Passport costs increasing

tenchy

RG2015 wrote: »

It is quite the worst feeling to actually fail a ID test. My only ever failure was with Equifax. They presented me with three possible lenders with which I had had an account. I didn't recognise any and said so. Well all hell broke loose and the application came to a grinding halt.

I had to send scans of a bank statement and my paper driving licence and voila I was me!

I then renewed my passport and registered for Govt Verify and 15 applications on all is good.

The worst experience was was Ulster Bank last year who kept asking for ID by text and email which I ignored as they had already opened the account!

You have heard about Equifax? Why anyone would ever send them anything beggars belief. If you're trying to do something - anything - and it involves Equifax, try something else or some other route, if at all possible.

RG2015

tenchy wrote: »

You have heard about Equifax? Why anyone would ever send them anything beggars belief. If you're trying to do something - anything - and it involves Equifax, try something else or some other route, if at all possible.

Jeez, it was four years ago!

NineDeuce

veryintrigued wrote: »

There have been at least ten increases since 1992 (when it was £18).

Yet another 'Blame it on the Brexit' post....

Ignoring the fact that you cant sense irony, what garbage. That is called inflation. What product hasnt seen 10 increases since 1992? Why not point out the number of price rises since 1892 for further sensationalism?

Inflation is about 3%. Price rise is about 10-15%.

tenchy

RG2015 wrote: »

Jeez, it was four years ago!

Keep up! It was a few months ago: the world's largest data breach to date.

RG2015

tenchy wrote: »

Keep up! It was a few months ago: the world's largest data breach to date.

I'm not talking about the 2017 breach. You said it beggars belief why anyone would send stuff to Equifax and I am saying that I signed up to Equifax four years ago, well before the data breaches.

A simple misunderstanding.

Some people are so tenchy these days!

EachPenny

NineDeuce wrote: »

Ignoring the fact that you cant sense irony, what garbage. That is called inflation. What product hasnt seen 10 increases since 1992? Why not point out the number of price rises since 1892 for further sensationalism?

Inflation is about 3%. Price rise is about 10-15%.

Inflation doesn't have much to do with it though. The passport is a product of a monopoly who can charge what they can get away with.

In 2009 the price increased from £72 to £77.50. In 2012 the price was reduced by £5.

Therefore if we measure the change from 2012 then the 10-15% increase needs to be spread out over five and a half years. I don't have the inflation figures to hand, but I'd be reasonably confident that the cumulative effect of inflation over that time would indeed increase the cost of a £72.50 passport by more than £3.

The larger price increases have more to do with discouraging people from applying by post. And that is perhaps a moral question suitable for a different board, rather than a financial one.

No_6

@ each.penny

you need a passport number to open accounts ?
WHY !
Never been asked for those details in any of our multiple
bank, savings or CC's openings.

EachPenny

No_6 wrote: »

you need a passport number to open accounts ?
WHY !
Never been asked for those details in any of our multiple
bank, savings or CC's openings.

No, its that a valid passport is one form of photo ID that banks sometimes ask for. They aren't interested in the passport number, but if you open the account in branch they might take a photocopy.

If you have any of the other kinds of ID they accept then there is no need to have/show your passport.

realaledrinker

I thought post-Brexit we were all supposed to get out there and forge new relationships with the wider world. Silly me! Where's that Blackpool brochure?

Uxb

No_6 wrote: »

@ each.penny

you need a passport number to open accounts ?
WHY !
Never been asked for those details in any of our multiple
bank, savings or CC's openings.

I'm currently an executor of a deceased's estate
I have had to provide passport and sometimes also full address ID by way of an original bank/credit card statement to the following list:
Registrar of Deaths.
his Solicitor.
His Accountant.
His IFA.
The RICS surveyor valuing the house for IHT purposes.
The post office when submitting a postal redirect of the mail to myself
His bank when getting a funeral cheque out of them from his accounts

Even when recently renewing my ticket at the Public Record Office in Kew, London I stood in a queue with others doing the same all with our passports and original bill for address ID in our hands.

The passport has now become our defacto ID card, and indeed in some countries you might visit you are required to carry your passport with you at all times.