When I went, I just talked with the abang at counter no 5, and he took my visa for me on the spot No need take no.
When I went was monday, and there's considerably fewer people than two weeks before lol.

Going off next week! Can't wait!

Quick question about something thats been bothering me though. I plan to pay my fees and enroll once I arrive there oneshot, instead of paying online via my sponsor's cc. Basically here's my plan:

1) Activate Maybankcard Visa so can withdraw money overseas (done).
2) Fly off there.
3) Get the letter of enrollment and open up a UK account.
4) Withdraw money from my Maybankcard and transfer it to the UK account.
5) Use the UK account to DirectDebit the tuition fees to the uni.

Now my concern is that the uni won't issue me the enrolment letter as, and here I roughly quote, 'if you don't pay or make arrangements to pay you won't be able to enrol', thus I won't get that letter of enrollment, and thus will distrupt the whole process above.

So, any says on the matter?

Also, seniors, help me out a bit here. This semester which bank is better: HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, or Natwest?

Thanks!

I wouldn't want to do that if I were you. I did some checking and this is what I found.

Based on international money market wholesale exchange rate or inter-bank rates. http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Credit Card
1. Mastercard/Visa will charge you 1% minimum.
2. Bank administrative charges. Some bank will charge while others don't. Range from 0 to 2%. So go read your cc's small print. It's written there.
3. Cash advance overseas using CC. If bank treat it as cash advance, probably charge you another 1%, unless your credit card is somewhat linked to your other account with money with auto-transfer.

So potentially, using CC will incur a cost of between 1 to 4%. That is a LOT of money.

ATM
Withdrawal overseas will incur a charge of RM5 to RM12 per transaction, depending on which bank. Cheapest RM5 is using Malaysian HSBC ATM card at overseas HSBC ATM machines.

Only ATM with the Cirrus or PLUS sign could be used overseas. For example, RHB and PBB do not so can't be used.


Conclusion on money transfer:
1. Credit Card is the most expensive, ranging from 1 to 4%
2. Bank draft is the cheapest at ~0.45%
3. ATM is the fastest. It's instantaneous.
4. Bank draft is the slowest. It takes 1 week to reach UK and another week to clear.

---

Added on September 5, 2008, 9:59 pmI checked. Many will charge monthly fee (GBP 6 to 12) for international students for opening account.

HSBC
Basic account is free.
PASSPORT account you have to pay.

Barclays
You have to pay or
You put GBP2000 (no interest) and never touch these, then it's free---You can open with RHB here and they link up with UK Barclays so account is ready even before you reach UK.

Lloyds.
Free

NATWEST
Student Account you have to pay.
Very basic account is free.

Royal Bank of Scotland
Student account is free. And they pay you 2% interest on your money. Others bank is 0 or 0.1%.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

This post has been edited by hhkonghh: Sep 5 2008, 09:59 PM

To those of you who are going to UK in near future, below are a few tips from me.

1.) U will not need too much cash because your accommodation might have home appliances such as microwave, oven, kettle and etc. probably u might need to buy cups, bedding sheet, vacuum flask, pot and etc.
2.) U might need cash for living expenses for 2-3 weeks as opening up bank account make take some time.
3.) Living expenses vary depending on your lifestyle, like me, I spent about 15-18 pounds each week for groceries.
4.) I suggest u guys to bring a bank draft worth of how much (say 6k pounds) on your own name, so just pass it to the bank officer when u open your account. it will directly be in your account without any charges. reason why? because banks here will charge u for sending and receiving money from foreign banks, (i was charged 12 pounds for receiving money from my dad, 12x7= RM84, so why wanna lose the money for nothing)
5.) opening bank account at which bank also will do, it doesnt really matter, there are lots of high street banks and u can just withdraw money with your debit card anywhere or from other banks without surcharges, except for cash point machine, this is chargable at about 1.5 pounds.
6.) bring some 3 in 1 milo mix or coffee mix as u wish, also, bring some indo mee if u want, so when u are homesick, just cook 1-2 packets and u will feel better.. LOL..haha..
7.) I suggest u to buy winter clothing here in UK, because i found it to be lot cheaper than if u buy in malaysia. If u want to buy cheap winter clothing, u can buy it at Primark, its real cheap, they are selling wools jacket at about 25 pounds which is equavalent to about RM170, and these material jacket would cost about RM350+ in Msia.
8.) To beer lovers, u can try out Snakebite, its the best for me, its a mixture of carlsberg, fosters and carling and bit of syrup. It cost u roughly about 2pound or less in your local student union.
9.) If u already own a good phone and didnt wish to get a new stylish phone here, u can try getting prepaid card with kinda cheap international calling rates, I'm currently using MobileWorld, it cost me 6p to call Msia landline and 8p to mobile per minute, but services from this operator is not that good and the signal is LOUZY! and you might experience kinda lots of problem when calling to your friends and family with digi line. but calling celcom or maxis would be better. Also, remember to read terms and condition carefully when u sign up for any phone contract because there might be lots of tricky terms and condition.
9.) Show them your student card when u're buying McDonalds, U are entitled to get a free cheeseburger or hamburger or ice-cream when u buy a meal.
10.) Do contact me... haha..!

Edit: Just open up a classic account or current account, then u should be receiving your debit card. Also, remember to sign up internet banking which will make your life lot easier. also remember to open a internet savers or savings account, place most of your unused money into that savings account and only put the necessary amount of money in your classic or current account. by so doing, u would be earning a better interests, say, if u have 6k pounds, u basically can earn about 15-18 pounds interest per month.

This post has been edited by tehoice: Sep 5 2008, 10:08 PM

Please elaborate more on this.

1. I don't think you can change the name on the bank draft.
2. Do they also charge you GBP 12 for a bank draft drawn on a UK bank?

In Msia bank, buy a bank draft worth of say 6kpounds, to make it eazy, multiply with 7, which is about RM42000. this 6000 pounds of bank draft with your FULL NAME as on the passport. just pass it together with your photocopy of passport and necessary documents when opening account to the officer. (make a photocopy of your bankdraft for your own, in case anything happen).
They will charge u for transferring money and receiving money from foreign banks, I am not sure whether they will charge u for other local bank draft anot..

Thanks for the post, very informative!

I don't have CC, I have Maybankcard ATM card, and they will charge RM12 when I'm there, but I don't mind as it's instanteneous. And I also plan to withdraw like 10k quids oneshot so RM12 should be cheaper than bankdraft's 0.45%, yeah? Aside that I'll bring 300 quids just to last me 2-3 weeks. Is it still not recommendable to do it this way?

Regarding banks, I do want one with good internet banking services. Which ones of the above fit the bill?

Thanks in advance!

Yeah that 2am flight. Great finally I found someone. Haha.
Thanks for the info about the visa collection. I just collected mine today. Felt so relieved that it has all been settled now.



Thanks for your info about the visa collection as well. May I know which university you are going to?

BTW , Bath is a historical , pretty and clean countryside town but the facilities are kind of old and worn out . Don't expect modern high rises with flashy shops.

I mean the place has been around since Roman days . Oh another thing , you better have a car cause the place is DAMN hilly , you try walking up and down - exhausting .

If you have to wait for a bus , very weird experience sometimes - like the bus stop on a 55 ' angle and then you have to board !

Not the worst place in UK , at least the class of people higher and less drugs and crime but there are better places.

University of Gloucestershire

Doing Media communications, so no need to harass me with the oh-you-should-have-applied-here crap, ppl

For me i feel LloydsTSB is quite good. nice debit card design and u get a debit card easily with their account rather than natwest.

they got a good internet banking system. else u always need to bring all those stuff to generate password for ur account.

their interest rate is quite high as well for their saving account. and remember to get a form R85 (if not mistaken) so that u can get net interest rate

It should be gross interest rate Net interest rate is after tax.

You are a student so you're not supposed to be taxed.

U will get net interest and its quite alot, i got about 12-15 pounds in the past few months, for my extra spending..
also, u will be taxed for working part time or so... but this is recollectable latter... also, i'm paying council tax! 144 pounds every month!!!! this is killing me! cuz we are unable to collect a proof or letter from uni for us to be exempted from paying council tax...

This post has been edited by tehoice: Sep 6 2008, 07:48 AM

Malaysian ATM has maximum daily withdrawal limit. Varies from RM3K to RM9K or GBP500 to 1500. I am pretty sure there is no way you can withdraw GBP10K in one shot.

Just a suggestion. Open an Malaysian HSBC saving account under joint names with 2 ATM cards. You take one to UK and leave another one at home. Lower transaction fee. And in emergency, you family member in Malaysia can transfer money to you in UK instantaneously. Any unused money, the same family member can also withdraw it out.

1stly, regarding the enrollment, no worry, as long as you tell them that you have the money ready but is waiting for the bank account to be passed onto you, they will give you a temporary enrolment status, where you are allowed to be enrolled and pay the fees within a period of time.

2nd, like someone has commented. a bankdraft would be a way safer option. and they dont charge for bankdraft cause they have already earn from the selling rate of the currency exchange. why? international transaction via credit card carries quite a considerable amount of charge, esp. with thousands of thousands of GBP whereas bankdraft doesn't. next, with bankdraft, you can show to the immigration officer or school during enrolment process as a proof of financial status. next, you can give/deposit the bankdraft when you open the bank account. automatically, when your account is ready, the money is also ready for your perusal. trust me, bankdraft is way safer as you already have the money in hand, but waiting for a bank account.

oh btw, you dont get enrollment letter to open a bank account. but get a bank letter from your uni to open a bank account. as you have to wait until enrollment day to get the enrollment proof, as you can get the bank letter from uni as soon as you get there.

for me, hsbc serves me well.

Thanks for all the info, bank draft it is then. I'm lucky I found out about the withdrawal limits before I let, if not.. haih.

Because sharing is caring:

Get a phone with built-in wifi and Windows mobile (I'm using Samsung Omnia now), download Skype mobile, install it in, and get yourself some Skype credit. Calls to Malaysian landline is 0.012 pence, and to mobile 0.033 pence per min. Can call wherever you got wifi (starbucks and mcd somehow comes to mind).

Download Skype mobile here: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windowsmobile/

To get free local UK no, get Blyk. Their only requirement is that your phone supports pic mesages. Not bad for 217 free txts and 43 free mins a month.

Read more about Blyk here: http://www.blyk.co.uk/about/tour

---

Added on September 7, 2008, 1:01 amSo, this is how it works, and correct me if I'm wrong here.

1) I buy bank draft for x amount and payable under my name as Passport.
2) I give the bank draft to bank officers and they can open up account for me and deposit the money in the account straight away.
3) I can DirectDebit my tuition fees straight from the account to the university.

Correct?

Also, Bankdraft vs Travellers Checks?

This post has been edited by sense_less143: Sep 7 2008, 01:01 AM

yeah, thats the way, just pass it to the officer when u sign up for a bank account, make sure u keep a photocopy for yourself.
do u know how much do u have to pay for your tuition fees exactly? if u know this amount, just buy another bank draft payable to University name, it should be easy to do this.

bankdraft, lot easier cuz some banks in msia dont sell travellers cheque.

Hey all got a few stuff i feel like asking before i go.

1) Allowance. Do you think GBP270 is sufficient for living expenses per month? (this money if for duit makan and entertainment bla bla NOT for accommodation)

2) What bank do you use? Recommend me one.

3) Insurance? What type and which company?

4) E&E. How hard is that subject? I heard that complex numbers are rather important. Tell me what other things are important for this subject.

Lastly, anyone going Imperial College here? If you are, pls intro urself too! want to get to know more (senior or juniors or same year). And also those going to London to study in general. THose taking E&E are also welcome to intro so that there can be exchange of info

HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!!!!!

yes it is. as long as your school accept payment via direct debit, then that is it.

doesnt really need windows mobile phone, but a computer with a broadband for skype out is fine. i use skype out as well besides with my o2 free minutes.

1. yes gbp270 per month for food, little entertainment and transport is pretty sufficient.

2. hsbc has never failed me so far.

3. not bothered atm. for health, i am covered by nhs, for professional indemnity, i'm covered by the company. for own properties, not bothered to get one.

4. plenty of calculations.

how the procedure of getting a car in UK?

Saw a BMW 318i 2000 with the price of 2.5k .

Shud be good enuff.

1) Just as youngkies pointed out, it's enough to survive comfortably. However, have you considered transport as well or are you staying near to the university?

2) HSBC. They are very stingy with their interest rate but so far, the customer service is pretty good.

3) I do not like NHS, so I am covered with PruHealth. It's a health program where you get more discount if you stay a healthy lifestyle.

I am also covered by an accident insurance with AXA. In total all my insurance cost me about £30 per month.

This post has been edited by Geminist: Sep 7 2008, 04:44 PM