Why are Building Societies so rigid on KYC

TheBanker

fun4everyone said:

One of the parts that is particularly intrusive to me is when even after passing all the opening checks, you are made to explain yourself when transferring a small amount from your own account to another of your own accounts.

It was banks I have had this on so far though, not building socs.

There was a time when a bank was simply expected to make sure that a transaction had been correctly authorised. Unless they had grounds to suspect their customer was involved in crime or there was some other legal restriction, they were obliged to process the transaction without further enquiry. If the customer had been tricked into making a payment by a con artist, this was their bad luck. 

This has changed over the years, with consumer groups campaigning for the banks to take more responsibility. This led to a voluntary reimbursement code which will become a regulatory requirement later this year. So customers benefit as they now have a form of insurance that might refund them if they fall for a scam. The 'price' of this is that banks will quiz customers making payments, to try to identify and stop the scams. Even a payment going to another account in your name can be part of a scam, hence why the bank might still ask why you're making it. 

Wheres_My_Cashback

I get the KYC, it’s not the institutions doing, it’s the Gov, however the BS could make it a lot easier for the customer by having online facilities to enable document checks. Some do, but many, even the larger institutions don’t which is probably down to different interpretations of the rules they have to comply with.
My last one was with one of the smallest BS out there, Furness, but was very quickly done via email.

Obviously there are AML considerations in all these hurdles, but what’s not helped is the refusal of many consumers to take responsibility for their accounts and how they act. First point of blame will always be the BS even when it’s not.

schiff

Thanks all!

Beddie

I think that Building Societies are run in a more "jobsworth" way than banks, in other words they gold-plate any regulations instead of thinking how they can work within the rules in an efficient way. They tend to have less stringent cost controls too, so seem happy to spend/waste money on checks such as the one the OP plainly does not need.

schiff

Re my first post - YBS - I eventually succumbed to the YBS insistence and sent the required documents. They've lost one and sent the rest back.

That was about a month ago. Just applied for another YBS account and once agin they require certain documents to verify my identity. I now have five accounts open of which four I deposit monthly. And they still don't know/recognise me.

You couldn't make it up!

Kenman

When I first opened an account with Yorkshire Building Society a couple of years ago, they asked for my date of birth. Other financial institutions seem content that this is any memorable date, so I gave them a date that wasn't my birth date. They seemed happy with this, and the account was set up.
A few weeks ago, I wanted to open a different YBS account, but they weren't satisfied that I was an existing a/c holder, and I had to go through the tedious hooyu procedure, including providing a copy of my passport.
After over a month of trying to find out why the a/c hasn't been opened, they have now said that they rejected my application because the birth date I had provided (previously) doesn't match that on my passport. What a surprise!
Now they know that the original birth date I provided isn't my real birth date, I've asked what they are going to do about it for my existing account.

Kim_13

Kenman said:

When I first opened an account with Yorkshire Building Society a couple of years ago, they asked for my date of birth. Other financial institutions seem content that this is any memorable date, so I gave them a date that wasn't my birth date. They seemed happy with this, and the account was set up.
A few weeks ago, I wanted to open a different YBS account, but they weren't satisfied that I was an existing a/c holder, and I had to go through the tedious hooyu procedure, including providing a copy of my passport.
After over a month of trying to find out why the a/c hasn't been opened, they have now said that they rejected my application because the birth date I had provided (previously) doesn't match that on my passport. What a surprise!
Now they know that the original birth date I provided isn't my real birth date, I've asked what they are going to do about it for my existing account.

Your DOB is used to differentiate you from others with some of the same details as you, to make sure that organisations know who they're dealing with. It also means that if a scammer knows your correct name, it is harder for them to do anything nefarious with it since the DOB does not match that held on the electoral roll/on ID documents. Therefore when you gave a wrong answer to a factual and unchanging question, they would have thought that you were up to something nefarious.

It is fine to give a wrong answer when setting security questions; they use the answer you give them, which is not provable. DOB when opening an account is completely different and a matter of KYC, so YBS are not responsible for the mess (other than the fact that they should have realised at first application that the DOB provided was not your DOB - but that could result in a CIFAS marker if they're not already planning to register one so I'd suggest not poking the bear as it were.)

One institution cannot by dealt with in the same way as others just because others seem fine with it. Wrong DOBs going under the radar would suggest that others haven't been doing KYC properly.

I am one of the first to complain (on here, not to the CS who are only doing what they are told) when certified documents are asked for when they could be securely uploaded without incurring the customer a cost or an electronic check carried out, but a wrong DOB being detected isn't a failing of the regulations or the system of the building society that detects it. 
 

Barkin

Kenman said:

When I first opened an account with Yorkshire Building Society a couple of years ago, they asked for my date of birth. Other financial institutions seem content that this is any memorable date, 

Are they? Really?

Giving a fictitious DOB is asking for trouble if you ask me. 

dunstonh

When I first opened an account with Yorkshire Building Society a couple of years ago, they asked for my date of birth. Other financial institutions seem content that this is any memorable date, so I gave them a date that wasn't my birth date. They seemed happy with this, and the account was set up.

That was a silly thing to do.

A few weeks ago, I wanted to open a different YBS account, but they weren't satisfied that I was an existing a/c holder, and I had to go through the tedious hooyu procedure, including providing a copy of my passport.

After over a month of trying to find out why the a/c hasn't been opened, they have now said that they rejected my application because the birth date I had provided (previously) doesn't match that on my passport. What a surprise!

If you hadn't told lies in the first place, you wouldn't have had this problem.

mikb

Fictional DOB answers should be reserved for non-important stuff. e.g. signing up to forums and other low-level "security". Not for banking and legal things.

Fictional answers for banking, peer to peer etc. -- in my opinion -- absolutely SHOULD include fake answers to dumb security questions like "Mother's Maiden Name" and "Your first school" and "Where were you born?" etc. because a) they really shouldn't ask such idiotically researchable questions, and b) they don't/can't check them, do they?

"Please send a certified school report from your infant school, your mother's birth certificate" ... nope, in all the KYC insanity, they've never sunk that low!