Open Bank Account Without ID

xylophone

Back to the drawing board.

But this might be easier if the mother is involved, particularly if the son lives with her?

xylophone

Another thought - I wonder could the mother be "appointee" for her son's benefits and set up an "appointee" bank account?

interest_Ted

The OP probably already seen, but in case not....
Money advice service website says that for Universal Credit and other benefits, you can use current account, or basic bank account or prepaid card. It also says that if you have difficulties obtaining any of these, to contact the office responsible for paying the benefits to find out how you can get the benefits paid to you.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/choosing-a-bank-account-for-your-universal-credit-payment

Ted

Ergates

EileenSatchell wrote: »

Decided to apply for a driving licence as we have been told this would be ID, but he needs ID to apply for a driving licence

He also needs to be able to drive.

mgdavid

Ergates wrote: »

He also needs to be able to drive.

No he doesn't. He needs to get a licence *before* commencing to learn to drive.

TiberUK

What about a citizen card. You can apparently use it for domestic air travel and visiting prisons, so why not a bank?

A CitizenCard is an official UK ID / proof of age card recognised as such by the Home Office, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and almost all UK retailers and public transport providers including UK airlines. The adult 18+ photo ID card displays the police and the Security Industry Authority logos and all CitizenCards bear the PASS hologram.

Flobberchops

Does the son have a passport?

If not, get a provisional licence. https://www.gov.uk/id-for-driving-licence

The link above suggests you should be able to use your son's birth certificate along with a letter from DWP.

TiberUK wrote: »

What about a citizen card. You can apparently use it for domestic air travel and visiting prisons, so why not a bank?

Because banks can set their own criteria for acceptable ID. I'm not saying that it will definitely be rejected by every bank you try, but it would be foolish to assume. Sadly the UK never adopted a national ID card as the rest of Europe did, so passport or driving licence are the de facto forms of ID. [edit] For a hair-raising read, check out CitizenCard reviews on Trustpilot.

PRAISETHESUN

I'd recommend taking whatever ID documents you have and pop into every high street bank branch near you, rather than focusing on making a specific bank accept the ID you have. As ID requirements vary between banks, you should hopefully be able to at least find one that will accept your documents. Otherwise as above, birth certificate/passport + HMRC/doctors letters should be sufficient for most banks.

Alternatively, something like a Post Office account might be of use: https://www.postoffice.co.uk/post-office-card-account

eskbanker

PRAISETHESUN wrote: »

I'd recommend taking whatever ID documents you have and pop into every high street bank branch near you, rather than focusing on making a specific bank accept the ID you have. As ID requirements vary between banks, you should hopefully be able to at least find one that will accept your documents. Otherwise as above, birth certificate/passport + HMRC/doctors letters should be sufficient for most banks.

While I agree with the principle of shopping around, I'd suggest that it would be far more efficient to research the various ID requirements online, as the vast majority of banks will list these on their websites, and even if OP has a wide range of branches where she lives, the days of walking in to open accounts without appointments are largely over so wandering around speculatively is likely to be laborious and time-consuming.

Some sites to start off with:

https://www.tsb.co.uk/current-accounts/faqs/identity/
https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/what-do-i-need-to-open-a-bank-account/
https://www.lloydsbank.com/legal/proof-of-identity.asp
https://www.halifax.co.uk/securityandprivacy/privacy/proving-your-identity/
https://www.bankofscotland.co.uk/securityandprivacy/privacy/proving-your-identity.html
https://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/PA_esf-ca-app-content/content/pws/content/personal/pdfs/help-us-to-identify-you.pdf
https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/customer-support/customer-identification-documents
https://personal.natwest.com/personal/current-accounts/what-do-you-need-to-open-a-current-account.html

Make sure that any ID is an exact match for the specified requirements rather than something that sounds approximately similar, and have a printout to hand if applying in branch....