Passport certification for First Direct

jeremyinc

Hey,

I'm trying to open a first direct bank account, but they rang me and said they need proof of my identity, and sent me an email which says the following are accepted:

Certified copy of a full and valid passport*

Certified copy of a full and current UK driving licence*

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) tax notification. For example:
- PAYE Coding Notice
- HMRC Notification of Working Family Tax Credit
- HMRC Notification of Children's Tax Credit
- HMRC Notification of Disabled Persons Tax Credit
- HMRC Tax Calculation

Certification requirements for passports and driving licence's are as follows:

-The document needs to be certified and signed by a solicitor, lawyer, attorney, licenced conveyencer or Barrister
-In addition to the signature, the name should be printed to enable us to verify this with respective directories e.g. The Law Society
-The document needs to have a company stamp
-The document needs to include written confirmation that it is a true copy of the original
-The document needs to be dated

I dont have any HMRC tax calculations, so I've been trying to find some law firm to do it but they seem to charge about £80 (I live in London)
This seems like an unreasonable hurdle to open a bank account, even if they do pick up the phone quickly.

How have other people gone about this?

Thanks,
Jeremy

grumbler

Ask them whether they can accept PO certification: http://www.postoffice.co.uk/document-certification-service
Also ask whether you can just bring the originals to a HSBC branch.

That said, £80 is a price I'd expect to be charged by a notary. I am not in London, but I remember once paying just £10 for certification of a full copy of my passport by some local solicitor.

jeremyinc

Yeah I asked if they would accept it from the Post Office, they said no only from a law firm or what was in the email

YorkshireBoy

jeremyinc wrote: »

I dont have any HMRC tax calculations

That section contains the words "for example", meaning it's not an exhaustive list. Surely you have something from HMRC, sent to you within the current, or even last, tax year?

innovate

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Surely you have something from HMRC, sent to you within the current, or even last, tax year?

Or can get it re-sent, if you lost it.

newbutold

Will they not accept you going into an HSBC branch with your passport?

carotearoa

I have exactly the same problem....

Let me know if you find out what to do, please!

Also, does anyone know whether having applied for this account, if i now fail to complete because i can't get the appropriate paperwork (if i have to pay £80, the £125 seems somewhat less tempting), would be credit history be impacted - would it seem as if i'd been rejected? I did tick for the basic overdraft...

dalesrider

newbutold wrote: »

Will they not accept you going into an HSBC branch with your passport?

I Would take that option and get them to send the copy via internal mail.

grumbler

carotearoa wrote: »

...would be credit history be impacted - would it seem as if i'd been rejected?...

The only record in your history will be a credit search.

jeremyinc

Well I spoke to them on the phone twice, and they never mentioned that I could take it into HSBC even though I made quite extensive grumbles about having to find a law service.
I will call again and ask on Monday

With regards to HMRC, I don't think I've ever received anything from them in the 4 years I've lived in the UK, and definitely not in the 6 months I've lived at this address. Do you think I can just call them up and request some sort of tax statement?

Thanks for the help so far,
Jeremy

Stingy_3000

Jeremy,

If you work, once a year, you get a P60 form from your employer listing your salary, taxes paid etc. That is a HMRC form.
Also, you should be receiving your PAYE tax code (A4 sheet with green bits) at least once a year (probably more often) to your home address so you may need to ensure HMRC has your correct address!

Stingy