Six month bank statement

Medge

We’ve just started the proceedings on buying our first flat and our solicitor has requested our most recent six month bank statement and sent to them as a certified copy. We both only have monthly statements online. Are online statements accepted? And do we need to print our past six months statements individually and send them? My only concern with this is would they count as an individual document each when we do this at the post office and therefore cost more or would it count as a single document?

davidmcn

You'll need to direct your queries to your solicitor rather than us, there aren't any standard requirements.

foxy-stoat

Go to your bank with the last 6 months printed statements and get them to certify them - or go into your bank and ask for the last 6 months statements to be printed by them and certify.

sillyhilly

Just been through this:

- The documents do not need to be certified. They are interpreting anti-money laundering regulations / guidance incorrectly and going to the n-th degree with it. However, if it combats money laundering I'm all for it.

- Try speaking with the law firm themselves. It is their own internal policy that is requiring this, and as it goes above and beyond the actual AML requirements, they are able to make concessions. Online documents are acceptable under AML guidance.

- You can get documents printed in branch. On these documents, it will confirm that it has been printed in branch, with a date and time. This should be sufficient for 'certification' purposes.

- If you did need to get the documents certified, they will generally be done all at once. On that note, are the lawyers near you where you can pop in? If so, they can certify themselves.

sal_III

Check with your solicitor what is acceptable, criteria differs. Mine for example was happy with PDF copy of the online statement.

This is an odd request, given the fact that Post office certification is for copies of original documents and usually used for Passports etc. so you can keep the original. And/or to verify that your face is identical to the picture. What are they going to certify the banks statements against? Assuming you are happy to send over "originals"

If you are concerned about cost of certifying 6x1m statements over 1x6m, check if your bank can send you "on demand" statement for the last 6m

Medge

Thank you all for your quick responses- I know solicitor would be best to ask but already sent him a lot of simple questions/ messed up a few things and his answers are generally quite short. I know stupid because we’re obviously paying him to do all this but still don’t want to be the people he dreads working with ��. Guess this is the bug with doing things online rather than in person- you don’t have that chance to have the face-to-face interaction and chance to get the stupid questions out the way.

Was a little confused why the bank statements needed to be certified, like I understood the passport but am just going along with it because it’s what was requested.

And no branch is too far to travel to unfortunately - thought I was being clever because they have a branch a lot closer to myself and my partner but apparently there main one is a lot further away and everything needs to be done there.

Thank you all for your responses- getting a little stressed by all these little things we don’t know the answer to so you have all helped.

davidmcn

Why not just post the principal bank statements for them to check/copy themselves? Getting copies certified sounds like more hassle than it's worth.

Crumble2018

Our solicitor has requested original copies showing our address - we bank with First Direct so I'm going to phone them to request.

sillyhilly

Medge wrote: »

thought I was being clever because they have a branch a lot closer to myself and my partner but apparently there main one is a lot further away and everything needs to be done there.

You can still go to the closer branch and get it certified. A certification is just 'proof' (and I use this term loosely - they're very easy to forge) that the document is an original. They can't really draw more comfort than one of their very own employees seeing the original and confirming it is genuine.

Medge

sillyhilly wrote: »

You can still go to the closer branch and get it certified. A certification is just 'proof' (and I use this term loosely - they're very easy to forge) that the document is an original. They can't really draw more comfort than one of their very own employees seeing the original and confirming it is genuine.

That’s what I had assumed would be fine and one of the reasons I ultimately continued with this company but when I suggested it he said the documents would need to be posted.

Already not feeling great about our solicitors and we’re so early in the process .

sillyhilly

Medge wrote: »

That’s what I had assumed would be fine and one of the reasons I ultimately continued with this company but when I suggested it he said the documents would need to be posted.

Already not feeling great about our solicitors and we’re so early in the process .

I hear you. I had exactly the same issue, although I also work as a consultant in AML so managed to argue it and they eventually conceded.

They don't need posted documents. Especially as these documents are presumably for Source of Funds checks and are not to verify your identity. Out of interest, are you talking with the actual solicitor, or are you in discussion with a paralegal, for example?

Overall, you're well within your rights to find another solicitor (if you can with no/minimal cost) or argue why they need certified documentation. They may say 'internal policy' but this is well above and beyond what the actual obligations are and, as a result, are able to 'relax' those requirements on occasion.