opening bank account without utility bill

book12

naijapower wrote: »

On this occassion, i have to disagree with oga Barclays Mgr.
You must present something to prove your address. If not physical then u must be on electoral roll.
If a financial institution fails to verify your address thru physical or electronic means then they are in breach of money laundering regulations.
The only exception is when opening accounts for children. POR - proof of resiidence is not required

That's what I thought too...

simon_templar wrote: »

Credit check would verify if the address given is correct. The application might get refered and underwriters may request a proof of address such as utility bill or benefit letter.

Assuming that the OP is not on the voters roll since he just moved back to the UK, how would an electronic check be done if he's not on there? Or does the bank just check if the address is 'genuine'? Also, he won't have any credit...

naijapower

Well, over to Barclays Manager....we await further explanation from you sir

EarthBoy

According to Barclays website if you apply for an account in a branch they need two physical documents, -one to prove who you are, and one to prove your address:

http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=popup1group&value=7551&target=_blank&site=pfs

There's no mention here of checking the electoral register for applications in branch. That's only mentioned if you apply for an account online:

"Please note: as part of your application, we may ask a credit reference agency to help confirm your identity. This will involve asking you certain questions and checking your answers against your credit file."

Extant

naijapower wrote: »

Well, over to Barclays Manager....we await further explanation from you sir

Well obviously the internet knows MUCH better than me, so I guess I'll just have to print some internal stuff tomorrow to prove you all wrong.

luckylooloo

I am in the same situation and from experience i can tell you that it is impossible to get a bank account as you are not on the eleterol roll or have a credit score.Barclays may and i say may offer you a cash card account,but in my experience you need come kind of debit card to live a normal life i the UK.How come you can go to any bank in Spain and open an account with cash a passport and get a debit card account but in your own country you are treated as criminal if you have no credit rating.Maybe our man at barclays can explain why you do not offer a debit card.

Kavanne

luckylooloo wrote: »

I am in the same situation and from experience i can tell you that it is impossible to get a bank account as you are not on the eleterol roll or have a credit score.Barclays may and i say may offer you a cash card account,but in my experience you need come kind of debit card to live a normal life i the UK.How come you can go to any bank in Spain and open an account with cash a passport and get a debit card account but in your own country you are treated as criminal if you have no credit rating.Maybe our man at barclays can explain why you do not offer a debit card.

Natwest, RBS, Halifax, Yorkshire Building Society... to name but a few that will give you a debit card with a basic account. There are more.

book12

EarthBoy wrote: »

According to Barclays website if you apply for an account in a branch they need two physical documents, -one to prove who you are, and one to prove your address:

http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=popup1group&value=7551&target=_blank&site=pfs

There's no mention here of checking the electoral register for applications in branch. That's only mentioned if you apply for an account online:

"Please note: as part of your application, we may ask a credit reference agency to help confirm your identity. This will involve asking you certain questions and checking your answers against your credit file."

Yes, exactly. Even the branch staff said they want physical proof of ID and address. They can't be wrong.

I think they do check the voters roll in branch, especially when you are applying for loan or credit card. For bank accounts and savings, if you are not on there, it should be fine, as long as you have physical proof of ID and address.

luckylooloo wrote: »

I am in the same situation and from experience i can tell you that it is impossible to get a bank account as you are not on the eleterol roll or have a credit score.Barclays may and i say may offer you a cash card account,but in my experience you need come kind of debit card to live a normal life i the UK.How come you can go to any bank in Spain and open an account with cash a passport and get a debit card account but in your own country you are treated as criminal if you have no credit rating.Maybe our man at barclays can explain why you do not offer a debit card.

Not really. No credit rating is ok when you are new. People have to start somewhere you know.

If you are not on the voters roll, you could still get a bank account, but it will be a basic one, and some of them offer debit cards. Not a problem there. The UK banking products are works differently than in Spain and other countries.

Also, Barclays Cash Card Account offers a debit card now.

torridonscot

Maybe this is a bit off-topic but I am in a similar situation only I'm an EU national moving to the UK. I took a short trip to London in Feb and went to a Barclays branch and they said that passport and my EU national ID card/driving licence is enough to open a personal bank account as long as they have my full address. This is confirmed by this page

http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=popup1group&value=7551&target=_blank&site=pfs

What I am a bit concerned with is that they will send the debit card to my EU home address rather than where I'll be staying in the UK which would be a big hassle, as you can imagine.

EarthBoy

torridonscot wrote: »

....What I am a bit concerned with is that they will send the debit card to my EU home address rather than where I'll be staying in the UK which would be a big hassle, as you can imagine.

It might be a hassle, but would you really expect them to do anything different? You're showing them i.d. to prove you live at one address, but you want the debit card sent to a different one? It sounds well dodgy and I can't see any bank agreeing to do it. It would leave them wide open to fraud.

torridonscot

Actually when I raised this point with them (even though it's a hassle to me personally, it seems logical that they would send the debit card to the address on my ID card) and they said I could come in personally to collect the debit card. Is this possible? I'm not familiar to UK banking practice.