Problem with First Direct - Costly Certified Copies to Open Account

colsten

If sending certified documents represents a problem, may be FD isn't the right bank for you. There are plenty of others to choose from - and some even entice you with more money than FD does.

baby_frogmella

Or get your dentist/doctor to certify your docs and quite often they will do it for free, like our dentist did for my OH last week.

MARTYM8`

meer53 wrote: »

This is incorrect, ALL documents sent to FD have to be certified now. Not everyone who applies is asked for documents, i have friends whose accounts were opened without needing to send anything.

I dont understand why people complain when they're getting £150 to switch.

Sorry - didn't realise the rules had changed. This was fine for me when I opened my account last Spring?

MARTYM8`

meer53 wrote: »

They don't accept HSBC certified documents. They're completely separate from HSBC.

They are part of the HSBC group and you can pay in/withdraw from HSBC branches if you have an FD account?! If HSBC can refer your deposits to FD they can also refer your documents surely?

Halifax and Bank of Scotland are separate banks - but you can use the other's branches to provide ID. I did - no problems - as there aren't any BOS branches in England.

FD could offer this service via HSBC branches if they wanted to make their customers lives easier. They choose not to.

GingerBob_3

First Direct are a bunch of buffoons. OP - ring them and cancel your application, telling them that their stupid, over-the-top and unnecessary requirements are the reason for cancellation. If enough people tell them to shove off in this way, eventually they might get the message.

meer53

MARTYM8` wrote: »

They are part of the HSBC group and you can pay in/withdraw from HSBC branches if you have an FD account?! If HSBC can refer your deposits to FD they can also refer your documents surely?

Halifax and Bank of Scotland are separate banks - but you can use the other's branches to provide ID. I did - no problems - as there aren't any BOS branches in England.

FD could offer this service via HSBC branches if they wanted to make their customers lives easier. They choose not to.

If they choose not to then you have a choice. Either send what they ask for, or cancel the application. If you'e after the switching incentive, other banks are offering the same.

MIA2016

Apologies for having brought up an old topic and thank you for all your suggestions and comments.

Just by way of explanation, I have no issue with providing documents generally and I agree that a £150 switching bonus is perhaps worth a little effort. I only wished I would have know what was required beforehand, because once you are half way through an application, it feels like aborting the process will make the initial time invested a waste. There was nothing on that in the general MSE info and a search for 'certified copies' and 'First Direct' didn't seem to produce any results but maybe that was because I was not a Forum member at the time or maybe I got it wrong.

I do still think the details on what exactly you have to provide and how is a bit OTT for a basic current account, but I am grateful for all the advice on how to get certified copies with reasonable effort. In fact, I spoke to FD again today and they were happy to clarify a few points (Tax Code won't work, as somebody else pointed out, a credit card statement *without* transactional history is no good either, only initials are not sufficient for the Identity bit but ok for Proof of Address bit) and they also recommended pharmacists for certifying the copies as that would be easier than getting doctors to do it, for example.