Halifax are really messing my girlfriend around?

Jlawson118

My girlfriend is a student in the UK, from Bulgaria. She banks with TSB and decided she wanted to move over to Halifax for the switching bonus, and because she feels they'll be better than TSB.

She applied online, took her Bulgarian ID card on with her photo on, and something with her address on, into branch, and a few days later she was notified that the proof of address wasn't appropriate enough and she needed something else, so she took one of her TSB statements in. This time she did receive her card and pin code and was ready to switch when a badly worded letter came through telling her she needed to take proof of address into branch again otherwise her account will be closed within 30 days.

She went into branch and argued with this, but the lady just said there were no transactions on the TSB statement and so it wasn't accurate. She's been meaning to contact TSB for a recent statement since then, but we're a little unsure what to do at this point, and we feel like just letting them close the account down now and just stay with TSB because she's feeling a little messed around. We were going to put a complaint in but we're not really sure if it's worth it.

Has anybody else experienced anything like this?

jonesMUFCforever

Why did the TSB statement not have any entries on it?

TrustyOven

Jlawson118 wrote: »

My girlfriend is a student in the UK, from Bulgaria. She banks with TSB and decided she wanted to move over to Halifax for the switching bonus, and because she feels they'll be better than TSB.

She applied online, took her Bulgarian ID card on with her photo on, and something with her address on, into branch, and a few days later she was notified that the proof of address wasn't appropriate enough and she needed something else, so she took one of her TSB statements in. This time she did receive her card and pin code and was ready to switch when a badly worded letter came through telling her she needed to take proof of address into branch again otherwise her account will be closed within 30 days.

She went into branch and argued with this, but the lady just said there were no transactions on the TSB statement and so it wasn't accurate. She's been meaning to contact TSB for a recent statement since then, but we're a little unsure what to do at this point, and we feel like just letting them close the account down now and just stay with TSB because she's feeling a little messed around. We were going to put a complaint in but we're not really sure if it's worth it.

Has anybody else experienced anything like this?

Take more than just the one TSB statement?
Other letters?
Why was the proof of address not good enough initially?
What was the actual reason for this?

Empty statement is not accurate? Is that your word or the bank staff's word?

Flobberchops

That's certainly heading for "Oh for **** sake" territory.

If the statement is recent and was sent through the post on bank headed paper I can't see why no transactions would be an issue. It's proof of address they're asking for, not evidence of earnings. But hey, Halifax's rules I suppose.

If shes a student she should be able to use her university's enrolment letter, if she still lives at the original term-time address?

Jlawson118

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Why did the TSB statement not have any entries on it?

TrustyOven wrote: »

Take more than just the one TSB statement?
Other letters?
Why was the proof of address not good enough initially?
What was the actual reason for this?

Empty statement is not accurate? Is that your word or the bank staff's word?

Flobberchops wrote: »

That's certainly heading for "Oh for **** sake" territory.

If the statement is recent and was sent through the post on bank headed paper I can't see why no transactions would be an issue. It's proof of address they're asking for, not evidence of earnings. But hey, Halifax's rules I suppose.

If shes a student she should be able to use her university's enrolment letter, if she still lives at the original term-time address?

Seriously, the TSB statement must have had entries on it, and even if they didn't it's still labelled from TSB and was dated. She also did take in a university letter when she got the 30 day closure threat but was told it wasn't good enough

Ed-1

LBG's and TSB's ID rules are that if a bank statement is used to prove address it must be dated within the last 3 months and show at least 2 transactions.

eskbanker

I suggest you and/or she familiarise with Halifax's published information about identity verification at https://www.halifax.co.uk/securityandprivacy/privacy/proving-your-identity/, which does indeed include a specific reference to:

Bank, Building Society or Credit Union statement showing transactions made within the last 3 months and your printed name and address. Statements showing only interest entries or carry forward balances are not acceptable

Jlawson118

eskbanker wrote: »

I suggest you and/or she familiarise with Halifax's published information about identity verification at https://www.halifax.co.uk/securityandprivacy/privacy/proving-your-identity/, which does indeed include a specific reference to:

She's taken the majority of those in to be fair

Ed-1

Jlawson118 wrote: »

She's taken the majority of those in to be fair

She'd be better off going into branch (she'd need an appointment) or ringing to open it. In my experience, for LBG and TSB online applications if you select 'student' as occupation, it automatically refers you to branch for 2 pieces of ID. If you put a different occupation, it doesn't. It's very strange as it thinks you want to open a student account which required ID. You can avoid this by ringing them or still doing it online but putting a different occupation (except 'homeowner' which bizarrely does the same) as long as it's accurate.

GingerFurball_2

Ed-1 wrote: »

They'll only accept UK identification for proof of ID such as UK passport/driving license.

Rubbish .

Ed-1

GingerFurball wrote: »

Rubbish .

Of course. For some reason I was thinking it was a student studying in Bulgaria but from the UK, but then why would they want a UK bank account. Post revised.

Having said that, they'd do well to heed my advise regarding trying a phone application. If they've got an account with TSB and are on the electoral register they should be able to electronically ID and online application for an occupation of student or homeowner always refers to branch for some reason, regardless.