Open a bank account (and utility bill payments)

Once you have your personnummer, which will be sent to your home in a letter, you can open a bank account.

It seems that the required documents vary depending on which bank branch you want to have an account, and that the rule changes frequently. It's best to ask in advance.

The major banks in Sweden include Handelsbanken, Swedbank (formerly known as Föreningssparbanken), SEB, and Nordea. One point of consideration to choose which is whether the bank issues Visa Electron credit cards (which allow you not to pay transaction fees when you buy low-cost airline flight tickets). As of 2008, only Nordea did that. Here is a comparison of these banks by a student starting his life in Sweden in August 2008 and those who post comments on his blog entry.

Sweden has a system of protecting your first 500,000 kronor deposit in the case of bankruptcy of your bank (see The Local's article on this).

If you are a student or a researcher at the Karolinska Institutet, here is an instruction in English.

Here is how to open an account with Swedbank as of 2011.

Below is the case of Handelsbanken, my own bank.

Along with a bank account, you can alo apply for a debit card (bankkort), a credit card (allkort), a savings account (privatkonto), and online banking (available in English). The following descriptions may not apply to other banks. 

The bankkort functions as a Visa credit card. (Handelsbanken stops issuing Mastercard bankkort in September 2009.) As long as you have a positive bank balance, therefore, you can use it just as a standard credit card. You can also withdraw cash with this card at any ATM (look for a sign saying either Bankomat or Uttag) open 24 hours in Sweden for free of charge. However, there is an annual fee of 250kr. 

To use the allkort as a standard credit card (you can choose either Visa or Mastercard), you need to apply for a credit limit. Otherwise, you need to deposit your money to the allkort account (with a higher interest rate than the standard bank account) to pay by this card. Sounds weird, but that's how it works. Every time you spend 20,000kr with the card, 40kr will be transferred to a special account of yours. You can of course withdraw this money by visiting the bank branch. There is no annual fee for this card. 

Keeping money in the privatkonto account earns you a higher interest. Up to four withdrawals a year is free of charge. 

The deposit interest to these accounts will be paid every January 1st. 

Online banking is very convenient. It allows you to pay any bills (rent, telephone bills, etc) for free of charge, to transfer money between your accounts (for free) and to other bank accounts including those overseas (for free within EU; for 40 krona outside EU).

How to pay utility bills:To pay a utility bill, you need to know the service provider's bankgiro, a number written in the faktura (invoice) you receive. In addition, you may need to know the OCR number, a number assigned to each invoice.

You may be able to arrange a direct debit (i.e. automatic payment every month) with your utility provider, but applying for it usually requires the help of a Swedish speaker.