Hello everyone.
I recently applied for a First Direct savings account over a week ago and the first I heard from them was when they called me yesterday. They were unimpressed by the fact that I am ex-directory at my home address, and have insisted that they must see a phone bill to confirm that the number is mine and that it relates to the address they are calling.
This is a problem. The bill needs to be dated within the last three months. I have switched to paperless billing with my phone provider, and they have said they won't be able to send out a bill without me switching back. In any case, it is three months until my next bill, and the bill is in the name of my partner. I don't really want to pursue my phone company to provide me with ID, since it is not their problem and it's First Direct who are asking these things.
So I have no way of proving that the phone number relates to the address on my application. The customer service rep then made the ludicrous suggestion that I should get my number listed in the directory, which is a rather high threshold to get a savings account off them.
Is it now standard practice for them to check up on phone numbers? I've got to say, on every account I've opened in the past, barring a quick glance at a passport and a utility bill, there has been no other form of identity check, and certainly never a check to see if a phone number is mine. In fact, when I've opened Egg and ING Direct accounts in the past, I have never been asked to prove my identity.
Is all this fuss worth it for a First Direct account? Will there be a way of convincing them to drop this phone number check?
Cheers,