I deliberately used the wrong spelling of my name on my bank account

Netherspark

My name is officially spelled with a 'C' but I've been spelling it with a 'K' since I was 10 years old.  It's on all official documents, bank accounts and voter registration.  As far as the world is concerned it's spelled with a K.  I want to go back to using the original spelling but I'm worried about how the legal and financial entities will react when I tell them I've essentially lied about my name and possibly my identity....

Have I unwittingly committed some kind of identity fraud?

veryintrigued

I kouldn't possibly komment.

tacpot12

You haven't committed any sort of fraud as you didn't intend to derive any gain from using the different spelling.  

Just tell the Banks and other organisations that you changed your name, and that you now want to return to using your given name, and see what they say. 

mab3000

So your name your passport and driving licence is spelt with a K? 

The banks will normally ask for proof to support changing your name, which you will probably struggle with if all your documents are spelt with a K (they wouldn’t use a birth certificate to change your name). One thing that might be possible is for you to change your name by Deed Poll, I know a few banks (maybe the majority do) that will accept a deed poll as proof to change your name. 

blue.peter

I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that the general principle is that you can use any name you like provided that it isn't for fraudulent purposes. Since you've never used your "k" spelling for fraudulent purposes (unless there's something that you haven't told us!), the spelling variation isn't itself a problem.

For what it's worth, there's a mismatch between my birth certificate and everything else, too. My parents saddled me with an extra forename that I dislike intensely, and so have never used. It's omitted from my passport, driving licence, bank accounts, credit cards, NHS record, employment records, tax records... everything. That omission has never caused me any problems at all, probably because my usage has been consistent. I'm now in my 60s and retired.

I wouldn't expect you to have any great difficulty reverting to the "c" spelling as long as you do it for everything, though some organisations might want you to jump through a hoop or two. You could have difficulties if you try to use one spelling for some things and the other for other things.

(I'm guessing that it's the difference between Mark and Marc for you - not that it matters at all.)

AskAsk

i think it will be better to stick to the K spelling as it can get very complicated if there is a name change now.

as to identity fraud, no, unless you are actually someone else and using the ID.

Zanderman

blue.peter said:

I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that the general principle is that you can use any name you like provided that it isn't for fraudulent purposes. Since you've never used your "k" spelling for fraudulent purposes (unless there's something that you haven't told us!), the spelling variation isn't itself a problem.

For what it's worth, there's a mismatch between my birth certificate and everything else, too. My parents saddled me with an extra forename that I dislike intensely, and so have never used. It's omitted from my passport, driving licence, bank accounts, credit cards, NHS record, employment records, tax records... everything. That omission has never caused me any problems at all, probably because my usage has been consistent. I'm now in my 60s and retired.

I wouldn't expect you to have any great difficulty reverting to the "c" spelling as long as you do it for everything, though some organisations might want you to jump through a hoop or two. You could have difficulties if you try to use one spelling for some things and the other for other things.

(I'm guessing that it's the difference between Mark and Marc for you - not that it matters at all.)

I assume the K and C are more likely to be the first letter (Karl, Konrad, Katherine, Karol, etc etc) rather than the last, and if so I'd argue that it might matter, as that's far more obvious, visually.   And as AskAsk suggests in the next post this could cause problems. 

A driving licence issued to Carl Smith might not be accepted as photo id for Karl Smith for example.  The names look different.

So whilst I'd agree the OP hasn't committed any offence I'd say that unless all instances - every bank account, registration anywhere, etc is changed - there might be problems.   Highly likely, I'd think, unless all official documents - passport and driving licence - are also changed (which will cost money to do).

Just switching a bank account needs a name match. 

eskbanker

veryintrigued said:

I kouldn't possibly komment.

Memories of some classic Python....

Tourist: Yes I saw your advert in the bolour supplement

Bounder: The what?

Tourist: The bolour supplement

Bounder: The color supplement?

Tourist: Yes I'm sorry I can't say the letter 'B'

Bounder: C?

Tourist: Yes that's right. It's all due to a trauma I suffered when I was a schoolboy. I was attacked by a bat

Bounder: A cat?

Tourist: No a bat

Bounder: Can you say the letter 'K'

Tourist: Oh yes, Khaki, king, kettle, Kuwait, Keble Bollege Oxford

Bounder: Why don't you say the letter 'K' instead of the letter 'C'

Tourist: what you mean.....spell bolour with a K

Bounder: Yes

Tourist: Kolour. Oh that's very good, I never thought of that what a silly bunt

Sensory

Just officially revert to a C if that's your heart's desire, as long as you're willing to go through the process of getting all your records updated everywhere

robatwork

Not quite the same but I am Rob to everyone but a Robert on official documents. I opened one bank account as Rob by mistake and it has caused problems and I should have kept it as Robert. 

On the K/C axis...I tried and failed to explain to to someone with English as a second language the logic of why we use K for a hard "k" and C for a soft "s" and hard "k" almost randomly. C should really be a redundant letter as it's covered by s and k. Wikipedia gives an example of coalescence for a word that uses c in multiple ways.... but koalesense is more than adequate phonetikally. 

gsmh

eskbanker said:

Memories of some classic Python....

Tourist: Yes I saw your advert in the bolour supplement

Bounder: The what?

Tourist: The bolour supplement

............

I was never a Python fan and have never seen that before, but it's really funny! Thank you!