Opening a bank account with Natwest

wheelz

This is a bit of an odd query but important to me.

I want to move my current account from Nationwide to Natwest. I can only do that if I'm happy for my account to be opened under my first name which is Maria. The thing is I have never been called Maria, my parents and everyone else call me Laura which is the second of my 3 names (a good catholic I am). They have tightened their regulations and say there is nothing they can do and that I will be receiving correspondence under the name of Maria as that is how the account will need to be set up. I used to have a Natwest account but closed that about 10 years ago, no trouble then with my name.

Have any of you got any suggestions or experience (elsewhere)?

I am dutch and unlike the brits and irish I cannot change my name for £10 online by deed poll. A lawyer quoted me 1000-1500 euros which as you will understand has put me off (just like the dutch government intended), it goes to court in the netherlands and even then it's not certain they accept your reasons.

Hope for some creative comments.

L.

kayho123

i have no experience of this myself hopefully someone will be along soon to help

the only answer i can really give is that for fraud prevention and identity check reasons the bank must use ur first name as given by law but i am no expert sorry

wheelz

I would have thought that you can only check identity by checking the full name, I have 3 and then my surname. It's only the name they choose to use for correspondence etc I am interested in, I have in the past successfully convinced banks and building societies to 'turn things round', so that I could receive letters etc with my 'real' name, well the one everyone uses and I have been using for 45 years.

Quite often organisations in the uk stop after 2 first names (can you tell I'm not british, I am dutch and have been here 16 years) and just give the first letter for the third name, well that is not complete and not my real name as in 'identity'. The weird thing is my surname is v unusual even in the netherlands so one would have no problem finding or identifying me as there are less than 5 maybe even less than 3 with my surname in the uk.

Still hoping to hear how others have got round the problem as I do understand there are people here in the uk who 'use' their second name.

fawinds

wheelz wrote: »

This is a bit of an odd query but important to me.

I want to move my current account from Nationwide to Natwest. I can only do that if I'm happy for my account to be opened under my first name which is Maria. The thing is I have never been called Maria, my parents and everyone else call me Laura which is the second of my 3 names (a good catholic I am). They have tightened their regulations and say there is nothing they can do and that I will be receiving correspondence under the name of Maria as that is how the account will need to be set up. I used to have a Natwest account but closed that about 10 years ago, no trouble then with my name.

Have any of you got any suggestions or experience (elsewhere)?

I am dutch and unlike the brits and irish I cannot change my name for £10 online by deed poll. A lawyer quoted me 1000-1500 euros which as you will understand has put me off (just like the dutch government intended), it goes to court in the netherlands and even then it's not certain they accept your reasons.

Hope for some creative comments.

L.

The fact that your are not British does not prevent you from changing your name her by Deed Poll. I changed mine almost 20 years ago and just paid 5 pound to a solicitor who witnessed my signature.

I wasn't a British citizen but there was no problem at all, got my driving licence, NI number, bank accounts, cards, etc. with my new name. Only my passport and national ID card from Spain remain unchanged as Spanish law does not allow for name changes. But again I don't use them here anyway.

I want to apply for British citizenship so that can get a British passport in my now not so new name. Isn't it exciting to have two passports with completely different names? :rotfl:

EarthBoy

I'm not quite sure what the problem is. Loads of people are known by their second/middle names, although official correspondence will show their first name. Most places, banks included, often only use your initials anyway. Only in a few cases do they use your full name(s), so in your case you would most likely just be M L Smith (or whatever your surname is), not Maria Laura Smith.

I only used my middle name for 45 years, and although cheques showed the initials of both my first and middle names, I always signed my middle name in full and surname and completely ignored my first name/initial altogether. This never, ever, caused a problem. Eventually I dropped my first name by deed poll, but I can't quite remember why now, although I know there was a good reason at the time.

What problems do you envisage if NatWest open your account with your first name/initial on it? After all, your second name/initial will be there as well.

You could always sign a deed poll and drop your first name. It might not be accepted by the Dutch authorities, but seeing as you don't live in the Netherlands anymore that's irrelevant, -unless you are intending to go back and live there at some point. In which case you could always change your name back again.

Bob_the_Saver

Everyone calls me Bob (the Saver) only my Mum calls me Robert (the Saver) but I'm Robert on my passport, Ryanair boarding cards, bills cheque book etc, what's the problem it's not like I'm called Kevin!

wheelz

fawinds wrote: »

The fact that your are not British does not prevent you from changing your name her by Deed Poll. I changed mine almost 20 years ago and just paid 5 pound to a solicitor who witnessed my signature.

I wasn't a British citizen but there was no problem at all, got my driving licence, NI number, bank accounts, cards, etc. with my new name. Only my passport and national ID card from Spain remain unchanged as Spanish law does not allow for name changes. But again I don't use them here anyway.

I want to apply for British citizenship so that can get a British passport in my now not so new name. Isn't it exciting to have two passports with completely different names? :rotfl:

Now that is interesting. The dutch government doesn't recognise a british deed poll. Deed polls are not valid so you can't change your passport which I thought you had to do.

The fact that you've done yours so long ago doesn't give me much hope tho as things have tightened up over the last 10 years.

I personally don't think and feel I am changing my name, I am not, staying the same, will continue to be called Laura it's just that the first 2 names have to be turned around in order not to be called maria by british organisations as that's the way it's done in this country.

So I could change my name by deed poll (if I don't bump into the requirement that you have to be a british citizen for that) and get a bank account in my real name. But the plane tickets still have to be the same names as on my passports. I can't see myself being at some obscure airport where I arrive with my english deed poll and my dutch passport and go no it's ok after all I have a deed poll which i got for £10 online in England?? Do you carry this deed poll as ID same as your passport then?

Hm food for thought, something doesn't seem right, esp as the dutch embassy web page says they're not valid, but you're right that is only if I officially want to change my name which I don't I just want bank accounts, salary slips etc to read my real name. I'm a bit hesitant.

I can't have 2 passports, dutch government won't allow unless I marry a brit which I'm not planning on doing as my boyfriend is Irish lol should I get married. Anyway dont need 2 passports 1 is fine.

Coming to think of it I would be much happier leaving my passport as it is and just 'use' the new name over here. I'm not so fussed about plane tickets.

wheelz

You're saying you're not using your foreign passport here. You have to be careful as you need to have exactly the same names on your plane tickets as in your passport. So when booking your flight it's better to use the passport. Flying with Easyjet nowadays requires your passport number as well.

I have read an article recently about dutch people using their 'normal' name not the full long (old-fahsioned) name in their passport for a plane ticket and they couldn't board their flight. Things have changed over the last few years. Just thought I'll let you know to be careful there.

wheelz

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Everyone calls me Bob (the Saver) only my Mum calls me Robert (the Saver) but I'm Robert on my passport, Ryanair boarding cards, bills cheque book etc, what's the problem it's not like I'm called Kevin!

That's comparing apples with oranges. The problem is that Maria is a completely different name, so that would be equal to your Kevin.

wheelz

EarthBoy wrote: »

I'm not quite sure what the problem is. Loads of people are known by their second/middle names, although official correspondence will show their first name. Most places, banks included, often only use your initials anyway. Only in a few cases do they use your full name(s), so in your case you would most likely just be M L Smith (or whatever your surname is), not Maria Laura Smith.

I only used my middle name for 45 years, and although cheques showed the initials of both my first and middle names, I always signed my middle name in full and surname and completely ignored my first name/initial altogether. This never, ever, caused a problem. Eventually I dropped my first name by deed poll, but I can't quite remember why now, although I know there was a good reason at the time.

What problems do you envisage if NatWest open your account with your first name/initial on it? After all, your second name/initial will be there as well.

You could always sign a deed poll and drop your first name. It might not be accepted by the Dutch authorities, but seeing as you don't live in the Netherlands anymore that's irrelevant, -unless you are intending to go back and live there at some point. In which case you could always change your name back again.

I would be happier with banks using just my initials and asked yesterday when I was at natwest to open an account if there was a way around it that I would not be called Maria if they could just use initials but they said no they would use my full first name. They did give me leeway as thought they could be more flexible with cards. So you're saying as well that I could 'change my name' by deed poll. It's just that I found out from the embassy that it is not valid, but I think you and fawinds are right. Think the dutch government would only be interested if I officially wanted to change my passport which I don't want to do. The woman starting to deal with my account request even went that far that my electricity bill with 'Laura' on it wasn't a valid ID lol. I have no other proof of address (second one) with maria on it as I don't use it). She can have passport and driver's licence but no bill or anything will show here maria not even council tax. I only give them maria on a need to know basis or if it's official like salary slips and pensions. Hm I'm getting slightly hopeful here.

wheelz

EarthBoy wrote: »

What problems do you envisage if NatWest open your account with your first name/initial on it? After all, your second name/initial will be there as well.

Getting letters and cheques (although they are being phased out soon aren't they) with maria on it. My cheques, and cards with nationwide have my full first and surname no initials (they use Laura though as it was no problem at the time). Also as I would be happy with initials only I have this feeling that they will just pick my first name and use that all the time (maria) which I would hate.