Bank account in married and maiden names

[Squarepegina]

Married 31 years and typically changed my name. Now about to start a small business and want to do so in my maiden name but the bank refuses to allow it. I have birth certificate and marriage certificate to prove I am who I am but they insist that I can only have an account in my married name.

I can’t quite believe it and I’m very angry. Why on earth can I not have two names? If I can prove it is my maiden name then where is the problem?

Because it's not legally your name anymore same as having an account as an alias.

Because it's not your legal right to have 2 names. You can change it back to your maiden name via deed poll if you feel that strongly

I've just googled this and found a page that explains which banks will let you do this. (Quite a few, apparently.)

www.savvywoman.co.uk/2015/07/married-and-maiden-names-on-your-bank-accounts-can-you-do-this/

It's not your legal name.

As far as I know, the first two replies are wrong. There is no such thing as a legal/official name. You can use any name you like, or several different ones, as long as you're not doing so in order to commit a crime.

Of course someone you want to do business with doesn't have to accept a name that doesn't appear on whatever ID document they prefer.

I have both but possibly I can because I kept one account in my maiden name and set up a separate account in my married name. I find it useful as my self employed work is in my maiden name.

Nationwide and Barclays, if that helps. I doubt the one in my maiden name knows I'm married and the other knows I have an account in that name.

"Why on earth can I not have two names?"

Why should you?

Thanks for the link Firesuit. I found it too but on contacting Nationwide, one of the banks that says they do offer both, they said that they wouldn’t.

I think it’s not beyond the realms of people’s understanding that it is perfectly possible to be known under your maiden name and your married name.

Could you set your business up simply as your maiden name and just say that's the name of your business?

so your Mrs Mary Jones, but your business is called Mary Smith - just as it could be any words you choose.

Thanks River, yes I could and I might have to but seems not right asking people to make a cheque out to a different name to the one they have been introduced to.

I think the issue is about lack of ID in your maiden name, rather than a prohibition on using two names, or having a bank account in the maiden name

One solution might be to have your bank account in the name of "Ms married name, trading as maiden name". That way, all your marketing etc could be in the trading name, and payments could be made to the trading name. Only your bank would know your married name is on the account. But you would probably have to have a business bank account to do that, and I don't know how much they cost

Not sure what you mean - to take my example above, in my freelance work I'm Mary Smith (maiden name) and even though the rest of the time I go by Mary Jones (married name), in my freelance work I will always refer to myself as Mary Smith. So how my clients know both me and my bank account are the same, which yours could be if you're setting up a business account with Mary Smith as the business name.

having said that, wouldn't your payments mainly be made by BACS these days?

Cross post with RiverTam.

I have accounts in both names, however I never changed them, just opened a new one.

You can legally call yourself anything you like. Try another bank?

Who is going to write a cheque? Are you doing business in the 1990’s?

Banks want photo ID with the name you want the account to be in. Typically if your passport/driving license are in your married name your stuck as I don’t think they accept any other form of photo Id unless you have an official ID card with your photo on it under your maiden name.

It’s really annoying as I changing from maiden to married name doesn’t take anything more than showing them your marriage certificate.

Why do they make it so hard to change back

"I think it’s not beyond the realms of people’s understanding that it is perfectly possible to be known under your maiden name and your married name."

Maybe not if you changed your name three decades ago.

I have accounts in both. They are with different banks.

Ok and this is why I’m so frustrated. Yes I changed my name three decades ago but always retained my maiden name in my full name, and signed first name, middle name, maiden then surname. Never an issue with the bank, adding my maiden name in the middle. But now it’s a question of fraud apparently to want to use it professionally.

I’m steadily going round the banks in hope 😁

The problem will be the lack of identity documents and any kind of credit or identity footprint (electoral roll, other financial institutions etc) in your maiden name. The financial services company I work for would only accept marriage cert to prove change of name and birth cert to prove dob, neither to prove identity.

You can call yourself whatever you want. But banks and other companies can choose not to accept your business if you can’t/won’t meet their requirements to prove your identity (as in the name and address that they hold for you)

Be aware that the banking industry is finally going to start checking the name on bacs payments next year, so while historically someone could make a payment to Miss Jones even if your bank account is Mrs Smith, that won’t be the case for much longer.

Thanks Glum, that’s good information to know. Not heartened but it’s an explanation.

Who is going to write a cheque?
I still do sometimes. I don't trust online banking all that much. Where I work, we still have a number of (business) customers who pay by cheque as well.

It seems fairly obvious to me that going by two names wouldn't be allowed. You could open two bank accounts with two massive overdrafts, apply for loans and mortgages in both names etc etc.