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Open account online without going into branch

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  • alanq
    alanq Posts: 4,216 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    agrinnall wrote: »
    I'm not sure that you could guarantee that any bricks and mortar bank would under no circumstances ask you to prove your identity in branch, so perhaps you should be looking for an account with an online-only bank.

    The trouble with that idea is that you still may be required to send identity documents through the post.
  • Superscrooge
    Superscrooge Posts: 1,171 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I've opened lots of current accounts online during the past few years and the only time I was requested to physically go to a branch to prove my ID was Nationwide!

    The funny thing was that when I visited the branch, the staff checked their computer for the status of my application and it said my ID had already been verified. So they were a little confused about why I had been told to attend with ID?

    Appeared it was just an admin cockup by Nationwide.
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    alanq wrote: »
    The trouble with that idea is that you still may be required to send identity documents through the post.


    Agreed, but the OP's question stated "without going into branch", so online-only banks would meet that requirement.
  • 8i6daddy
    8i6daddy Posts: 89 Forumite
    I've opened Starling, Monzo & Metro Bank accounts recently via electronic ID uploads... Much easier than going to a branch.

    With Starling/Monzo I had to record a video selfie and with Metro it was a normal photo selfie, either way it's just to match the face to the ID provided...
  • northwalesd
    northwalesd Posts: 1,317 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I've opened lots of current accounts online during the past few years and the only time I was requested to physically go to a branch to prove my ID was Nationwide!

    The funny thing was that when I visited the branch, the staff checked their computer for the status of my application and it said my ID had already been verified. So they were a little confused about why I had been told to attend with ID?

    Appeared it was just an admin cockup by Nationwide.

    I had the exact same experience with Nationwide.
  • Fan_Of_2018
    Fan_Of_2018 Posts: 27 Forumite
    alanq wrote: »
    The trouble with that idea is that you still may be required to send identity documents through the post.
    I assume you mean copies of ID documents, not originals?
  • Missus_Hyde
    Missus_Hyde Posts: 539 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 500 Posts Photogenic
    I've opened lots of current accounts online during the past few years and the only time I was requested to physically go to a branch to prove my ID was Nationwide!

    The funny thing was that when I visited the branch, the staff checked their computer for the status of my application and it said my ID had already been verified. So they were a little confused about why I had been told to attend with ID?

    Appeared it was just an admin cockup by Nationwide.
    I had the exact same experience with Nationwide.

    Me too; yet another case of the right hand having no idea what the left is doing. :doh:
    A cunning plan, Baldrick? Whatever it was, it's got to be better than pretending to be mad; after all, who'd notice another mad person around here?.......Edmund Blackadder.
  • ValiantSon
    ValiantSon Posts: 2,586 Forumite
    I've opened lots of current accounts online during the past few years and the only time I was requested to physically go to a branch to prove my ID was Nationwide!

    The funny thing was that when I visited the branch, the staff checked their computer for the status of my application and it said my ID had already been verified. So they were a little confused about why I had been told to attend with ID?

    Appeared it was just an admin cockup by Nationwide.
    I had the exact same experience with Nationwide.
    Me too; yet another case of the right hand having no idea what the left is doing. :doh:

    I had exactly the same thing happen a couple of years ago with Nationwide.

    No other bank or building society has asked me to go in with documents.
  • Uxb
    Uxb Posts: 1,340 Forumite
    I assume you mean copies of ID documents, not originals?

    Correct:
    Any financial group might possibly require sight of copies of your ID documents and usually originals of some address ID such as credit card/bank statements: if required to do so the acceptable address ID document types would be listed by the bank etc

    The copies of any personal ID (usually a passport) will have to be certified signed as verified by some 'authority' that they are indeed true copies of the original which they have seen.
    The financial groups all have differing requirements as to whom is permitted to certify such a copy.
    Most usually it is someone who is themselves FCA authorized so are traceable via their authorization register number if the serious fraud office should come calling - eg solicitors, bank staff etc.
  • ValiantSon
    ValiantSon Posts: 2,586 Forumite
    Uxb wrote: »
    Correct:
    Any financial group might possibly require sight of copies of your ID documents and usually originals of some address ID such as credit card/bank statements: if required to do so the acceptable address ID document types would be listed by the bank etc

    The copies of any personal ID (usually a passport) will have to be certified signed as verified by some 'authority' that they are indeed true copies of the original which they have seen.
    The financial groups all have differing requirements as to whom is permitted to certify such a copy.
    Most usually it is someone who is themselves FCA authorized so are traceable via their authorization register number if the serious fraud office should come calling - eg solicitors, bank staff etc.

    They won't necessarily ask for certified copies. Some are more than happy to just see copies, and some are just as happy to rely on online checks.
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