incur a small amount of fee.

Charge changes depending on how much you transfer. The more you transfer, the better the value. Here are some screenshots demonstrating this:

You can also send GBP to MYR, with similar costs incurring.

Physical banks like Maybank and Lloyds normally have lower conversion rates compared to google rates. I.e. If google £1 = RM5.40, lloyds could be £1 = RM5.28. So that's where you lose money compared to Transferwise.

For Singaporean Students

Kabi suggests:

“Get Youtrip card, it’s really one of the best ways to exchange money without any fees and it can be linked directly to your DBS/POSB/OCBC or whatever SG account you might have.”

“While in UK, Apply for a Monzo (https://monzo.com) or Monese (https://monese.com) card (online bank accounts - No physical bank present) so everything is settled from the phone app. Both offer feeless withdrawals. When I got the cards, both were free cards, but Monese requires you to pay an amount now for delivery of the card, so my personal recommendation would be to apply for Monzo first. Both are very user friendly platforms so you guys should be able to learn it pretty fast upon getting the app and card.”

A Social Sciences student’s insightful comments regarding UK banking:

Sarah Roz says regarding UK banking:

“There's not really too much of a difference in banks from an international students' point of view tbh. Cause we can't qualify for most of the accounts with perks. There are differences like llyods having a lower fee for receiving money overseas or like hsbc having a partner branch in malaysia so it's more approachable to use."

"There's not really too much of a difference in banks from an international students' point of view. Honestly the benefits are marginal as they're often outweighed by their costs."

"Like hsbc right, u can set up a global account n u wouldnt lose much from the exchange rates cause it'll be done internally but hsbc branches and atms are also less common in the uk (don't worry there are some in Newcastle!).

"It's best to choose a big bank that's the closest to you cause it will be soooo much easier to deposit and withdraw money as well as other financial transactions that needs you to go to the branch itself."

Regarding Transferwise:

"The fees are cheaper at like the mid range amount (£100 for example). But ure not losing out on the exchange rate. And that's the one that's gonna kill ya if you do it through normal banking, especially if u get ur money from parents n they transfer thousands of £ at once.

"Transferwise have a referral system too if ure into that. So u can get free transfers and even a virtual card u can register in the USA. I use it to buy stuff from the USA. It’s convenient. 😂”

Thank you for reading. If you have any further questions, please fill in a contact form or ask in the chat box on the bottom right!

Co-Authors: Thank you very much!

Zahra Che Idrus for 'Opening a UK bank' and the 'Online Banking' section!

Kabilesh Arul for the 'Singaporean Students' section

Hanif Ahmad for advice on transferring money

Sarah Roz for all the banking advice in the last section

Khariyah Murad for contributing