Banks don't want my custom it seems

noh

marvin wrote: »

.........................they have a duty to make sure who they are doing business with.

There is no requirement in law for the customer to visit a branch to validate their identity.
As you say organisations have a duty to make sure who they are doing bussiness with.
To acheive this different organisations have different policies ranging from electronic ID to physically providing documents in person.

In the last 10 years I have never been requested to visit a branch to prove ID when opening a savings account online or by paper application. That includes organisations that I have had no previous relationship with.

Others may have different experiences.

marvin

noh wrote: »

Others may have different experiences.

Like me who has to go in everytime and I would point out my original post was not that serious.

Naf

Depends on bank policy:
Generally you can verify ID sufficiently by requesting copies through the post; I just opened a current account with Barclays online, and my ID verification was answering questions regarding items on my credit file, then the forms would just be sent for me to sign: no mention of posting ID documents or visiting a branch. I have never sent any ID documentation when opening a credit card account either...

Back to OP:
Whether they would see you has little to do with what you wanted to do, simply to do with the number of staff physically available (at least I would hope that's the case; certainly would be in my branch). We make sure to keep a selection of appointments available throughout the day that can't be pre-booked; this way we can be as flexible as possible both to people who have booked, and still try and see as many people as possible who walk in 'on-spec'. Unfortunately (as has been pointed out; particularly on Saturdays, even more so at the end of the month) you didn't pick the best day not to have pre-booked. However many staff the branch employs, you'd probably still have found that particular day too busy to be seen.
Plus; your £100 per month just isn't going to make you very much; maybe £25 across the whole year, before tax.

ChiefGrasscutter

Digressing slightly....
The OP either works in (or would like to work in) the low volume very high value bespoke capital goods sector: such as aero engines, oil rigs, nuclear power, spaceflight etc.
In these sectors there are both few buyers and equally few suppliers. It's about the only environment where the customer really is king and ever more peculiar customer requests are accomodated with a weary sigh by the suppliers. Mind you it does work both ways, seriously p** off a supplier and you as customer may well find it impossible to buy anything else from that firm which in turn may give you some real problems in the future.

Cash-Cow_3

They also want you in a room so that they can sell you lots of other products that they make more money on. In fact any excuse to get you in lock down. Recently I tried to pay in a cheque for £7000 and I had to be 'interviewed'. This was dressed up as a security check but really they wanted to sell me an ISA.

Naf

Cash-Cow wrote: »

They also want you in a room so that they can sell you lots of other products that they make more money on. In fact any excuse to get you in lock down. Recently I tried to pay in a cheque for £7000 and I had to be 'interviewed'. This was dressed up as a security check but really they wanted to sell me an ISA.

Not entirely true: in this case they wanted to make sure your money was working for you. 7k, unless you had specific plans for it, can make you a reasonable return if in the right accounts. Banks make very, very little profit on the back of ISAs because the market is so competitive on headline rates. I expect they had hopes of finding that a credit card, mortgage or even current account could be offered...

dunstonh

Naf wrote: »

Not entirely true: in this case they wanted to make sure your money was working for you. 7k, unless you had specific plans for it, can make you a reasonable return if in the right accounts. Banks make very, very little profit on the back of ISAs because the market is so competitive on headline rates. I expect they had hopes of finding that a credit card, mortgage or even current account could be offered...

I have had examples of banks bounce cheques made payable to investment companies using false reasons just to get the person to come in and then find that its a sales interview.

Naf

dunstonh wrote: »

I have had examples of banks bounce cheques made payable to investment companies using false reasons just to get the person to come in and then find that its a sales interview.

Not something that can be orchestrated from branch level: no way you can make a cheque bounce just to get the customer back in. If the cheque did bounce, maybe an adviser could jump on the chance for a full review...

TheMatrix_2

dunstonh wrote: »

I have had examples of banks bounce cheques made payable to investment companies using false reasons just to get the person to come in and then find that its a sales interview.

If they deliberately did that to me, I'd vote with my feet, taking everything I had in that bank with me.

Orpheo

noh wrote: »

There is no requirement to visit a branch to prove ID.
I have opened 10s of accounts online and have never been required to visit a branch for that purpose.

I second this.

I have opened a number of accounts online, with banks that I had no prior relationship with and they have not required presentation of ID at all. I simply had to type in my NI number.

The banks take our security seriously.