CIFAS Protective Registration

Daliah

Who has/had a CIFAS Protective Registration, and what's your experience with it?

I recently paid for the protection as I had reason to believe that substantial ID data have been stolen from me. A couple of months into the protection, this is the status

• the protective registration has been recorded on my credit reference files within a couple of days of me taking out the registration
  
  
• no unauthorised hard or soft searches have appeared on my credit reference files, and no unauthorised accounts have been added. This might well mean that no applications were made by unauthorised people, which would be good.
  
  
• my existing day-to-day banking (SOs, DDs, ad-hoc payments) have not been interrupted in any way
  
  
• I have made a couple of online applications for current accounts since the registration came into force. In both cases, I did not have any existing accounts with the bank, though I used to have some with both of them some time ago. In both cases, the online application process went through without any mention of CIFAS, and without any mention of any need for further checks.
  
  Bank A, a UK High Street bank and CIFAS member, instantly confirmed most of my online banking details and sent me an access code in the post a few days later. I have been able to log into online and app banking since then, nearly a month ago now, but there was no account, and I still have not received a debit card, three and a half weeks after the application. I wasn't particularly bothered as I only wanted the current account so I could get access to their Regular Saver account and it wasn't the end of the world if I couldn't have one, so I never checked back with them. Today, out of the blue, with no further checks with myself, Bank A sent me email confirmation that my current account is now open, and I have since been able to open and fund their Regular Saver.
  
  Bank B, a UK online only bank, are not a CIFAS member, though I didn't know this when I applied last week. Their application process is a tad convoluted at best of times and it takes 2 business days to open a current account with them. They require the upload of a Government issued ID but no proof of address is required. My account got opened and I have now received a debit card, so is fully operational, both online and via their app.
  
  

I am deliberately not mentioning the names of the banks but I thought I share the experience. I am now not sure how effective the CIFAS protective registration is though obviously I have a vanishingly small sample of applications.

Anyone else who can share their experience?

Marchitiello

I was the victim of identity theft about 10 years ago, probably from when Companies House used to display full date of birth and residential address of directors.

after sorting everything I went into protective registration and I did have quite few disruption for a while, often having to provide extra documentation to prove my identity (new phone contract, car purchase on 0% finance deal, new credit card application).

it was annoying for a while but could make it work.. glad it is beyond me now

Daliah

It's hard work at Santander, where I have held several current and savings accounts continuously for the last eleven years. I have recently applied for an EveryDay current account, and obviously did expect them to do some extra checks because of my protective CIFAS registration.

They have now emailed me a request for OTHER(S) documentation......



So I called them to find out what they mean by OTHER(S). After the customary 30 minute wait, a relatively clueless person answered the phone, and 5 minutes later she went away to ask a Manager what OTHER(S) is. Eventually she came back with the news that I need to upload proof of ID and proof of address, despite having just identified me as an existing customer, and verified that it was indeed me who submitted the application.

OK, so I go away and upload the two documents (which I have readily sitting on my PC, anyway) - upload 1 failed. Tried again, it kept failing. Same with upload 2. I am already having visions of having to print the stuff off and snailmail it. But then I remembered that Santander sometimes doesn't work properly on Chrome, which is my usual browser. Fired up Edge, and uploaded the documents in no time. Hooray. One step closer to getting my new account 

[Deleted User]

I would be glad that they requested the additional documents as proof.

Daliah

[Deleted User] said:

I would be glad that they requested the additional documents as proof.

Proof of what? Neither document proves that I applied for the account. However, I did tell them that I made the application, after they had verified that I am who I say I am (voice recognition), and that I am an existing customer. But hey, presumably their script for "applicant has CIFAS protective registration" can't cope with such situations, and also doesn't tell them what additional documents they need to ask the customer for. So they just asked for OTHER(S)