Post Office Online Saver ID...help!

mrs_scrooge

My 19 year old is trying to open a Post Office savings account and has to confirm her identity /address. The only documents she has to prove this are her passport and photocard driving licence as we've just moved house, mobile phone bills don't count, she doesn't get paper bank statements etc etc. Post Office says:

Certified copies must have “Certified Original Sighted” written/stamped on them with the certification signed and dated by a Solicitor, Accountant or Bank Official. You can send us original documents however, for security reasons, we do not recommend this.

Has anyone else had this problem? How much do copies cost and for a passport does it just need to be the photo page?? I'm loathe to let her send the originals as we had our passports stolen once before.

Thanks

lindabea

As you have just moved house, it may be best for your daughter to open her account using your old address if you have set up a mail redirection with Royal Mail. Once your account is opened, you can inform the Post Office of your new address - they may not ask for any proof at that time, but as they cannot confirm your daughter's address at time of account opening, they will ask for confirmation. I think a solicitor may charge something in the region of £5 per document to verify as a true copy.

alanq

1) The daughter has already applied for the account so it would seem to be a bit late to be choosing a different address.

2) If you think that anyone can rely on the Post Office redirection service to be sure to forward all mail to a new address then you are mistaken. An ex-neighbour paid for this service but the Post Office still delivered letters to his old address including a couple from his banks (which had also been informed of the change of address!) and only found out about them some weeks later when the new occupiers bothered to forward them in bulk.

3) From what I have heard the cost of certified copies vary greatly. As each page has to be certified, costs are likely to depend of the number of pages to be certified. £5 per page seems to be a low estimate.

mrs_scrooge

Thank you for your suggestion Linda.

mrs_scrooge

Alanq

We have had several problems with our redirection! At first I blamed snow and Xmas but we are still getting it in bulk whereas the promise is that it will only add one day to the delivery time ie it should be redirected every day. Complaining is tortuous. It takes ages to get through to a person and the problem doesn't go away.

A couple of items have been delivered to the former occupants here as well and this is a different sorting office!

mike88

I would try and get my local Post Office to certify. Surely a Post Office stamp on the copies would be acceptable?

mrs_scrooge

Thank you

I've just spoken to PO on 0845 600 5581. They said that a post office will do it. They said the id form should say that and they'll get it changed.
Pretty sure my daughter tried the post office and they said go to bank! Anyway that seems to be the way to do it.

Hope this helps others.