So, the temperature has risen above zero and most of the snow is vanishing. It’s vanishing very quickly, given the only snowfall we’ve seen has been quite light. It’s almost as if the world outside the house changed from white to green overnight.
And it was into this now greening world that I headed out, on my way to the closest local bank. Not that there was a lot of choice. The closest was near Tyresö Centrum. The second closest was over 10k away.
I waited patiently at the bus stop, watching the gradually melting snow.
The bank was very pleasant. It was also very quiet. Mind you, while I was being served, another customer arrived behind me. That was probably it for the rest of the day.
It was very different to British banks. For one thing, it’s well off the beaten track. I think this is because people don’t physically visit banks here that often. Once you have a personnummer then BankID, you do all your banking online. And there is very little need for cash. In fact, the bank I went to doesn’t even have an ATM.
However, I was there to try and open an account. There are a few ways you can open one. If you have a personnummer, a work contract, a student visa, or own a house, it’s all very easy. I told the very helpful woman that I was retired and wanted to buy a house, but couldn’t because I didn’t have a Swedish bank account. She said she understood my predicament.
She then told me there was another, convoluted way to get a Swedish bank account. All I had to do was get my British bank to fill in a Bank Certificate and send it back to the Swedish bank. I asked how I got one of those, thinking it had to come from the UK. She then filled in and printed me the required document.
Once back at the house, I asked Lloyds (via DM on twitter) who to send a scanned copy of the document to. I asked for an email for our branch. They don’t use emails, I was told. To be completely accurate, I was told “…We don’t offer a customer email service…“. Funny how they use DMs on Twitter, I thought.
That was all a bit irrelevant though because, “…this isn’t something we would be able to complete, I’m afraid.” They could, helpfully, offer me a letter of introduction but I’d have go into my branch and get one personally. My response?
Seriously? Well, that’s not very helpful. Given we’re in Sweden, it’s not possible to visit my branch in person. And, given you don’t accept their paperwork, what’s to say they’ll accept yours?
I was then assured that my feedback would be recorded and that they were sorry not to have been more helpful. Don’t you just love banks?
Anyway, my trip in wasn’t entirely wasted. I stopped at Espresso House for a latte. Which was a lot more pleasant.
And there’s a photo of the final bits of snow around Tyresö Centrum car park.
