More fun with addresses

Chief_of_Staffy

Seeing the GOV address change thread attracted so much interest and balanced input, here's some more fun with address changes.

Savings Banks
--------------------
Two of them were as you'd expect from a professional organisation. You log in, choose Edit Address, re-enter your password and it's done. A couple of days later you get a letter of confirmation.

The third, not so much. You phone them up and they email you two days later to say they cannot electronically verify your address so you'll need to send in some 'official or certified evidence'.

It turns out if you're not on the electoral roll at your new address, like 100% of people who move into a new home, verification will fail. I rang and put this to them. I started by asking whether you should change your address immediately you moved house. They replied yes, right away. So I asked the question, in that case how can checks dependant on being on the electoral register ever succeed?

They were unable to answer, but it was OK because I could send them a utility bill. "Which utility bill?" I said. "Any bill with your name and address sent by post in the past six months will be fine." "Six months. OK, but as we've been discussing, I moved in two days ago...?" "Ah *pause* Just when you get one then."

It's not the worst thing in the world to post a utility bill, but who the heck came up with that process?

Ebay
-------
Log on, chose Edit Address, and it's done.

As if. You can't do criminal-looking things like register an address change without some harsh scrutiny. "Your payouts have been suspended!" "You need to enter the information we requested!" "Enter the information by 1/12/2025 for your account to remain in good standing!" What might I have to provide to be able to sell a few personal possessions I found in the back of a cupboard? An imagine of my passport, of course. Nothing else will suffice. I now need to upload hi-res photos of my passport to a shopping site. I fear I'll have to turn that opportunity down, although I'm sure if I check again in a couple of years they'll be asking for my DNA.

My US Client
------------------
If you thought the UK was bad (which many people don't because they're brainwashed into nodding along with every creeping authoritarian imposition) you should try the US. You want to edit your home address and it's an hour of paperwork with a ten page 'guidance' sheet. When you're done, though, at least you can get paid. No, I'm joking. The company sent out the remittance and off the payment goes into limbo, as far as anybody knows, or cares, for good. Maybe nothing to do with my address update but since all 200 invoices over 10 years went through immediately, and my address change was two days prior, it seems likely they're connected. So I don't get paid.

I haven't reached the end of my address change list yet. Can't wait to see what happens next.

flaneurs_lobster

There's no need to change your address with your financial product suppliers straight away.

You will, of course have a mail redirect from your previous (or do I mean current) address to your new (or do I mean current) address.

If you have updated your entry on the Electoral Register (another GOV.uk website) that will make its way onto the register that the ID services use at the next monthly update. Leave it for 8 weeks to be sure. 

sheramber

Never had a problem changing my addrsss when I have moved.

MikeJXE

sheramber said:

Never had a problem changing my addrsss when I have moved.

Neither have I 

Because i have moved 4.times in the last few years I have a list on my phone and do them within a few days of moving 

sonearandyetsofa

Imagine living in a world where you could change your address easily and simply without having to wade through all this. What would that look like?

It would look like rampant fraud, that's what it would look like. 

As others have said, just redirect your mail and work through everything when you can. If you manage your utilities online, you will have an email or online bill or other official notification of the start of the contract or similar from them pretty much as soon as you register. That will satisfy anyone's requirements for a utility bill at the new address. You can also add your new address to the electoral register pretty easily, so why not get that out of the way?

Regarding eBay, they've been introducing ID requirements for a long time now. It's to combat the, again, rampant fraud, including tax avoidance which they are now legally required to assist with preventing. Everyone who sells on eBay has had to go through this. Your data is as safe there as it is anywhere else, which is to say that your identity is never completely safe and you should always operate on the reasonable assumption that your identify may be stolen. Keep tabs on your credit, keep an eye on your mail, protect your passwords and don't give people a reason to want access to your specific details.

Chief_of_Staffy

sonearandyetsofa said:

Imagine living in a world where you could change your address easily and simply without having to wade through all this. What would that look like?

It would look like rampant fraud, that's what it would look like. 

I don't need to imagine, I lived in just such a world for 40 years along with everyone else alive at the time. Note too how since these measures came into place fraud has been increasing at unprecedented levels and each year breaks the record for the last. Indeed, the government's own figures show that the evidential impact of these anti-fraud measures are so low in comparison to the totality they can be said not to exist at all.

sonearandyetsofa said:

Regarding eBay, they've been introducing ID requirements for a long time now. It's to combat the, again, rampant fraud, including tax avoidance which they are now legally required to assist with preventing. Everyone who sells on eBay has had to go through this.

I didn't claim I was being singled out, I was only saying that I will not upload my passport to use a shopping site. Being asked is not even the worst part, it's that people are so conditioned to these intrusive demands from every company under the sun that they believe it's normal and, the ultimate authoritarian capitulation, 'for my own good'.

sonearandyetsofa said:

Your data is as safe there as it is anywhere else, which is to say that your identity is never completely safe and you should always operate on the reasonable assumption that your identify may be stolen. Keep tabs on your credit, keep an eye on your mail, protect your passwords and don't give people a reason to want access to your specific details.

That's one thing I agree on. Data held on Ebay is about as safe as data held anywhere else. In other words, not at all.

But glad you mentioned a credit check. I haven't done a credit check for 40 years as I haven't borrowed in 40 years, so I went online and filled in my details. "We are sorry, we cannot provide with a credit score at this time." And why? Because I've just changed address. Unbelievable. Fortunately Experian has the wit to ask for your previous address when you request a check, so they were able to give me my credit score: 985 / 999. Not bad for someone who, according to some institutions, doesn't even exist.

sonearandyetsofa

And for how many of those 40 years was the internet a viable place where the general public performed all kinds of shopping, banking and other financial transactions, and online fraud and financial crime was possible? That's a rhetorical question obviously, we both know the answer. That's why fraud checks are increasing, and that's why fraud is also increasing - even if you don't personally use the internet for banking etc, your bank does. The criminals do. Crime gets easier, fraud gets easier, and I have no doubt whatsoever that the situation would be worse than it is now without some of these extra measures. It's not the checks that are the problem.

Congrats on the credit score I guess? Weird flex but OK as the kids say these days

GingerTim

Credit score? Completed it.

Chief_of_Staffy

sonearandyetsofa said:

And for how many of those 40 years was the internet a viable place where the general public performed were forced to perform all kinds of shopping, banking and other financial transactions

FTFY, as the kids also say.