More Good Swedish Banking Things

Let's get straight into it, so I don't get distracted like last time…

Personnummer

Pronounced something like: per-shone-numb-er

What is a personnumber?

You might have guessed that means ‘person number’ and I suppose it's a bit like our National Insurance Number in that it's assigned, it means something to the government and it doesn't change. But there are some key differences.

It consists of your birthday (written the Swedish way: year-month-day), a hyphen (or a plus if you're over 100 apparently) and four more digits. So: YYMMDD-XXXX

Those last four digits don't mean much, apart from the 3rd one which indicates your sex assigned at birth (odd for male, even for female). Apparently, as there's a limited amount of combinations for those last four digits, you might actually be assigned a personnummer with a different date of birth. I like to imagine that happens most around nine months after Midsommar.

Who issues personnummers*?

*The plural is actually just personnumer but it feels weird to say that in English. My god I butcher this language…

You get a personnummer from the Swedish tax agency, Skatteverket, when you're registered on the Swedish Population Register and if you'll stay longer than a year in Sweden. It doesn't change, even if you move abroad and come back. If you're staying in Sweden for less than a year but still need an ID here, you get a samordningsnummer (coordination number) instead.

How do you get a personnummer?

You can apply online for the number but you'll need to visit in person to get your documents checked - and which documents need checking will depend on where you're coming from. I know I took my passport and my visa, but honestly, Dr Chris's company paid for a lovely woman to sort it for us so she just told me where to be and what to bring and I did what I was told.

What do you use a personnummer for?

Just about everything in Sweden!

They link banking, tax, home and car insurance, credit, access to the health service but they're also used by private businesses for things like loyalty schemes and library access.

Not every service or agency can see every bit of information if they have your personnummer. Like H&M aren't seeing your medical data, but you can't get a bank account without one and presumably they can see some financial data for the purposes of preventing money laundering etc.

What are some of the problems with personnummers?

It can take a long time to get a personnummer - 4 to 8 weeks officially, but longer in different areas of the country or with cases of different complexities. I do not envy people who have to do it themselves, I've heard nightmares about the difficulties of getting everything together and just right.

Without a personnummer you're locked out of a lot of everyday life, most importantly probably banking, so it's really imperative to get it sorted ASAP.

What are the benefits of personnummers?

In the same way as Bank ID, it really does make things smoother. Instead of having to give my phone number, email address, house address, medical history, remember pieces of paper etc., I simply give my number and they're in. It's part of the 'high trust society' whereby the state has a lot of information about you, but things work well and in an orderly way (I'm fascinated by the concept and am waiting on a book I've ordered all about it).

ID Cards

The next obvious place to go because, for me, these are all intertwined with my person number. When I have to give my person number, I usually just pass over my ID card.

What is an ID card?

It looks a lot like a modern driving licence. It has my face on it, my name, date of birth, sex assigned at birth, height, signature and personnummer.

What’s an ID card used for?

I hand this over a lot for sharing my personnummer, but as a piece of ID I probably use it about the same as I would my driving licence at home.

Apparently it’s got some digital stuff inside it but I haven’t had to make use of that.

Any problems with ID cards?

I didn't realise this but you have to have a personnummer before you can get an ID card (that lovely lady sorted it all out for me again) so that has implications for people who are waiting on the number.

You have to go in to be measured and sign some stuff. When I went, it was a handsome guy who also took my photo and he told me I was allowed to smile when I was taking it all too seriously. You have to go in person again when it's ready in order to collect it, which just seems a bit whacky and old-fashioned.

I’ve grown up in the UK where most people are either vehemently against ID cards, or pretty neutral. I’m still neutral I guess, in that I’m not totally invested in introducing them, but it certainly makes life a bit smoother and doesn’t seem to take anything away, so I really have no qualms against them now.

Folkbokföringen

Pronounced something like: Folk-book-fur-ing-en (but you pronounce the ‘l’ in ‘folk’, still means ‘folk’ though, as in people').

What is the Folkbokföringen?

This is the Swedish Population Register, which is what the personnummer denotes you've been registered on. It's managed by Skatteverket (the Swedish tax agency) and you must be registered on there if you plan to be in Sweden for longer than a year.

What information is included in the Folkbokföringen?

The data held in it includes your name, address, date and place of birth, citizenship, civil status (marriage status really) and then death date when applicable.

Any problems with the Folkbokföringen?

Yes!!

Unfortunately, and weirdly, this information is then public! It's really something I just had to suck up and accept because it makes me very uncomfortable, but it's very normal in Sweden and people just don't see a problem with it. They like that you can see where people live, how much tax they pay, what education they have - it's part of this 'high trust society'.

With things like this, I really have to remind myself that I am the stranger, that Sweden has a well-functioning and orderly society that has developed over hundreds of years with real reasoning and in response to real issues - even if it is different to how I feel and makes my face look like I've just bitten into a lemon.

Any good things about the Folkbokföringen?

Wikipedia tells me it was the responsibility of the Church of Sweden until 1991 and has records going back to the 17th century which must be fascinating!

There's a really obvious next place to go from here, which is bank accounts, but I have a lot to say about those! I'm sure that doesn't surprise you, so I’ll leave it for another day.

Love Eleanor. xxx