Hey,
On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 12:00 PM, Gordon Joly gordon.joly@pobox.com wrote:
Can we have an update on Wiki Educational Resources Ltd (trading as Wikimedia UK ) please?
Seconded. I assume our cheques have expired by now - when should we reapply?
2008/4/28 Sean Whitton sean@silentflame.com:
Hey,
On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 12:00 PM, Gordon Joly gordon.joly@pobox.com wrote:
Can we have an update on Wiki Educational Resources Ltd (trading as Wikimedia UK ) please?
Seconded. I assume our cheques have expired by now - when should we reapply?
Or apply in the first place, I've been waiting patiently for someone to tell me it's time to join... Do we still not have a bank account? What's the hold up?
Something to do with money laundering and the general inability of UK banks to be customer-friendly....
Ian
On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 1:20 PM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
2008/4/28 Sean Whitton sean@silentflame.com:
Hey,
On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 12:00 PM, Gordon Joly gordon.joly@pobox.com
wrote:
Can we have an update on Wiki Educational Resources Ltd (trading as Wikimedia UK ) please?
Seconded. I assume our cheques have expired by now - when should we
reapply?
Or apply in the first place, I've been waiting patiently for someone to tell me it's time to join... Do we still not have a bank account? What's the hold up?
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
2008/4/28 Ian A. Holton poeloq@gmail.com:
Something to do with money laundering and the general inability of UK banks to be customer-friendly....
Does someone on the board have a guilty looking face, or something? Why would they suspect a company with next-to-no turnover of money laundering?
2008/4/28 Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com:
2008/4/28 Ian A. Holton poeloq@gmail.com:
Something to do with money laundering and the general inability of UK banks to be customer-friendly....
Does someone on the board have a guilty looking face, or something? Why would they suspect a company with next-to-no turnover of money laundering?
Have you ever tried to get a bank account as someone not born in the UK? I have. Took me six months, and I only got it because I got a job with a company used to getting bank accounts opened for its employees ... which meant I could finally deposit the cheque from work I'd done in the meantime.
It's not much easier for companies.
Our new treasurer, Paul, is slowly and painfully working through the bureaucracy. I'm sure his forehead will feel much better when he gets to stop banging his head against it ...
- d.
Same story here, don't try opening a bank account as an adult returning citizen. However, it depends on the bank and some have different rules & regulations or at least interpretations of the current law. For example, proof of address in some banks now has to be duplicated: two utility bills or one utility bill + .... . Other banks hardly take a look.
So, as a piece of advice to the new treasurer: look around and I can recommend Abbey for being relatively good to deal with (I am not a customer (yet?) nor an employee).
Ian
On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 1:47 PM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
2008/4/28 Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com:
2008/4/28 Ian A. Holton poeloq@gmail.com:
Something to do with money laundering and the general inability of UK
banks
to be customer-friendly....
Does someone on the board have a guilty looking face, or something? Why would they suspect a company with next-to-no turnover of money laundering?
Have you ever tried to get a bank account as someone not born in the UK? I have. Took me six months, and I only got it because I got a job with a company used to getting bank accounts opened for its employees ... which meant I could finally deposit the cheque from work I'd done in the meantime.
It's not much easier for companies.
Our new treasurer, Paul, is slowly and painfully working through the bureaucracy. I'm sure his forehead will feel much better when he gets to stop banging his head against it ...
- d.
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
So, as a piece of advice to the new treasurer: look around and I can recommend Abbey for being relatively good to deal with (I am not a customer (yet?) nor an employee).
But whatever you do, don't try and open an account with them just prior to becoming a student... that took several months and 3 branches to get sorted out...
David,
Would it help if someone who was born in this country was involved with the process of getting a bank account? If so, then please let me know if I can help (although note that I'm based in Manchester, and am in London fairly infrequently).
More generally, if there's anything I can do to help get Wikimedia UK up and running, them please let me know. I'm a PhD student in astronomy, but I'm good with computers/websites (e.g. I created the Young Enterprise North West website at http:// www.youngenterprisenw.org) and also administration in general.
Thanks, Mike Peel http://www.mikepeel.net/
On 28 Apr 2008, at 13:47, David Gerard wrote:
2008/4/28 Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com:
2008/4/28 Ian A. Holton poeloq@gmail.com:
Something to do with money laundering and the general inability of UK banks to be customer-friendly....
Does someone on the board have a guilty looking face, or something? Why would they suspect a company with next-to-no turnover of money laundering?
Have you ever tried to get a bank account as someone not born in the UK? I have. Took me six months, and I only got it because I got a job with a company used to getting bank accounts opened for its employees ... which meant I could finally deposit the cheque from work I'd done in the meantime.
It's not much easier for companies.
Our new treasurer, Paul, is slowly and painfully working through the bureaucracy. I'm sure his forehead will feel much better when he gets to stop banging his head against it ...
- d.
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
2008/4/28 Michael Peel email@mikepeel.net:
David,
Would it help if someone who was born in this country was involved with the process of getting a bank account? If so, then please let me know if I can help (although note that I'm based in Manchester, and am in London fairly infrequently).
More generally, if there's anything I can do to help get Wikimedia UK up and running, them please let me know. I'm a PhD student in astronomy, but I'm good with computers/websites (e.g. I created the Young Enterprise North West website at http:// www.youngenterprisenw.org) and also administration in general.
Ditto on all significant counts. I don't have all that much time available (it's exam term, after all!), but I can help out where needed. I'm over 18 with a reasonable credit rating (I expect - I don't have much of a credit history, still being student, but what I have is good) if you need a UK resident and citizen to sign anything.
At 13:47 +0100 28/4/08, David Gerard wrote:
2008/4/28 Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com:
2008/4/28 Ian A. Holton poeloq@gmail.com:
Something to do with money laundering and the general inability
of UK banks
to be customer-friendly....
Does someone on the board have a guilty looking face, or something? Why would they suspect a company with next-to-no turnover of money laundering?
Have you ever tried to get a bank account as someone not born in the UK? I have. Took me six months, and I only got it because I got a job with a company used to getting bank accounts opened for its employees ... which meant I could finally deposit the cheque from work I'd done in the meantime.
It's not much easier for companies.
Our new treasurer, Paul, is slowly and painfully working through the bureaucracy. I'm sure his forehead will feel much better when he gets to stop banging his head against it ...
- d.
Is that a press release?
Gordo
At 13:47 +0100 28/4/08, David Gerard wrote:
2008/4/28 Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com:
2008/4/28 Ian A. Holton poeloq@gmail.com:
Something to do with money laundering and the general inability
of UK banks
to be customer-friendly....
Does someone on the board have a guilty looking face, or something? Why would they suspect a company with next-to-no turnover of money laundering?
Have you ever tried to get a bank account as someone not born in the UK?
Yes, since I was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1955.
I hold a UK passport, and I am a British Citzen.
Gordo
P.S. I wonder if setting up the bank account is the sole aim of the UK Chapter.
Does Wikimedia UK have the approval of the Board (of the Wikimedia Foundation)?
I checked back in the resolutions on this page:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolutions
Gordo
On Tue, April 29, 2008 09:21, Gordon Joly wrote:
Does Wikimedia UK have the approval of the Board (of the Wikimedia Foundation)?
Yes, though we experienced what could be termed 'delaying actions' a signed agreement was put in place in mid-2007.
P.S. I wonder if setting up the bank account is the sole aim of the UK
Chapter.
Although we have managed to do an great deal without it, sadly and extremely annoyingly it does indeed feel that this is very much our sole target to achieve! I'm not sure if it is because we have told banks that we only ever want to have a credit balance and never want to borrow money from them ...
You can believe that the minute we are able to (finally!) accept payments we will be making a big song and dance about it and contacting everyone interested in being a member and donating to the cause. It has kept so many additional projects, especially those which need seed money, from starting that we are like cars burning rubber at the start of a drag strip.
Alison
I bank with The Co-operative Bank (who are the only UK bank with an ethical investment policy who do current accounts), and they do a Community Banking account specifically for non-profits http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/servlet/Satellite/1196151412581,CFSweb/Page/Business-CommunityBanking (which also allows you to apply for grants from the bank towards worthy causes). When I applied for one of their Community Banking accounts, sorting out the anti-money-laundering ID requirements for all the signatories did take some time, but those are statutory requirements you will have to fulfill when applying for any UK account.
Yours, Joe. (User:Joeblakesley)
On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 11:47 AM, Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley jb@fsfe.org wrote:
I bank with The Co-operative Bank (who are the only UK bank with an ethical investment policy who do current accounts), and they do a Community Banking account specifically for non-profits
The problem with the Co-Op is that they are sometimes inflexible. For example, their under-eighteen accounts are useless, savings-only when I last looked. Shortly after my eighteenth birthday I intend to switch to them though :)
At 11:47 +0100 29/4/08, Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley wrote:
I bank with The Co-operative Bank (who are the only UK bank with an ethical investment policy who do current accounts), and they do a Community Banking account specifically for non-profits http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/servlet/Satellite/1196151412581,CFSweb/Page/Business-CommunityBanking (which also allows you to apply for grants from the bank towards worthy causes). When I applied for one of their Community Banking accounts, sorting out the anti-money-laundering ID requirements for all the signatories did take some time, but those are statutory requirements you will have to fulfill when applying for any UK account.
Yours, Joe. (User:Joeblakesley)
I volunteer in a small community project, and we were turned down by the Co-operative Bank. The reason given was that one of the signatories had a County Court Judgement or bad credit rating or similar.
We then approached a credit union, and we now have a bank account. This week we asked for the first cheque to be written, and low and behold, the credit union banks with the Co-operative Bank!
The whole process took about six months (that is deciding to apply to the Co-op, filling forms, appearing in person with passports, and then being refused, and going to a credit union). We do not have a cheque book, but we can request cheques to be written from cleared funds in our account. We can initiate and receive BACS etc etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_union
Gordo
wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org