HSBC crises .....pls help me

[Hibameitham]

Hi mumsnet,
I'm writing this & I'm absoulately shattered. My husband went this morning for his HSBC morgtage application appointment. He was asked to verify his identity so he showed his drivining licence (that what was he asked to bring with when he made the appointment last week). The guy asked to see my husband's permenant residency so my husband showed a photocopy of the original as the original copy still with the home office as we are applying for our travel card/passport but the guy totally refused it & insisted on the original. My husband said he could call our lawyer to verify us & to confirm that the original copy is with the home office but the guy refused & said come back when u have the original. We contacted the lawyer which she is going to contact the home office & ask for the orginal but we've delt with the home office & things take long long time to get done. I'm talking no less than a month here if we are lucky. I'm afraid we are gonna lose the house. Is that guy being reasonable? Why he can't just accept the photocopy & a confirmation from the lawyer? Should we complain or see someone else? Should we go to our HSBC branch & complian as that guy was from a different branch bcuz the mortgage advisor from our branch is on holiday & we were directed to a different branch?

I was a mortgage adviser until a couple of years ago (not with HSBC) and we would only have accepted the original, I'm sorry.

Thank you RockChick1984 so a driving license wouldn't work? How about a certified copy from the lawyer?

Do you bank with HSBC? Is that why you have gone to them? I only ask because our mortgage is with Lloyds and because we already banked with them we did not need to show proof of identity or income.

Thank you Ladykookoo, Yes. We bank with them since we were here or seven years. That's why we were given a good mortgage quota for a 1st time buyer. My husband statements shows that he is reliable good earner & never been off work or on benefits since we been here.

The driving licence should be fine for identification but for the mortgage the lender will need to see proof that you have leave to remain in the uk for the term of the mortgage. The only way to prove this is with your residency visa, and that would need to be the original not a certified copy.

And what we do rockchick1984 then? If we wait for the home office to get our visa Back we would lose the house. What's wrong with the certified copy to get things going while we wait for our visa?

Only telling you the policy at the bank I worked at, the only possible error I can see is if you weren't informed when starting the application that you would need to provide this but I'd have thought it should be pretty obvious - they wouldn't let you use a photocopy of your driver's licence so why would they accept a copy of your visa? You wouldn't send your passport away if you knew you had a holiday coming up and expect them to accept a copy would you

You can contact the home office for a urgent return of documents. We have done this, due to deployment reasons for DH. They send it to you and then you send it back ASAP. He needed a visa for a country that was not covered by a UN travel warrent. But we were applyign for a schengen visa at the time and were under the impression that his passport was not needed due to travel warrent.

Speak to the UKBA, they can be quite reasonable at times