WOOLWICH & ABBEY NATIONAL

Tinhead1980

I know this is a longshot but I am hoping someone out there can help me.
I opened an account with the Woolwich and they were taken over by Abbey National and eventually by Santander, in those days it was possible to open an account with any name and I need now to prove it in a Court of law.
I Remember filling out a bank application and it had " The name on the account" and underneath that it had " Name of account holder" thereby making it possible to have a bank account in another name.
I need a copy of both banks account opening applications and I am prepared to pay a good fee for a copy of these documents 
Can you help me ?
Thanks

itsthelittlethings

Probably best not to publish your name and phone number on the internet.

Brie

I thought Woolwich was taken over by Barclays.

In any case write to whomever you think now has the account saying you need a subject access request which includes the account opening applications.  Those would have been on paper and then likely transferred to microfiche and later stored electronically.  A SAR is free of charge.   

Brie

itsthelittlethings said:

Probably best not to publish your name and phone number on the internet.

i've deleted the info

If anyone has any direct info for the OP perhaps they could message him.

eskbanker

Tinhead1980 said:

I opened an account with the Woolwich and they were taken over by Abbey National and eventually by Santander

[...]

I need a copy of both banks account opening applications and I am prepared to pay a good fee for a copy of these documents

As above, Woolwich wasn't acquired by Abbey/Santander but became Barclays, so worth establishing exactly who the account was, and now is, with.  Account opening documents change over time, so if you're hoping to rely on a blank copy that would be relevant to your particular account, you'd need to identify when it was opened, although, as above, a SAR may well unearth the original completed version.

What do you mean by "both banks account opening applications" - were there multiple accounts opened, or just the one that changed brands over time?

Tinhead1980 said:

I Remember filling out a bank application and it had " The name on the account" and underneath that it had " Name of account holder" thereby making it possible to have a bank account in another name.

Just to pick up on this specific point, that sort of option doesn't necessarily imply completely different names being supported - my interpretation would be that an account holder might be Arthur Brian Charles Surname but would prefer the account just to be known as ABC Surname.  There are other possibilities, such as those legally changing names by marriage or divorce, or deed poll, or trading names for businesses, etc, but are you able and willing to share any more about the scenario you're referring to?

Grumpy_chap

Tinhead1980 said:

I know this is a longshot but I am hoping someone out there can help me.
I opened an account with the Woolwich and they were taken over by Abbey National and eventually by Santander, in those days it was possible to open an account with any name and I need now to prove it in a Court of law.
I Remember filling out a bank application and it had " The name on the account" and underneath that it had " Name of account holder" thereby making it possible to have a bank account in another name.
I need a copy of both banks account opening applications and I am prepared to pay a good fee for a copy of these documents 
Can you help me ?
Thanks

Woolwich were taken over by Barclays.

Abbey National were taken over by Santander.

I do not believe it was possible, at least not in living memory, to just open an account in any name.

Tinhead1980

Thank you for all your comments, I have just joined the Forum and was not expecting so many prompt replies !
Yes I remember now, I had a separate account at the Woolwich.
I will make a SAR request and thanks again for all the information

retiredbanker1

Woolwich was taken over 25 years ago by Barclays. IMO the chances that they would have your application details are minimal especially as the seem not to have opened the account in your real name (could you provide ID to this account?)

born_again

This will have become a dormant acc years ago.

• https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/dormant-lost-accounts/

retiredbanker1

born_again said:

This will have become a dormant acc years ago.

• https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/dormant-lost-accounts/

Indeed so OP will have to provide ID to reactivate the account (if it exists) or get the money back from the Government's Dormant Assets.

Tinhead1980

Thank you again for all your responses,
I came back to Liverpool after living in South Africa for 12 years and went into the Abbey National but although I had ID they needed proof of residence in the UK which I did not have, so my friend who was with me Michael McCarthy supplied his proof of address and I opened the account in his name and I remember it had two sections which asked name of account and underneath account holder and I opened the account and used it for many years, Michael sadly passed some time ago so I have no ID in his name.
The matter has come up in a Civil Court case and I allege that this account was not opened in a false name as the bank opened it when we were both there so need a copy of the bank application or even better someone who worked at the Abbey in the early 1990's, it may not sound viable and the Courts think that as I have explained it was a different era and women were only given a legal right to open a bank account until 1975 !!