Account For Child Without Birth Certificate

PDB77

I need to open a bank account for my 11 year old son, I can't delay any longer as he really wants one.

The trouble is they all want either a passport (don't have) or a birth certificate as proof of ID. I do not want to use the birth certificate as proof as I do not want my son to see it at the moment, as it has a different surname (for him) that he knows nothing about.

The surname was subsequently changed by the uk deed poll service to my maiden name then again to my new married name.

I need to open an account without a birth certificate, I can supply a medical card, tax credits letter or child benefit letter all with his known name and address on.

OR

I need to open an account where he does not need to be present so that I can produce the birth certificate and deed polls without him seeing them.

I would prefer the first option.

Locally we have Natwest or HSBC, or where we go shopping I know there is a Halifax. He needs access to the money, does not need interest or freebies or anything fancy.

Please can you help me as I am not finding this information on the internet and the call centres for various banks are not very helpful either.

PDB77

any major bank is acceptable, not just the ones I mentioned.

HappyMJ

You can open an account held in trust without him being present at any of the above banks.

He'll most probably need to be present at some point to open a current account for the first time. It will be much easier if you just speak to your own bank manager as a current customer they will allow you to open an account for him.

PDB77

I'm with Halifax. If I open an account held in trust can he still withdraw the money himself with a card or passbook etc?

HappyMJ

PDB77 wrote: »

I'm with Halifax. If I open an account held in trust can he still withdraw the money himself with a card or passbook etc?

No you will need to manage it. Call into your Halifax branch ask about opening an Expresscash account for him. They might do it without him being present.

PDB77

I tried phoning Halifax again, the helpline can't answer all my questions they just keep saying the same things that I have to go into branch and they will tell me what I need to know. The whole point is I don't want to go through the embarrasment of having to produce birth certificate and deed polls, hang around with two fidgetty / crying toddlers, with everyone hearing my private business only to be told it can't be done.

I need to know which bank I can walk into without my son and produce a tax credits letter as ID for him. Surely I can't be the only person with this delicate situation?

PDB77

HappyMJ wrote: »

No you will need to manage it. Call into your Halifax branch ask about opening an Expresscash account for him. They might do it without him being present.

Thankyou for your help. I think I am going to have to just go into the branch to sort this out and see what they can do, I just thought there would be a more certain and convinient way to do it?

xylophone

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/branch-accounts/#youngsaver

Here are the details for the Halifax young saver- as you are already a customer, I would suggest that you go into the branch yourself taking bc, and deed polls and explain the situation - you could do the preliminary stage and then take him in with you once this was done?

qpop

PDB77 wrote: »

I tried phoning Halifax again, the helpline can't answer all my questions they just keep saying the same things that I have to go into branch and they will tell me what I need to know. The whole point is I don't want to go through the embarrasment of having to produce birth certificate and deed polls, hang around with two fidgetty / crying toddlers, with everyone hearing my private business only to be told it can't be done.

I need to know which bank I can walk into without my son and produce a tax credits letter as ID for him. Surely I can't be the only person with this delicate situation?

I honestly think that you may need to assess the priorities in this situation.

All banks have strict (FSA mandated) ID & VA requirements. They unfortunately are unlikely to waive them due to your insistence on keeping the situation private.

What they may do is, if you begin the process yourself, you could take all the docs in, explain it, ask if you can begin the process, (which will involve going to a private area, so you're not going to need to broadcast the situation), and perhaps just bring your child in to finish the process off.

Another thought is, as your son is coming up to his teenage years, there's a good chance he's going to start needing passport/birth certificate for applications for all sorts of things, so perhaps this would be a good time to get the underlying issues sorted? (I'm thinking school trips abroad etc.)

PDB77

Yes I have already been thinking that he will start high school Sep 2012 so may need a passport at some point but at the moment we are weeks away from Christmas and I don't feel dropping a bombshell about his past at a time like this is a good idea when all he wants is a bank account.

I really do worry about providing birth certificate to the bank in case they stuff it up and the wrong name comes on his account or passbook etc.

xylophone

How about making an appointment so that you can go in yourself without the toddlers to begin the process?