Online identification failure

Kim_13

nilrem wrote: »

I understand exactly how you feel, We have the same problem opening accounts for my wife, she has no passport or driving licence, I even went to the length of getting a provisional licence not for her to drive but for ID purposes and even though it carried her photo Virgin said it was no use, it had to be a Full licence to which I replied "So a condition of opening an account is that she has to take and pass a driving test too!" I found it quite ridiculous.

Sadly the requirement for a full licence seems to have evolved from a situation where (and I'm not sure how common it was) an older sibling would pass their test, retain their licence after the event and instead of sending it off to the DVLA, would claim to have misplaced it. Once they had two provisionals, one was exchanged for the full and the other passed on to a younger sibling.

Provisionals are more widely accepted as ID where they are the old paper format, but sadly you can't ask for one of these.

I guess the banks would fall foul of discrimination laws if they said they would only accept provisionals from a certain age group. Though that said, they seem to accept birth certificates for a child's account but they won't otherwise.

dunstonh

I even went to the length of getting a provisional licence not for her to drive but for ID purposes and even though it carried her photo Virgin said it was no use, it had to be a Full licence to which I replied "So a condition of opening an account is that she has to take and pass a driving test too!" I found it quite ridiculous.

Its not ridiculous. The provisional licence is not accepted by most as it doesn't carry the same requirements to get one that a full licence does.

eskbanker

nilrem wrote: »

I even went to the length of getting a provisional licence not for her to drive but for ID purposes and even though it carried her photo Virgin said it was no use, it had to be a Full licence

It's always worth checking the published criteria for each institution - Virgin's ID verification page (for in-store account opening) does state that a provisional licence is acceptable, so if you have this info in front of you it makes it harder for them to refuse:

Valid Photocard Driving Licence (full or provisional)

ctdctd

Just a quick update which might help some.

I applied for a Virgin Mobile contract the week which needed an Equifax credit check which I failed.
This is despite same address for 25+ years, multiple banks and savings accounts, no debts, no ccj's etc.

I have a middle name on my passport which I never use in real life - I thought I'd try again with the same details but including my optional middle name.

This time, I passed the check!