Basic bank accounts? Help please.

jonesMUFCforever

There is no requirement by law for any bank to open accounts for customers it does not want.
Yes pressure has been put on banks in the past with a threat of a 'windfall tax' but no law has been passed - unless of course you can quote it.

gt94sss2

mrmajika wrote:

All banks are required by law to offer a basic bank account. Some banks, including LTSB, are changing the name of their basic bank accounts to something like cash accounts, but they are essentially the same thing. If these now require a credit check then I stand corrected!

Banks are not required to offer basic bank accounts (or any type of bank account).

If you read the FSA booklet I posted earlier in the thread, it makes a reference that banks may also carry out credit checks when opening a basic bank account.

Regards
Sunil

mrmajika

ejones999 wrote:

There is no requirement by law for any bank to open accounts for customers it does not want.
Yes pressure has been put on banks in the past with a threat of a 'windfall tax' but no law has been passed - unless of course you can quote it.

You are quite right: there are no laws surrounding this to date.

There is a government initiative called Financial Inclusion which 'encourages' banks to offer a basic bank account.

There are apparantly 17 banks offering these accounts which may be help to the OP.

http://www.financialinclusion-taskforce.org.uk/ is the website for the Government taskforce.

Hope This Helps

oldwiring

gt94sss2 wrote:

Banks are not required to offer basic bank accounts (or any type of bank account).

If you read the FSA booklet I posted earlier in the thread, it makes a reference that banks may also carry out credit checks when opening a basic bank account.

Regards
Sunil

Long may it remain so! Perhaps HMG should make themselves a bank of last resort. Problem is, would they pass the requirements?:rotfl:

JohalaReewi

gemj wrote:

Would a letter from the tv licensing company count as address verification?

I shouldn't think so.

TVL send letters to anybody they think they can chase for some money. They quite often stick the wrong name on the wrong addres and launch the letter in the hope that they have found a license dodger.

The bank you choose will have a list of acceptable 'proof of identity' documents. Just ask them what they are.