Tesco document certification nightmare

Mishomeister

We are trying to open a savings account for my wife at Tesco.

It appears they are extremely difficult to get it open with them as where all other banks are happy with the original documents provided these lot want cerified copy of a passport and as it would be teh case for my wife her residence permit.

Below is the list of the people who can certify


And the bottom line is that it doesn't looks like there is any free options available as Post Office charges £10.50 per document so in our case this would be £21.00 to open svings account.
Barclays would not agree to certify and I would be surprised for a GP surgery not to charge for it either. We do not know any people who are in other listed professions.

Would any one have any idea how to get around this situation?

TheBanker

It seems the Post Office have put their price up - when I used it a few months ago it was about £8. But I think they will certify up to three documents for one fee, so £10.50 should cover you.

If you don't have anyone else who can certify then your only option may be to choose another bank instead of Tesco.

bigfreddiel

Interesting, first I opened a Tesco savings account without any of this hassle, second my bank certified photocopies of various docs for me for free, and third try finding a friendly civil servant to certify your docs for free.

Good luck fj

bowlhead99

In the old days a lot of banks would certify for free.

But in this day and age where loads of people are opening multiple accounts, and the banking groups all offer a wide range of services so are a competitor of whoever you want to get the documents certified for (bank accounts, share dealing accounts, mortgages, life insurance etc etc) then it is no wonder the banks have little interest in spending their time and taking on liability helping you move your money away to a rival.

I last asked my bank branch if they could certify a birth cert about five years ago, got the answer that if it wasn't for a product application for some other part of Lloyds group, it wasn't a service they could provide.

That was in the Big City, there may be people in small village bank branches that are more community-focused and like to help out if they have time on their hands, but having nothing to do all day and doing friendly things that don't help their employer are why they are uneconomic to run and have gotten closed down over time.

The bottom line is that if you don't know any people as friends who fit the criteria, you are quite probably just down to the choice to pay for the service or pick a different banking provider who doesn't want to see a copy of something that shows who you are.

bigfreddiel

The old days! I'm talking about a few months ago! Maybe you're with the wrong bank!

And there are no more village banks. They've all been shut.

TrustyOven

Are you actually sure they want certified copy of passport?
When I opened mine, only some forms of ID needed certification.

Utility bills did not need certification.

Mishomeister

TrustyOven wrote: »

Are you actually sure they want certified copy of passport?
When I opened mine, only some forms of ID needed certification.

Utility bills did not need certification.

Yes I am sure

bowlhead99

bigfreddiel wrote: »

The old days! I'm talking about a few months ago! Maybe you're with the wrong bank!

Might be more useful to tell the OP what bank it was that were happy to certify documents for an application for a rival bank for free.

And your idea of "find a friendly civil servant" doesn't help much, given a typical civil servant doesn't have one of the occupations on the approved Tesco list.

OP, I just get friends to do mine and I do theirs as I know plenty of accountants and solicitors etc. Go to some boring neighbourhood parties this Christmas and New Year, you might meet some..!

grey_gym_sock

bowlhead99 wrote: »

OP, I just get friends to do mine and I do theirs as I know plenty of accountants and solicitors etc. Go to some boring neighbourhood parties this Christmas and New Year, you might meet some..!

if you're not sure how to recognize accountants, this is what you're looking for:

eskbanker

Mishomeister wrote: »

We do not know any people who are in other listed professions.

One of the entries on the list is "Local Councillor or MP", both of whom should be publicly accessible sometimes in their roles as public servants, and hopefully willing to cooperate without charging for the privilege?

teddysmum

eskbanker wrote: »

One of the entries on the list is "Local Councillor or MP", both of whom should be publicly accessible sometimes in their roles as public servants, and hopefully willing to cooperate without charging for the privilege?

Are they not meant to know you though ? We once used a councillor , but he was my mother-in-law's friend, so knew my husband.