This was 12 years ago, so things have changed, but man... when I first got here, landlords were wanting 6 months of rent upfront. The system was obviously designed (or it just came out that way) to make it hard for immigrants to initially establish themselves. These days, it is going to get a lot worse once Brexit happens.

Perhaps you misunderstood me or I wasn't clear - when I first got here, I tried to deposit a check into my account using another branch / office than the one I where I opened my account. I couldn't. It is not a matter of opening another account with _another_ bank. From the little I know of the banking system, things are or were not then, as wholly integrated as they were in the States. OTOH, the US is only now catching up to the rest of the world w/ Chip and PIN debt/credit cards....

I could certainly deposit checks in any bank branch 12 years ago in the UK. Your experience there seems weird. Even 12 years ago, no-one in the UK really used checks, so that might have something to do with it.

Opening an account is indeed unnecessarily difficult for immigrants, and UK landlords can get away with anything due to an almost total absence of regulation.

The UK system is also highly dependent on utility bills as a proof of address if you are an immigrant.

I've always been mystified by the idea that's taken hold in the UK that a utility bill is some kind of ID. As far as I can see, a modern utility bill could trivially be faked on a regular printer. (I assume that utility companies can't verify bills without violating data protection laws.)

It does elevate “oh, I made a mistake” to concrete fraud/forgery if there’s reason to go back and look into it.

I've always wondered if it would actually constitute fraud if you made a fake utility bill with your real address on it.

If you submitted that for reimbursement purposes, I'm sure it would.

If you submitted it for proof of address purposes and you have service from that utility in your name but with different consumption values, I would think it would not.

If you submitted it for proof of address purposes and you do not have service from that utility in your name, I would think it would be.

Yes, I mean in the proof of address case. It seems doubtful that providing a fake document with your real address could constitute fraud, if the document was being used solely to verify your address. But perhaps there is some other criminal offense of forgery or some such that is still applicable.

I moved away from my hometown longer ago than that and had no problem depositing cheques in branches other than the one with which I was registered. It may depend on the bank you are using, or possibly even the method of deposit and the branch's ability to provide the resources for it.

I think the whole concept of “branches” is basically gone.

Except if the bank sells off a region (e.g. merges with another bank, but is required to sell off some operations for competition reasons), then you’ll end up following your home branch.

It used to be that the home branch would technically be responsible for verifying cheques, but i’m Sure that’s all centralized now too.

I opened my bank account 11 years ago (2008), and never had any issues doing anything I needed to do (including cheques) at another branches over 100 miles away.

Same here, but for significantly longer