• ADD Updated Information Here for CME 05-06 -
    New CME Students --> as you look around for bank accounts, post your findings here so others can benefit from your knowledge.

    Example:

    Bank

    Minimum Balance

    Other Info...

    HSBC

    2000

    stuff



  • Cost of Living -
    One word: Expensive. This is mainly due to the high exchange rates. For the 2004 - 2005
    school year, the exchange rate steadily climbed from 1.85 to 1.95 US dollars per British pound.
    But even if the exchange rate is good relatively speaking, living in Cambridge will still almost
    certainly be more expensive than living in Boston. As a rule of thumb, you can expect to see the
    same numerical price for things in both places, but in Cambridge, those prices are in pounds,
    whereas in Boston they're in dollars. Because a pound is worth more than a dollar, things are
    more expensive in Cambridge than in Boston. You can expect to spend £5 - £10 for lunch and
    £10 - £20 for dinner at a restaurant. A normal sized box of cereal can cost anywhere between £1
    (for store brand) to £3 (for Coco Puffs).
  • Getting Money in the UK -
    It probably goes without saying, but still: you're going to need money in Cambridge. As
    Cambridge restricts how much students are allowed to work while they are "in term" at the
    University, you will have to find a way to get at your money from the US. (For more about
    working in Cambridge, see section 6.1.) There are a multiple ways that you can control your
    cash flow in the UK.
    Bring cash: To have immediate access to money (other than using an ATM or credit card—see
    below for details on those), you can bring it with you from the US. You can either (a) bring US
    dollars and exchange them in the UK for pounds, (b) bring British pounds that you got in the US,
    or (c) bring traveler's checks. Of these options, ordering British pounds from your bank in the
    US and bringing them with you to the UK will probably give you the best exchange rate. If you
    do have US dollars that you want to exchange to British pounds in the UK, there are many
    different places to do it. Marks & Spencer has an exchange counter where you can get some of
    the best exchange rates around and they do not charge commission. Bureau de Change also is
    commission-free for students. Traveler's checks offer the perk of security (if you lose unsigned
    traveler's checks, you can get the money back), but you will have to pay a fee up front when you
    get them.
    Use ATMs and cards: You can also get by in Cambridge with just a debit and/or credit card.
    With a debit or ATM card, you can get cash from ATMs, which are all over the city Banks in
    the UK do not charge fees at their ATMs for non-bank cards. That is to say, if you have an
    account with HSBC, you can use a Barclay's ATM just as well as an HSBC one and you will not
    be charged a fee. However, if you use your ATM card from home, your bank in the US will
    probably charge you either a non-bank transaction fee or an international transaction fee of
    around $5, or both (the MIT Federal Credit Union doesn't charge a fee for using your debit card
    in Europe, and if you have a bank account with Bank of America, withdrawals from Barclays are
    free of charge.). Having a credit card can be very useful. First, you don't have to deal with
    getting or carrying cash around; second, everybody takes Visa and MasterCard; and third, you'll
    get a bank-to-bank exchange rate (which is the best exchange rate on any given day) and you
    won't get charged a fee, thus saving some money in two ways. If you go for this option, in the
    rare situations when you need check (if you're working at a May Ball, for example, you'll need a
    security check), you can find a friend to write one for you and just pay them back.
    Open a bank account: Another option for having access to money is opening a bank account in
    Cambridge. You'll need a letter from your College to open an account, and some colleges are
    associated with particular banks, so you might want to ask them to suggest a bank. The
    advantage of having an account in Cambridge is that you will be able to write checks (if it's a
    checking account). This is important if you play a sport or are in a society, as they will request
    you to write a check to pay your membership fees. Also, you will need to pay your College bills,
    and cash or check might be the only accepted methods of payment. If you have an account, youwill also have quick, easy, and free access to British pounds (however many you put into the
    account, that is). But of course, you have to get money into the account in the first place and
    there might be a fee to exchange it from dollars to pounds over that first transaction.
    To get money into your account, you can do a few things:
    (a) have the money wired, which might cost a bunch, but will be very quick
    (b) write yourself a US check, for which transaction fees might be significant ($20), but
    actually receiving the cash takes ages (~4 weeks) as the bank needs to send it back to the
    US for clearance or
    (c) bring cash with you when you first come from the US (which was discussed above).
    Two banks which were popular with students are HSBC and Barclays. Some banks, like Natwest
    and Barclays, need proof of significant amounts of pounds (£5000 and £2000 respectively) for
    your International Student checking account not to incur a monthly charge (sometimes this
    means you can simply show them a bank statement of your parents, instead of having to put the
    funds directly into your account). Other banks, such as Nationwide and Halifax, don't need any
    pounds, but you might not be able to receive checks or a debit card to use outside of the bank. If
    you want to set up a bank account, going to the bank should be one of the first things you do
    after arriving at Cambridge. When the rest of the freshers arrive, you'll find that there will be
    huge waiting lists to get an appointment (particularly true at HSBC which offered free Student
    RailCards during 2004-2005 (according to the person I talked to at HSBC, they didn't, that was NatWest; either way, HSBC doesn't offer railcards anymore as of 2005-2006), meaning you won't get an account for several weeks after term
    starts. Go early to avoid the queues.

  • Why I didn't like HSBC

    Below are websites and locations of most banks in Cambridge:

    ----Abbey National plc http://www.abbeynational.co.uk/
    60 St Andrew's Street
    Tel: 0845 765 4321
    ----Alliance & Leicester plc http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/
    36 Fitzroy Street
    Tel: (01223) 355473
    49 Sidney Street
    Tel: (01223) 362362
    ----Barclays Bank plc http://www.barclays.co.uk/
    Addenbrookes Hospital
    15 Bene't Street
    28 Chesterton Road
    7 Clifton Court, Cherry Hinton Road
    High Street, Histon
    30 Market Hill
    76 Newmarket Road
    35 Sidney Street
    Tel: (01223) 542000 (all branches)
    ----Bradford & Bingley http://www.marketplace.co.uk/
    9 Trinity Street
    Tel: 01223 359745
    ----Cheltenham and Gloucester plc
    (Part of Lloyds TSB) http://www.cheltglos.co.uk/
    4 Peas Hill
    Tel: (01223) 366233
    Fax: (01223) 368816
    ----Co-operative Bank plc http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/
    75 Burleigh Street
    Tel: 08457 212212|
    ----First Direct (24-hr Telephone Banking)
    (A division of HSBC) http://www.firstdirect.com/
    Tel: 0800 24 24 24
    ----Halifax plc http://www.halifax.co.uk/home/index.shtml
    30a Fitzroy Street
    32-33 Petty Cury
    Tel: 0845 605 0410 (all branches)
    ----HFC Bank plc http://www.hfcbank.co.uk/
    75 Regent Street
    Tel: 01223 314822
    ----HSBC Bank plc http://www.hsbc.co.uk/
    62 Cherry Hinton Road
    58 Chesterton Road
    62 Hills Road
    32 Market Hill
    52 St Andrew's Street
    Tel: 08457 404404 (all branches)
    ----Royal Bank of Scotland plc http://www.rbs.co.uk/
    82-88 Hills Road
    Tel: (01223) 464424
    ----Lloyds TSB Bank plc http://www.lloydstsb.com/
    78 Cherry Hinton Road
    Chesterton Road
    90a Mill Road
    95-97 Regent Street
    3 Sidney Street
    6 St Andrews Street
    Tel: 0845 072 3333 (all branches)
    ----National Westminster Bank plc http://www.natwest.co.uk/
    10 Bene't Street
    37 Fitzroy Street
    High Street, Histon
    High Street, Sawston
    56 St. Andrew's Street
    Customers tel: 0845 601 3366
    General Enquiries: 0870 240 33 11
    ----Nationwide Building Society http://www.nationwide.co.uk/default.htm
    67 St Andrews Street
    Tel: (01223) 542600
    Fax: (01223) 542606
    ----Northern Rock plc http://www.northernrock.co.uk/index.asp
    26-27 Sidney Street
    Tel: (01223) 367638
    ----Woolwich plc
    (Part of Barclays Bank) http://www.woolwich.co.uk/
    57-58 St Andrews Street
    Tel: 0845 071 8155
    ----Yorkshire Bank plc http://www.ybonline.co.uk/
    6 Jesus Lane
    Tel: (01223) 312929
  • No labels