my mates wife,(mentioned in earlier post) started work a week back and gets paid by cheque,shes finding it very hard to open a bank account as she has no driving licence and no passport,
her husbands account is in his name so he cannot cash her cheque for her, she has taken letters with her address on,some even unopened,a letter from work,a statement from the tax office, but still can not get an account opened. all the utility bills are in her husbands name,her marrage certificate was never returned from the poll tax office,though they deny this, and she can not get a copy till after xmas,
has any one any ideas as to how she can open an account? thanx

hi

the co-operative bank may be able to give a helping hand.

I know if you can get a letter from Doctors or a solicitor that can help with identity...and the co-op accepted this from a lad over from Oz.

Give them a ring and ask how they may be able to help.

Moon

Gonna be difficult mate.
I suggest she got to a cheque cashing place to cash the cheque other wise have her boss make the cheque out to her husbands name.

Does your mate's wife have internet access? I opened a Nationwide FlexAccount on-line. They send a letter to your home address, you sign the form and send it back, that proves to them you live at that address. No other forms of ID required. It took about 10 days altogether to get the card and cheque book.

I have had similar problems with ID. I don't drive, haven't got a passport or my original birth certificate. My gas and electric are both on token meters so I only get a statement once a year. I needed ID for CRB checks and my forms were returned 3 times because of lack of ID. (got it in the end tho!)

I wanted to open another bank account and the only one I had enough ID for was Lloyds TSB. I took down a letter from Tax office, a copy Birth certificate, a phone bill, my NI card and letter from DSS. They said if I was struggling for ID then someone who banks with them and has known me for a while could come with me and verify that I was who I said I was or I ould get a letter from someone such as my GP or someone else of "good standing" to verify me.

I managed to open a basic account with no problems.

A letter from your doctor should be ok as long as the bank can ring the doctor to confirm you do attend that surgery. Rent agreement card is normally ok as well. They make take a letter from the employer as long as it's on letter headed paper and they can confirm you live at your address.

NI cards don't really count as ID since they don't contain your signature or a photograph.

I was told by my bank that my partner could sign on the cheque and pay it into my account.
Because my account clears faster than his.
This might be an option for you if they will allow it.
Otherwise, you could have one of those nasty places cash the cheque for now, minus their 10% and do the online account thing for next time.

Originally posted by Zebra
I was told by my bank that my partner could sign on the cheque and pay it into my account.


If the cheque is crossed "Account Payee" then this shouldn't/wouldn't be allowed. If it is an open cheque then that is okay. The majority of cheques are crossed these days.

Depoix, does your mate's wife have any kind of benefit book, such as Income Support, Child Benefit? These may be acceptable. Alternatively does her boss have any arrangement to introduce employees to his bank? Some firms do have these arrangements - it would be worth asking. Does she have a building society account which she can use?

In the short term, asking if she can be paid in cash or have the cheque payable to her husband seems like the best way of avoiding Cheque Cashing fees.

Originally posted by FetishFairy
I have had similar problems with ID. I don't drive, haven't got a passport or my original birth certificate. My gas and electric are both on token meters so I only get a statement once a year. I needed ID for CRB checks and my forms were returned 3 times because of lack of ID. (got it in the end tho!)

I wanted to open another bank account and the only one I had enough ID for was Lloyds TSB. I took down a letter from Tax office, a copy Birth certificate, a phone bill, my NI card and letter from DSS. They said if I was struggling for ID then someone who banks with them and has known me for a while could come with me and verify that I was who I said I was or I ould get a letter from someone such as my GP or someone else of "good standing" to verify me.

I managed to open a basic account with no problems.

OP/FF, LloydsTSB changed the rules a few weeks ago - I was one of the first to join under their new rules - this is (was for the U 19s a/c) - 3 months worth of statements from your previous bank (if applicable), driving licence (if applicable), passport or utility bill.

I did:
3 months worth of previous bank statements (however, I write on mine with various scrawls that are meaningful to me - they complained about it being scrawly).
Passport.

Alex

Side note: If your sote code begins 77 then you are a TSB customer.
If your sort code begins 30 then you are a Lloyds customer, even though they merged, the in-banch Phone Bank Express asks which one you actually are.

Natwest do a Step account. They can't be that fussy because i opened one a few years ago and i don't have a passport or a driving licence.

I can't remember what ID i used:( .....I've slept since then!:suspect:

My colleague (who is Polish) had problems opening an account with both First Direct and NatWest. Maybe they thought she was going to run away to Poland with all their money?

She walked in to a branch of Barclays, and they opened one for her there and then.