ID verification gone mad

Thriftylady

I know you have to provide ID to open a bank account, and this is perfectly reasonable.

But I have an existing account which I haven't used for a while and Nationwide won't let me use it until I go through all their ID verification procedures all over again. Madness !!

Cypher

I had the same with a LTSB current account. As I hadn't used the account in a while they made the account dormant, and I had to prove who I was to use it again

greengrass

Mad isnt it, I had a tsb account that I decided to close last week has I hadnt used it for 10 years, I had about £15 left in which they gladly handed over and closed the account, but she said if I had wished to deposit money into the account I would need id!!!!!

dunstonh

Why is it madness? You may have had your account opened prior to money laundering requirements. Your old ID may have expired. You may have got away using fake ID before. The old ID used may not be sufficient to meet current money laundering requirements. You may have moved house in between rendering all previous address related ID invalid for a new financial services product.

Thriftylady

dunstonh wrote:

Why is it madness? You may have had your account opened prior to money laundering requirements. Your old ID may have expired. You may have got away using fake ID before. The old ID used may not be sufficient to meet current money laundering requirements. You may have moved house in between rendering all previous address related ID invalid for a new financial services product.

its madness because at what point do you draw the line? I could give them my ID today and move house tomorrow, it doesn't really prove anything. And how can ID expire? If I had been using the account every day I wouldn't suddenly have to provide new ID, so what difference does it make? How many transactions per annum would satisfy them that I still am who I was when I opened the account? And I hadn't asked for a new financial services product, just to continue using the one I already have. Its just red tape gone mad.

And if they think I have provided fake ID in the past, they are obliged to inform that authorities, not to ask me to come in and let them have a look at it again .....:rolleyes:

Cypher

I hadn't moved house or changed anything. I even gave them the same ID I gave them in the first place :rolleyes:

Money Laundering I wish, I only had £6.53

ReportInvestor

It's a bit like airport security in a crisis period. All sorts of checks are made to make the public feel safe or make the authorities look competent. Many of them don't do the trick.

Why doesn't the government require everyone's NI number to appear on each account if they are serious about money laundering - as opposed to making us all jump through lots of hoops?

Of course it would first have to ask everyone to verify their NI number in person at a government office - or maybe through their employer? - to eliminate the tens of millions of fake or unattributable ones :eek: :rolleyes: . Thereby hassling voters and showing up their own incompetence.

But getting National Insurance numbers properly sorted might have additional benefits for the state, like cutting down on benefit fraud, ID fraud, terrorism and illegal immigrant workers :idea:.

I suspect the government is putting this off because it hopes that ID cards will be a substitute.

It's almost getting to the stage where you might want your ID verified at each institution, so that you can move serious money to them as when and if they have a decent offer, without all the hassle involved with opening an account.
A sort of carpetbagging that involves banks as well as building societies.

BTW the different requirements at different institutions are laughable. There is no national system.

If a money launderer was to ask me the easiest way into the system, I could tell him.

But he'd get "no" for an answer.

I did feel for the old lady in my Portman BS queue last April who had come into town to withdraw her money but was told she couldn't as she hadn't used her account for three years.

She had no ID on her (and she doesn't have a passport or driving license) and so she had a wasted trip, a shortage of cash and lots of worry about how she was going to access her money in future .

Is this stopping terrorism or money laundering? Or just hassling a vulnerable old lady?

Thriftylady

ReportInvestor wrote:

BTW the different requirements at different institutions are laughable. There is no national system.

very true - Nationwide are actually quite reasonable in their requirements, although in this case I think they have gone over the top.

I work in a bank, and if a customer were to come to the counter and open an account, and then turn his/her back on the cashier before turning back and asking to open another, they would have to provide ID all over again. Now thats ID verification gone mad.

Similarly, I had to provide ID to them, even though I work in the place and already held several accounts. I mean, if there is any doubt that I am who I say I am, then who exactly did they think they had been employing for the past X number of years? And why do they employ me at all?

steady__eddie

You've done it now, you've gone and got me started.
Last Tuesday, OH paid her mortgage off. It was an endowment job with only a current minimal shortfall which is due to mature in January so it was decided to clear the mortgage using petty cash. The Bldg. Soc. enquired about the disposal of the deeds which, as they are kept centrally off site will take between 6 to 8 weeks before they are available. Would she like them posted or would she like to collect them from the branch ? She chose the latter option and was informed that she would need 2 forms of i.d., 1 from list A etc. After examining the list, she can only supply 1 item in total from both lists, non driver, no passport, no shotgun etc.
She does not want to have them posted 'cos the P.O. may be a bit pushed in 6 to 8 weeks time what with Crimbo rapidly approaching and is aware that deeds are not that important now (unless there is a boundary dispute) but she wants them in order that I can frame them and she will have something to remind her of what 25 years of scrimping and saving was all about !
Before she paid her mortgage off, I suggested to her that it may be in her interests to maintain her links with The Socity in the form of hundred quid in a savings a/c. Unfortunately i.d. regs prevented this but she was informed that this wasn't really a problem as an a/c. could be opened at the Principal Office and i.d. could be proved electronically. Fine she thought until she was told that the minimum opening balance was £1000.
Rant over.

anniecave

and don't talk to me about the halifax and ID requirements. They are a pain! They closed my account (when I asked for it to remain open) then demanded I show ID for them to re-open it when it was their mistake in the first place. And when I took the ID in, they said I hadn't. So I had to do so again..... And they don't accept statements from themselves as ID, so you have to have accounts elsewhere otherwise you can't ever open anything new....

kenshaz

The problem is ,they are so afraid of an audit discovering that they have not followed procedures,this is what happens when a government imposes legislation on banks ,they are over zealous and we have the frustration and inconvenience.I just wish we could go back to the days before our civil liberties got eroded in the name of protecting us,the majority are compliant and it happens slowly without us realising. ID cards are around the corner ,Nanny Tony will leave that as his legacy,will that be sufficient to open a bank account ,because big brother will have it linked to a national data base with your DNA,fingerprints,eye recognition,Mug shot,and congenital defects.