What happened to the FD ID request thread?

Herbalus

ColinB wrote: »

Interesting link posted by Herbalus, the only reference to existing customers is "if their circumstances change", so I'm even more puzzled about why FD decided to send my wife a letter demanding supplementary ID verification. Her circumstances have not changed significantly for >15 years. Of course, the catch-all in the regs is if the bank suspects nefarious activity, and I'd be really interested in why they might think that, it's actually quite insulting if that's the reason.....
The only real result of this is that FD's hard-won reputation for good customer service takes a knock because of what - to me - is unnecessarily clumsy action.

Do you think that FD aren't aware of the irritation this causes to long-standing customers? I think they will be acutely aware of the consequences and suspect they will lose customers over this, which lends credence to the idea that this is compulsory and not just being unreasonable for the sake of it.

The link I posted does not explicitly say that existing customers with no ID on file must provide it. But it is not exhaustive, and does say ID must be obtained where there are doubts about previously obtained ID information. I would suggest that this means all customers need good & clear ID is required, including those that have dodgy/unclear ID or not ID.

The link also says ID must be kept up to date so that a bank can amend their risk assessment of a customer if circumstances change. This is not when circumstances change, but if they might change in the future. As neither you, nor your wife, nor the bank, nor even the pope knows if that will happen, it suggests current ID needs to be kept.

And if the above is a bit iffy for you to consider definite proof, can you blame banks for being risk-averse on legislation given all that's happened in the last decade and the fines that have piled up?

ColinB

Just to add a footnote to this, I've just switched one of our joint accounts to Santander. Despite having had no previous relationship with them, I was able to open the new account over the phone and there has been no request for verified ID. Santander must be operating under the same regulations for ID checks as FD, but yet apparently they could verify both our identities remotely. Why couldn't FD ? This reinforces my original view that FD have been unnecessarily harsh in their interpretation of the regulations.

ChiefGrasscutter

Well I always reckoned (as usual) that there was more than met the eye to the original story thread - which lest we forget was hurriedly deleted for some reason.

As I wearily point out on here, each time I open an account with a new provider I am required to send off certified ID and address verification. I've lived here for umpteen decades, and my credit report show no address variations.
Indeed recently one of my old accounts went dormant and to re-activate it again I had to supply the full paper certified copies of passport and an original address verification document all over again - and this for an existing account.

So I can mange to do this but the OP in the original thread clearly thought having to do this just once was an outrageous insult to them and, as they put it, they had better things to do.

I'm sure by now the 60 days the OP was given to provide the data to FD has past so either FD will have closed the account or the OP will have re-considered and decided that they might actually like to comply.

GingerBob_3

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

Well I always reckoned (as usual) that there was more than met the eye to the original story thread - which lest we forget was hurriedly deleted for some reason.

As I wearily point out on here, each time I open an account with a new provider I am required to send off certified ID and address verification. I've lived here for umpteen decades, and my credit report show no address variations.
Indeed recently one of my old accounts went dormant and to re-activate it again I had to supply the full paper certified copies of passport and an original address verification document all over again - and this for an existing account.

So I can mange to do this but the OP in the original thread clearly thought having to do this just once was an outrageous insult to them and, as they put it, they had better things to do.

I'm sure by now the 60 days the OP was given to provide the data to FD has past so either FD will have closed the account or the OP will have re-considered and decided that they might actually like to comply.

As I said earlier: It's a patronising imbecilic request [from FD], placing an unnecessary burden on the account holder.


We read elsewhere of someone opening a Santander account without the need for any physical documentation, so if they can do it, why can't they all?