address mismatch problems

t33

I've recently had a problem setting up new accounts with both Barclays and Santander (who I've banked with for a long time).  The problem, unknown at first and involving long and circuitous calls to the bank to try to rectify, turned out to be - on these occasions anyway - a different way of expressing my address. I'm guessing their algorithms or whatever detect a mismatch and flag it as problematic, is that it?

There are, as far as I know, at least 3 ways of writing the same first line address in a slightly different format, as well as one which splits the first line into two.  All are 'correct'.  I stick to the most common one (in Scotland there is a most common version, I think) but sometimes you are not able to because of one of the autofill from postcode inputs, especially the ones which will not allow a manual input and insists on the one it happens to have in its database.

This can be a right pita. The Royal Mail version which is the most commonly used version is normally easily accepted, but I guess there are other databases in use that use a different source?  I'm guessing this is where things go wrong.  Or is this not a credible explanation from the bank and it is perhaps something else as I've had the same address for years?  guesswork I know.  I'm trying to prevent this happening in future.  Is this a common problem?

born_again

Yes, especially with flats & houses that people have named...

Gers

Yes, my late DM was in Glasgow, her address started as 1 up left, morphed into 1/l and then RM decided it should be 1/1, it caused so much hassle. RM seems to have the final decision and overrides the previous easy to understand 1/l as shorthand for the 1 up left.

macy08

I have this problem with Santander every time I open a new current account with them. Never seems to get resolved

t33

Gers yes I think the tenement and courtyard numbering, in Scotland at least, is prime to cause problems.  It doesn't apply to me in this case, as my address is pretty standard but does have a / in it which may be causing problems.

Macy08 I've just had that problem with Santander opening an additional account so I'm hoping to get a clear explanation from them, and hope it can be resolved.  Annoying though for sure.

dc_scotland

This has been a problem with Santander over many years, their system doesn't like any special characters in an address, and often creates a new customer profile whenever one is used.  If your address is something like Flat 2/1 or Flat 2-1, 100 High Street, you have to remove the special characters and enter it as 2 1 100 High St, so that it links to your existing customer profile.