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.

Apply for your ID card

See this article in Your Living City for why and how you should obtain an ID card.

In my personal view, though, you don't have to have one as long as you carry your passport and remember your personnummer. It's a choice between carrying your passport (and regret not when needed) and paying 400 SEK.

Internet

Major ISPs (internet service providers) in Sweden are Telia, Tele2, Bredbandsbolaget, and Comhem (a cable TV company formerly known as UPC). The first three ISPs provide the fiber connection (up to 100Mbps downstream) as well as ADSL (up to 24Mbps downstream). Comhem provides a broadband service up to 24Mbps downstream via a cable TV socket. There is also another ISP called Ownit specializing in the fiber connection.

To subscribe, visit an ISP’s website with help of someone proficient in Swedish so that you can fill in the online form, all in Swedish. (Calling them up usually ends up with an automated message in Swedish asking you to press 1 for blah blah blah, press 2 for blah blah blah... So it's best avoided.) You need personnumer to place an order. For the fiber connection, the landline phone doesn't need to be activated.

Before comparing different options, it's best to ask your landlord first if you can install the fiber connection. Maybe you cannot. Then also ask if your apartment already has a cable TV socket by Comhem. If so, it is quite straightforward to activate it as a broadband connection with Comhem. In this case, you don't need to activate your landline telephone for the Internet connection.

A modem will be delivered to you when you subscribe to any of these ISPs. If you want to set up a wireless LAN network at home, buy a wireless router at one of those electronics stores on Kungsgatan (click here for details).

Alternatively, buy a “mobilt bredband” kit from any mobile carriers. Plug a USB-modem included in the kit into your laptop, and you can surf the net anywhere in Stockholm with 3.6M bps via mobile phone network (which means you can surf during commuting by T-bana). Monthly prices start from 198 krona. You can easily buy one at The Phone House. You probably need an ID card, although I'm not really sure. The Local reports on 8 August 2008 that the "mobilt bredband" services can be quite slow.

Landline Telephone

To set up a landline phone, you need to have your personnummer. Otherwise you need to pay 3,000 krona as a deposit. To arrange the date of a phone line installation, visit Telia’s website or Tele2's website with help of someone proficient in Swedish so that you can fill in the online form, all in Swedish.

Alternatively, you can install an IP telephone by setting up a fiber internet connection. Bredbandsbolaget appears to be the best broadband provider. See this post for more details.

Or Comhem, a cable TV company, offers a free telephone for subscribers to their other services including broadband internet connection.

So decision-making for landline telephone should be made together with decision-making for installing the Internet at your home.

In any case, you need a help from a Swedish speaker. None of these telecommunications companies offer an English version of their website (if there is, it's meant for investors, not potential clients). If you call them up, the automated message in Swedish welcomes you.