Passport certification for First Direct

ChiefGrasscutter

innovate wrote: »

Even a random High Street Solicitor only charged me £10 for certifying my passport. £30 is extortionate.

First time I hear that people who certify documents must be FSA certified, or that any bank asks for certification by an FSA-authorised person - have you got any references to bank websites where they say that?

Yes,
I have a hard copy document from the Principality Building Society (as an example) sent to me stating that countersignatures are only acceptable if they are an individual who is themselves regulated by the financial services authority. (NB I said the individual not just the company overall who employs them)

The reason I gave above as to why the PO certification is often rejected by banks etc is the official explanation given to me having gone through the complaints process with both the bank(s) and the P.O in respect of my own PO certified ID being rejected by financial groups.
I was told no FSA stamp/number from the counter signer: no accept.

I've seen some banks give a list of persons whose signatures they will accept - and it has always some group of individuals who themselves already handle client money in some way: bank staff, lawyers, solicitors etc - so I've come to the conclusion that it is because they are already "known" in the system by way of their FSA number and their countersignature can be back-tracked to them personally.

It is in the end up to the banks who they will accept I suppose.
I'm a professional engineer so I have an engineering council number and I can countersign passport photos as a true likeness against my name and number but I'm not allowed to countersign the same passport as a true copy for financial groups: such is life.

FireWyrm

jeremyinc wrote: »

It makes the point that you're desperately trying to claw some respect back by waffling on about clearly different things after being shown to a) not have read my original post properly and b) not adding anything useful or helpful to the discussion anyway.

Well, isnt this article interesting : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/saving/article-2262873/Why-banks-suddenly-offering-cash-bribes-open-new-accounts.html

I particularly like this paragraph :

"Halifax and First Direct are pulling in potential customers with cash incentives. Halifax, part of Lloyds Banking Group, is offering a £100 sweetener, plus a 12-month fee-free overdraft.

First Direct, an offshoot of HSBC, has a £125 bonus for anyone opening its 1st Account.

Last year, Nationwide and M&S Bank both launched current accounts rammed with perks.

But Justin Modray, founder of financial advice website CandidMoney, says: ‘Don’t be seduced by cash incentives without first checking potential account charges, especially if you’re likely to go overdrawn.
‘Take your eye off the ball and a bank could soon claw back this money and more.

‘Banks are too ruthless to give money away if they didn’t think they could pocket a fat profit out of you, otherwise they wouldn’t bother offering such incentives.’

jeremyinc

That's very interesting, thanks Grandpa - looks like you might have found a kindred spirit! And whoever heard of UK banks charging exorbitant overdraft fees? OMG, thanks Daily Mail!! I certainly don't have to switch banks to be shafted by OD fees.

While we're cherrypicking quotes from the article, here's my favourite:
"Switching bank accounts is an easy way to boost your finances. If you pick the right deal, you will effectively be getting money for nothing. "

I might take this opportunity to point out that I switched banks last January as well to Santander to take up their £100 +5% interest for a year offer, which netted me about £175 for just telling my employer to deposit my pay there. If you are on top of your finances there is very little to worry about.

And no, I can't keep switching banks forever but I might as well make a little bit of easy money out of them while it lasts.

billshep

Stingy_3000 wrote: »

Jeremy,
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

Hmmm... I've never had a 'PAYE Coding Notice' and been working for 8 years, didn't know they existed until first direct asked for one today... Didn't expect HMRC needed to know my address as I'm just a simple PAYE employee.... Don't know what address they would have though as I've lived here for over 7 yrs I didn't work or have dealings with HMRC while I was a student and the only other address is where I grew up with my parents - and they still live there...

billshep

Bit the bullet and called First Direct, straight to a person and no menus! They confirmed P60 is not acceptable but told me you can get PAYE coding notice by calling 0845 3000 627. The HMRC does make you listen to a load of menus and recorded messages, but eventually got to a person who said they had my address wrong and put in a PAYE coding notice request. So that's hopefully saved me a few quid getting a certified passport copy.

jeremyinc

Hello, OP here; thought I'd update and finalise my story:
I rang HMRC last week and updated my address and requested a copy of the PAYE coding notice. This arrived in about 4 working days.
I sent this form to First Direct on the 21st, and the account was authorised and set up on the 23rd, and received the letter with account info today. So all in all not as much hassle as I originally had thought, and the bonus from all this is now I will receive mail from HMRC instead of it disappearing into a black hole.

Thanks for all the advice!
Jer

avaratz

I had to go through the same thing, and while at first I was annoyed with FD for making me jump through hoops, I realised that they were only doing what the law asks them to do. As they are a bank without a physical presence, I'd assume identity checking regulation would be a bit more stringent, which seems logical to me.

Anyway, after being quoted ridiculous amounts at several places, I found a solicitor near London Bridge to certify my documents for £5 per document certified. First Direct have just accepted them and opened my account.

I'm unable to post links as I'm a new user, but the firm is called Ola Leslie Solicitors, and I dealt with Ayesha who is one of the partners there.

Lucifa42

This is just a hopefully helpful post to future searchers.
I searched to see if FD always require ID to open an account, but couldn't find anything either way.

Well it turns out they don't always need it, I have recently opened an account and they didn't request any from me.
It's probably down to things like years spent an current address (6 years for me), what information they can find on your credit record and electoral roll etc.
So there you go!

mgdavid

Lucifa42 wrote: »

This is just a hopefully helpful post to future searchers.
I searched to see if FD always require ID to open an account, but couldn't find anything either way.

Well it turns out they don't always need it, I have recently opened an account and they didn't request any from me.
It's probably down to things like years spent an current address (6 years for me), what information they can find on your credit record and electoral roll etc.
So there you go!

ditto; applied online Monday, accepted automatically, docs arrived Thursday :-)

Marksfish

Same for me here. I sent off utility bill and a passport copy certified by a bank manager, which is good enough to get a passport and a driving license, but not good enough to open a bank account!!

I however, will not be jumping through the hoops that FD insist on and I certainly won't be paying out money to have documents certified. I may be unhappy with my current bank, but not that unhappy!!!