Trying to sort out the Miss/Mrs/Ms conundrum.

flaneurs_lobster

It was a shareholder investment management company. I actually never gave them a title and at some point they inserted the title Ms which I've tole them to change to Mrs.

Hope you told them to sod off.

Tell them they are in breach of discrimination legislation (they probably aren't) and you will report them to their regulator unless they change your details asap.

Would also help if you were able to show "official" id showing "Mrs" if they're being stubborn.

Pollycat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81996952#Comment_81996952

That makes sense.

I was Miss XXX before I was married.

Then I became Mrs YYY.

When I divorced, I retained my married name so was still Mrs YYY.

If I had returned to my maiden name I would have been Miss XXX.

But never Miss YYY.

I really don't see the issue between Miss, Ms and Mrs.

Brie

Originally in English there were 2 titles - Mister, Mistress.

Then to distinguish younger males from older the title Master was added.

Then to distinguish younger females from older the title Mistress was split into Miss and Mrs (aka Missus). Mrs was first used to apply to any older woman rather than one that was married. That is why women who are unwed (whether or not they had children) were referred to as Mrs.

Then as Master was rarely used there seemed to be just 1 title for males - Mister.

Because feminists objected to supposition of marital status for females being signified by Miss & Mrs they looked for a solution. A mistype somewhere threw up the possibility of Ms. Unlike Mister (aka Mr) there is no full word for Ms which is why Ms is mzzzz and Mr is not mrrrr.

Women who were widowed or divorced have often continued to use Mrs even though they might also use Miss but that was frowned on particularly if they had children as unmarried women were presumed to not have engaged in sex.

If you want a different alternative there have been others such as Goodwife or Goody but frankly I think those are much too antiquated.

FYI - I've always been a Ms and have never changed my name despite nearly 40 years of marriage. It does confuse some people as they will call my husband Mr <my surname> which he doesn't particularly like. Likewise I enjoy it when I get a call from someone who is obviously a scammer and they ask to speak to Mrs <my surname> and I can tell them that no, my mother died in Canada 2 years back. I do occasionally get called Mrs <my husband's surname> and depending on the situation & my mood I just let it slide.

Ib06

If a financial company thinks you are changing the name on your account they are under a Financial Services obligation to validate the name and account holder under money laundering laws… so even though you don't think it is name change they may consider a change of title to be a name change and want to do the required ID checks.

If for example someone has a bank account in the name of Mrs S Jones (for example) and try to pay in a cheque made out to Miss S Jones it would likely cause problems and require further validation.

Albermarle

In France, all adult women over a certain age are called Madame.

Mademoiselle is only for younger women, although marriage would turn them into a Madame, they would become one anyway at some point/age.

In fact Mademoiselle is nowadays seen as a bit old fashioned and the trend is to call all women of any age Madame.

I do not think there is a French equivalent to Ms.

Emmia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81996952#Comment_81996952

But your partner was married and so presumably started using Mrs then? I think it's odd to use Mrs if you've never been married.

I am married but prefer Ms for my title. A few years ago when I asked HSBC to change the title on my account to Ms they wanted to see my decree absolut for my divorce, and when I pointed out it was like Mr for men, i.e. marital status neutral they asked if my husband would sign something... I complained a bit more vigorously and got the change without needing to present my divorce papers or the "permission" of my husband.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81997352#Comment_81997352

So the financial company needs to re-validate your name, you provide a copy of your passport - which does not hold a title. What exactly is the financial company trying to validate and against what? And how?

Jemma01

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81997528#Comment_81997528

my title is in my passport, it might be a matter of putting it there when you fill in the application, not on the plastic photo page, the one above it.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81997677#Comment_81997677

Really, presumably a professional honorific (Dr, Rev) as opposed to a courtesy title (Mrs, Ms, Mx) or maybe a Nobility or Honour title (Lady, Baroness)?

kermchem

A long time ago I bought a book entitled "How to get a PhD". Early on it suggests that part of the reason WHY to get a PhD is to avoid the Miss/Ms/Mrs "problem". My wife and I met whilst both studying for a PhD (we are not medics).

My wife uses my surname, but in her current professional life the Dr title is not helpful, so she has reverted to Mrs.

In my (recently retired) professional life I was Dr, but my main current account with Lloyds was opened when I was Mr and never changed. I recently opened an account with Halifax, using the title Dr. Three weeks later a new Lloyds credit card arrived out of the blue as Dr. No new debit card. No checks that I was entitled to the title.

Neither of us has Dr in our most current passports, only I do on my driving licence.