Flagstone Savings Platform

Pat38493

I am looking to set up a couple of savings platforms for myself and spouse to use for money that we can't yet get into ISA and for ongoing short term cash management.

I looked at Flagstone, Interactive Investor (which seems to also be subcontracted to Flagstone) and Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings.

I decided to select Flagstone for one and HL for the other.

What I don't get is - why is Flagstone asking me to upload proof of my source of funds like my payslips, driving license, passport etc, but Hargreaves Lansdown let my wife open an account with no such information for the same type of service.

Flagstone has now said my application is under review and I will get an answer within 2 days, but it seems like I can open an HL active savings without any such delays so I am now thinking I should just set them both up as HL.  Hl did not even ask my for source of funds at all.

I also tried to set up an S&S ISA with AJ Bell for my wife and her application has been paused as "they cannot verify her declaration and will contact us shortly by email".  

How come each provider seems to have different requirements just to get an account opened?

(We are both UK citizens with normal NI number etc).

masonic

The legislation and regulations are not prescriptive in exactly how a firm must go about its checks, so different firms have developed different processes. There are electronic and manual checks. Not every customer will have the same experience due to differences in their credit files, online failures, and random selection for additional checks. These could happen up front, or later when money is to be withdrawn. Some firms will be more cautious than others when vetting customers, this would depend on their in house interpretation and level of confidence about what is 'enough' for compliance.