The Top Easy Access Savings Discussion Area

MichaelAP

S_uk said:

Try looking at it like this - the £82.50 cost for a new passport works out at 69p a month for the length of the period of validity, and you could potentially make more than that back in extra interest if it means it makes available more top savings accounts that you can easily open.

Whilst I can see your point of explanation, I on the other hand can not understand why I should have to pay £82.50 just for an identification, where I have two other photo ID methods that are legal documents/cards but not though part of the two that certain companies demand.

mebu60

ForumUser7 said:

mebu60 said:

If Kent Reliance is increasing their rates by 0.25% from Friday then their EA Issue 57 will move to 3.7%.
Is that wishful thinking on my part or have others drawn the same conclusion? 

The announcement said the increase is for existing NLA accounts only - issue 57 is currently available. They may increase the rate, in addition to their announcement, but it doesn’t fall under it itself imo

Ahhh! Thanks. Had a feeling there was a catch in there somewhere.

ForumUser7

MichaelAP said:

S_uk said:

Try looking at it like this - the £82.50 cost for a new passport works out at 69p a month for the length of the period of validity, and you could potentially make more than that back in extra interest if it means it makes available more top savings accounts that you can easily open.

Whilst I can see your point of explanation, I on the other hand can not understand why I should have to pay £82.50 just for an identification, where I have two other photo ID methods that are legal documents/cards but not though part of the two that certain companies demand.

Have you contacted the companies specifically and told them the ID you have and asked if anything can be done? Sometimes it says at the bottom of the lists that they may accept other non-listed items at their discretion. Might be worth a try, but no guarantees of course. Good luck

TiVo_Lad

ForumUser7 said:

MichaelAP said:

S_uk said:

Try looking at it like this - the £82.50 cost for a new passport works out at 69p a month for the length of the period of validity, and you could potentially make more than that back in extra interest if it means it makes available more top savings accounts that you can easily open.

Whilst I can see your point of explanation, I on the other hand can not understand why I should have to pay £82.50 just for an identification, where I have two other photo ID methods that are legal documents/cards but not though part of the two that certain companies demand.

Have you contacted the companies specifically and told them the ID you have and asked if anything can be done? Sometimes it says at the bottom of the lists that they may accept other non-listed items at their discretion. Might be worth a try, but no guarantees of course. Good luck

What's said here is right. They're not legally obliged to ask for Passport/Driving License, they just need to satisfy themselves of your identity as part of KYC and Passport/Driving License are the most common methods because they're ubiquitous documents. If they can meet KYC requirements via other means, they can do that, but ultimately it's at their discretion.

Where it gets fuzzy is around WHY an applicant doesn't have the standard forms of ID. If it's by choice, then tough, but if they don't have them because of (say) a disability, then you could potentially argue that it's discriminatory. They might then ask for proof of the disability etc etc and it becomes a whole host of faff which you might want to avoid.

Ultimately, you may need to go above one of the call handlers and raise a complaint if you think that discrimination is at play.

Bridlington1

MichaelAP said:

S_uk said:

Try looking at it like this - the £82.50 cost for a new passport works out at 69p a month for the length of the period of validity, and you could potentially make more than that back in extra interest if it means it makes available more top savings accounts that you can easily open.

Whilst I can see your point of explanation, I on the other hand can not understand why I should have to pay £82.50 just for an identification, where I have two other photo ID methods that are legal documents/cards but not though part of the two that certain companies demand.

Could you not just get a provisional driving licence instead of a passport? These have a much lower cost (£34) and like passports can be renewed every 10 years, therefore reducing the cost to 28p per month. AFAIK you don't need to bother to learn to drive to hold one.

cwep2

Bridlington1 said:

Could you not just get a provisional driving licence instead of a passport? These have a much lower cost (£34) and like passports can be renewed every 10 years, therefore reducing the cost to 28p per month. AFAIK you don't need to bother to learn to drive to hold one.

You need to be medically able to drive though, some disabilities (e.g. being blind) exclude you from applying.
But this is still a good idea and cheapens the cost compared to a passport.

BooJewels

I was in the same position, as I don't drive and haven't gone abroad for a very long time.  But after variously acting as an Attorney for 2 family members, selling an estate property, gifting some of the proceeds to my son as a deposit for a property for him to buy - I was thoroughly sick of the hoops they make you jump through to prove ID without a passport - I even had issues paying the CGT on the estate property as they'd changed settings on the Government Gateway and I could no longer access on-line services or my tax account.  I think some organisations deliberately make you work very hard at proving ID as punishment for not making it nice and easy for them.

In the end I had to relent and get a passport, largely for ID purposes and it becomes like an open sesame wedge of paper.  It's some sort of miracle as to how much easier it becomes.  I have a bit of a problem with that personally, on principle.  But sometimes you just have to play the game to save your own aggravation.

BooJewels

I'm not sure that a provisional driving licence is fully accepted - the paper one certainly isn't - I tried that myself as that's what I have.

ForumUser7

BooJewels said:

I'm not sure that a provisional driving licence is fully accepted - the paper one certainly isn't - I tried that myself as that's what I have.

I have the plastic credit card sized version, with a photo on. I've never had it, or a certified copy of it, rejected before.

SJMALBA

mebu60 said:

If Kent Reliance is increasing their rates by 0.25% from Friday then their EA Issue 57 will move to 3.7%.
Is that wishful thinking on my part or have others drawn the same conclusion? 

I already have issue 57, and my reading of their statement was that it wouldn't increase, so I withdrew my money - literally minutes later, I received an email saying that my rate would increase!
Either their statement is incorrect/unclear, or the email was sent in error/is wrong - I await with interest (no pun intended) to see the outcome...