Reclaiming funds from a pseudonym account

VinegarJoe_2

During the 1990s I opened a Post Office National Savings 'passbook' account under a pen name.
There was no fraudulent or deceptive motive for this, just practical expediency at the time.
I was writing unsolicited articles for numerous publications using my nom-de-plume and if/when the article was published they would send me a cheque in payment, sometimes made out to the pen name (ignoring instructions sent with the original manuscript to make cheques payable to my real name).
To avoid the complication, time and expense of sending cheques back for re-issue (and the risk of never receiving a replacement cheque at all) I decided to open a simple deposit account in my pen name, just to bank those cheques.

With this type of account there was no cheque book/cash card or overdraft facility, so no possibility of running up a fraudulent debt.
And in those relatively 'innocent' years before 911 and money-laundering regulations, one could open a national savings deposit account without any proof of ID.
All the application form required was name, address and a date of birth so I gave my pseudonym, real address at the time and actual date of birth. There was no requirement even to sign a declaration to the effect that "this is my real identity".
I expect that quite a lot of people had 'secret' savings accounts at the time, some for legitimate reasons such as an escape fund from an unsatisfactory partner, and some for dubious reasons of course.

The account worked fine for a few years and from time to time I would fill out a withdrawal slip to withdraw most of the balance and then deposit it in my normal bank current account.
But in 2004 this type of National Savings account was discontinued and existing depositors were sent a form to fill in, to transfer their balance to a new account, under upgraded verification of ID procedures to comply with anti-terrorism and money-laundering regulations.
At that time I was busy in the process of moving abroad to a new job, and because of the complication, the notification letter got put into storage and kind of forgotten along with my passbook.
I have recently returned to the UK and unearthed my paperwork for this old account, which with 10 years accumulated interest probably has around £1000 in it.
This is not a fortune but would be really nice to have back.
My problem is, how do I prove that the account is mine so that I can retrieve what is actually my money!

I expect I shall have to contact National Savings and explain the situation as above but before I do that, I'd like to know if anyone else has had experience of retrieving legitimate funds from just such a pseudonym account, and whether it proved difficult or even impossible.
How does one prove that one is someone who doesn't actually exist!
Would a sworn affidavit to the effect of "that person was actually me" be acceptable?
And if National Savings refuse to pay out, could I take the case to the Banking Ombudsman with any confidence?
I fully understand that National Savings need to be sure I'm not an ID thief who has acquired another person's old passbook.
I do have a photocopy of the original application form when I opened the account, and I can prove I was living at the address given at the time. And the date of birth of the pseudonym person matches mine.
I can't see that I broke any laws because at the time of opening the account and depositing in it there was no requirement to prove ID.
I declared the income for tax purposes based on the date it went across to my real-name current account so there was no tax evasion either.

Any [sensible] comments/suggestions/anecdotes would be appreciated.

Astraeus

Contact NS&I and ask them what they would require from you. A sworn affidavit will not suffice.

I recently did something similar for a client who had paid into a pension using a different name and, oddly, without needing to identify himself by way of a NI number. After several months we have accessed his pension and enabled him to transfer out those funds. HMRC assisted by providing a single NI employment record to indicate it had been the same person throughout his employment history. I presume you will have filed tax returns showing your income from the writing you were doing, in which case there should be some cross-referencing possible from those documents and your bank statements.

It won't be easy but the first port of call is to contact the provider and ask what their protocol would require.

jonesMUFCforever

Closing the account may not be a problem as they will draw a warrant in the odd name.
The problem will be when you try to pay that in to your proper bank account.
Try taking to your bank manager, with all the evidence you can find, to see if they will accept it.

If not come back here?

Uxb

Closing it may be a problem.
These days even for existing accounts of long standing if they do not have recent ID on file they may require the withdrawee to confirm their ID to the current standards/regulation prior to allowing the withdrawal to happen.

Anyway by now NS might well have marked the account as officially dormat in which case full ID re-verification is required to be before any further transactions would be permitted on it.

[Deleted User]

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Closing the account may not be a problem as they will draw a warrant in the odd name.
The problem will be when you try to pay that in to your proper bank account.

Unless, the OP opens a business bank account in the name of "Mr Joe Realname T/as Bob Fakename", then the warrant to Bob Fakename would go through fine, as that would be the business name.