Banks and phones in the UK

This week, I started settling in Ely.  I started sorting out the little things we need to make our daily lives run smoothly, bank cards and phones.  First, I got a bank account at Barclays.  More importantly, I got a bank card.  It took a couple weeks and sorting out a mailing mix up (I discovered that my mail could be delivered to one of two locations at the school), but I finally got the card.  With that bank card, I could get a phone plan set up.  The phone companies needed proof I lived in the UK.  The only form of proof they accept is a bank card.  The fact that I have an account and had to provide a passport, visa, proof of address, and proof of employment to get the bank account was not enough for the phone companies.  I had to wait until I had the card.  But now I have a card.

My phone plan works basically the same way as the US, with minor differences.  I technically just pay for the SIM card, but I had to put down a £150 deposit for it because I have no credit history in the UK.  My plan is £21 a month for unlimited talk, unlimited text, and 1GB of data.  The UK has area codes like the USA, but they are not always three digits.  Apparently, anything starting "02" is London.  Most of the rest of the country starts with "01."  All mobile numbers start with "07."  "08" is a business number, and apparently not covered in my minutes.  "09" numbers are premium numbers like the ones you use to call into shows to vote.  Still £21 is pretty good.  For an extra £10, I get to call 3 numbers in the USA, plus I get a USA number people can call to get in touch with me without it costing anyone anything.

Banking is very different.  I am assigned different codes for every method of banking (phone, online, iPhone app). To log in with my computer, I have to insert my card into a little device called a PINsentry to get a unique one-use code.  It's different, but I'm getting used to it.  Transferring my funds from my Bank of America account to my new Barclays account has been far more difficult than I was led to believe it would be.  I can log into online banking just like I always did, but to do transfers like I need to do requires that they text me a one time use code to my phone.  However, they cannot text to foreign numbers, and there is no way around the texting system.  I asked BOA just how they deal with customers that move overseas but don't want to close their American accounts (like with temporary company or military transfers).  They had no answer.  So, I had to enlist my brother for some help.  I put his phone on my account, had them text him a code, and he forwarded the code to me.  It was a complex solution, but it got the job done.

"You know what the funniest thing about Europe is? It's the little differences.  I mean, they got the same shit over there that they got here, but over there it's just a little different."--Vincent Vega