Minimalist bank statements for ID checks?

hermante

To answer the OP's question, banks don't offer "minimalist" statements because it doesn't benefit them.

A bank statement only proves that you have a key to the postbox where the statement is sent - although the same could be true of a driving licence. It is not even proof that you had the key at a certain time. This happened to me when I wanted a reprint from several years ago, with my old address at that time. The bank said they would do that with a cover letter so it got posted to the right place, but that didn't happen and made it appear as though I had lived somewhere for longer than I actually had.

Do statements need to show transactions? Yes, if they are being used for proof of funds or proof of UK residence. Again, I was turned away with a statement showing £0 and no transactions when dealing with a certain government agency. Though a utility bill was fine despite the fact that I could still not have been in the country and just had my name on the bill.

RetiredInThailand

hermante wrote: »

Do statements need to show transactions? Yes, if they are being used for proof of funds or proof of UK residence. Again, I was turned away with a statement showing £0 and no transactions when dealing with a certain government agency.

That is a totally different matter. Your UK government agency decides for itself what it will accept as proof of residence in the UK. Banks do not need confirmation of your residence status beyond what you tell them and so they (mostly) dont ask for it. Banks just want proof of your UK address, which has nothing to do with the technical description of residency.

Banks will definitely accept as proof of address statements and other such documents that dont show transactions during the period. I use such documents for this purpose all the time. Of course one can always find banks that have their own specific daft rules, but I have never had any trouble showing documents that dont contain transactions.