Universal Credit (and others) and Post Office accounts 12 May at 10:41AM in Benefits & Tax Credits 4 replies 181 views

maxmycardagain

The PO is closing all the accounts the DWP pay benefits to, many on benefits have very poor credit ratings, some have no passport/driving licence photo id to open accounts like Starling or others

what can a claimant do in these cases?

(some are not the electoral register either)

poppy12345

Other forms of ID are accepted if they don't have a passport or driving licence.. for EG, a Government letter is just one of them.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/blog/how-to-beat-id-issues-when-opening-a-bank-account

ohdrar

You could see about a paypoint card account instead, might be worth investigating further as a bank account is not possible for everyone. 

https://www.gov.uk/payment-exception-service

MarkN88

Basic bank accounts are available if a bank can not offer a standard account. 

You can also open a lot of accounts online and there are ways to check identity. 

For example I’ve just opened a second current account recently, all done online, and they have confirmed my identify because they haven’t requested to see ID documents and I have the card now, internet banking set up and have been using the account. 

As already mentioned too banks will accept other forms of ID. 

On the back of that a poor credit history won’t stop you getting a bank account. (A CIFAS marker May though). 

[Deleted User]

There is also an option in some cases to have the payment made via pay point.