Moving to London from Australia? Opening your first UK bank account
What you need, which banks will open an account for someone who landed last week, and why your Australian credit history does not come with you.
13 Sep 2026 · 5 min read
You cannot get paid, sign a lease or set up a phone contract in the UK without a UK bank account, and you cannot easily get a UK bank account without an address. Every Australian who has moved to London has hit that loop in their first week.
The good news is that it is much easier than it used to be, as long as you start with the right kind of bank.
What you need
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Your passport.
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Your right to be here. Most visas are now digital, so the bank asks for your eVisa share code rather than a card.
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A UK address. It does not have to be permanent, but it has to be somewhere post can reach you.
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A UK phone number, for the app and the security codes.
Start with an app bank
Monzo, Starling and Revolut open accounts in the app in minutes, usually from a passport and a selfie, and they tend to be relaxed about proof of address. For most people fresh off the plane this is the account that gets your first pay packet.
Monzo only runs a soft search when you open an account, which does not show up to other lenders or affect your score.
The high-street banks (Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, NatWest) can work too, but they are more likely to want a letter or bill proving your address, and some want you to walk into a branch. Lloyds and Barclays have both offered routes for people new to the UK, so ask for those by name.
Before you have a lease
A hostel, a friend’s flat or a short let is fine to start with. Open the app account with that address and change it the day you move into your own place. Keep the old address long enough to catch the card in the post.
Once you have a tenancy agreement or your first bill in your name, the high-street banks get much easier.
Your Australian credit history stays in Australia
This is the part that catches people out. UK banks and lenders check your file with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion here, and none of them can see a decade of good behaviour back home. On arrival you look the same as an 18 year old who has never had a bill.
The one well-known exception is American Express: if you already hold an Amex card in Australia, its global transfer lets Amex UK use that history when you apply for a UK card.
In the UK you start with no credit file at all, however good yours was in Australia.
Then think about switch bonuses
UK banks pay people hundreds of pounds to move their current account, and a lot of Australians in London never hear about it. It is worth doing, but a thin credit file changes how you should go about it, which is what our next post covers.
Want this worked out for your banks?
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