Nationwide asking to confirm identity 6 years later!?

robildn

Hi,

Nationwide has been sending us letters of late asking to verify our id or our mortgage account will be restricted. This is after being a customer with them for over 6 years and two different mortgages. Both times we got the mortgages all the relevant paperwork and documents were sent to them.
I raised a complaint with them, their response was that they need to see the proof of id, end of. Even though on the phone they confirmed they received all the relevant documents when we made the application and they kept denying that they have lost records or had a data breaches.

Anyone else here had a similar request from a bank? is it normal?

Thanks.

Robi

prettyandfluffy

They are not saying that they weren't given them or have lost them, it is a periodic thing that banks etc have to do.  You need to comply or, as they have said, there may be restrictions imposed on your account.

eskbanker

Yes, it's quite normal, ID verification requirements are generally becoming more onerous and it's far from uncommon for banks to tighten their policies and seek documentation that wasn't requested when first opening accounts.

born_again

Know your customer.
Comply or be prepared to lose your accounts.

Despite working for a bank, many of us had to provide id, some who had been working there over 20 years or your accounts would be restricted & then closed if you did not comply.

BoGoF

Why do people bother with pointless complaints over a perfectly reasonable request? If you had asked the Q here before your complaint you would have saved yourself and someone at the Nationwide time and effort.

Middle_of_the_Road

BoGoF said:

Why do people bother with pointless complaints over a perfectly reasonable request? If you had asked the Q here before your complaint you would have saved yourself and someone at the Nationwide time and effort.

Because not everyone hangs around here familiarising themselves with current procedures, that have become necessary due to criminal elements making life more tedious for the vast majority of law abiding account holders.

artyboy

Banks and other financial services firms do shoot themselves in the foot though in the way they communicate.

If their letter clearly stated that they needed ID as a result of changing requirements over time, the legal requirement to keep their records up to date, and acknowledging that this is something that the customers may already have done before, it would go a lot smoother. Yes there would always be those that complained about their civil liberties being infringed, but for goodness sake, make it clear to customers what is going on and you'd get a lot less complaints.

Not like the letter from Amex I got a couple of years back basically saying I had 90 days to comply or my account would be frozen. No real context that would help explain the request. I really do understand about KYC - really I do. But this got my hackles up enough to prompt a formal complaint and get me some 'go away' money.

Half the time I think these letter demands are written by ex-debt collectors.

Lions_89

I recently opened a couple of accounts at nationwide. I had to undergo multiple ID checks again and again before they would Open the account.

boingy

robildn said:

Hi,

Nationwide has been sending us letters of late asking to verify our id or our mortgage account will be restricted. This is after being a customer with them for over 6 years and two different mortgages. Both times we got the mortgages all the relevant paperwork and documents were sent to them.
I raised a complaint with them, their response was that they need to see the proof of id, end of. Even though on the phone they confirmed they received all the relevant documents when we made the application and they kept denying that they have lost records or had a data breaches.

Anyone else here had a similar request from a bank? is it normal?

Thanks.

Robi

It is a bit ridiculous but you have no real choice other than to comply. I do wonder in what way they could restrict your mortgage account though. I assume you just DD or SO the payments to it every month.

A couple of years ago I tried to close an old building society savings account that had about £50 in it. The original BS had been consumed by a bigger one and they refused my request because they could not verify my signature. After a bit of arguing they got me to download a special form where I could submit my signature. It basically said "I confirm that this is my signature" - no witness or formal ID process or anything. So I signed that and posted it back and they closed the account and I was left thinking that the extra form had not added one iota of security or verification to the process because a fraudster would have done exactly the same thing. 

friolento

Whilst I don't see the problem with providing the requested ID, I wonder what restricting your mortgage account would look like.

xylophone

I wonder what restricting your mortgage account would look like.

Prevent his making repayments so that there would be default and repossession.....?