Unfreezing a Dormant Bank Account

[DOINGOURBIT]

Surprised to be advised the bank account I opened for my son at birth is now classified dormant as I haven't put money in or out for 10 years. However, I have had the account updated for interest up to 2017.

Now, in order to unfreeze the account, I take in council tax, utility bill and provide a signature same as the one given to open the account. It's not deemed to be enough. I don't have anything else to provide. Short of trying again and refusing to leave said bank - anyone been in this position? Beg, plead with manager? I'm talking about an account with a good four figure sum in it.

Do they want photographic ID?
Get a passport or driving licence maybe

What have they told you to provide? Pleading won't help - the manager will be complying with policy that is designed to comply with anti-money laundering regulations

If its a 4 figure sum at stake then I'd pay the money for a driving licence or passport so that you have photographic ID which I imagine is what the bank will require

You'll probably need photo ID - passport or drivers licence. Ask them what is suitable if you don't have either of these. In Ireland as far as I know the police can complete a form to identify a person. Perhaps there is something similar in U.K. Interest accruing on the account doesn't count as regular activity. The account needs actual activity - lodgements/withdrawals so as not to become dormant.

I've got £1.28 in a Nationwide savings account that they've frozen. They are refusing to either reopen the account or close it and send me the money, and are insisting that I have to go into my branch with a passport and god knows what else. Except they have closed all the branches near where I live, and I'd have to travel over 45 miles to the nearest branch, spending far more on fuel and parking than what's in the bloody account. The reason I stopped using the account in the first place was because they closed the local branch. Pisses me off.

Yes, ahoy - I'm fortunate in that there are branches nearby. Can easily understand your annoyance when branches shut. Especially for £1.28.

This is nearly a five figure sum. Yesterday I got the letter saying I have to September to bring documentation in. Today I attempted it, and it's marked as dormant on the computer. The money goes to a government appointed local charity if I can't prove myself.

I've effectively given a matching signature and two forms of identification address. I could never get a passport as having been adopted three times in my junior life, the passport office always rejected my applications - didn't fit the form filling. I think I'd need such ID for a driving licence. Either way I don't have sufficient time.

Obviously going in person to have the account updated yearly until 2017 isn't good enough to prove it's a needed account.

Here are the ID requirements for a driving licence. I'm pretty sure you have time to get one.

@ahoyshipmates

I've got £1.28 in a Nationwide savings account that they've frozen. They are refusing to either reopen the account or close it and send me the money, and are insisting that I have to go into my branch with a passport and god knows what else. Except they have closed all the branches near where I live, and I'd have to travel over 45 miles to the nearest branch, spending far more on fuel and parking than what's in the bloody account. The reason I stopped using the account in the first place was because they closed the local branch. Pisses me off.

Write and ask them to close the account and donate to charity.

I'd find it difficult to provide anything needed. I'll just have to explain this to the bank. I've provided a matching signature to their records and two documents on their list of documents, but I'm really upset by this as can't do anything at all until Monday.

Birth certificate/adoption certificates and a letter showing your NI number or a benefits letter (if you claim them) is what you need for the driving licence

Which bank is it?

Don't have a letter with NI number or a benefits letter.

It's the Halifax. Upset because I asked for pen and paper and provided them with a signature which matched the one they had on record when they put the savings book under the light reader.

Just ask them. If they want things you can’t provide, explain the situation and see what they suggest.

Don’t worry about the money going to charity, it will always come back to you if you ask for it and jump through the hoops (it’s called the Dormant Asset Scheme if you want to google the details).

You can ask for a letter to be sent out with your NI number

You might be able to phone up and ask for a letter from hmrc with your NI number. Ds did this and it came in about a week.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-get-your-national-insurance-number-in-writing-ca5403

Thank you Zarene and dementedpixie.... :)

Manager of Halifax will be in on Monday. I'll try again, and in the meantime put wheels in motion for a letter with NI number. I've got a NHS card thing, which I don't think is good enough, but I'll have a good root through things and see what I can find, as well as birth certs.

They wanted photographic ID, an old style driving licence not good enough. I guess I was just upset that my signature matching theirs didn't do the trick.

I'd contact one of the consumer pages in the press if this carries on. It's outrageous that they seem to think they can just give away nearly £10k of your money like that.

The team at the Guardian love a story about banks behaving outrageously - [email protected].

Do you have work ID, gym membership, anything like that with a photo? In case they'd take that alongside the other documents.

The NI letters can take a week or two to come but they will do them. I found it faster to go to the website and request one via the online chat thing than to wait in the call queue on the number they give you.

I would also consider telling the manager on Monday you'll speak to some one like the Guardian consumer people, Martin Lewis, or the local paper, or even your MP, if they can't be more helpful.

This is appalling.

Especially the threat about giving the money away if you havent got in touch by September.

Hope you get this sorted

Thanks Souther - I will get this sorted, otherwise it's theft - (although you can jump through hoops to get it back).

I have no photographic ID of any sort - to poster who asked. That's the problem.

Anyway, let this be a lesson. If any of you have opened accounts for your children and just update it once a year without withdrawing or adding money - that doesn't count towards an account being classified as open. For goodness sake, even if you only put in a pound or two, do it. Save yourself this stress.

It isn't a crime not to have a passport or photographic driving licence, remember. I am determined to sort this out on Monday.

You shouldn't have to get a passport or driving licence to access this money, there should be a mechanism for people without these documents.

It also shouldn't be a surprise that many children's account are not used for a long time. Many people will put money in when a child is born, but not be able to put money in later in life, a lot can happen in the 18 years before the child is an adult.

What if you needed this money now OP? It would be sat there, inaccessible to you.

The next step would be to register an official complaint with the bank. You can submit it direct to them, or via the Moneysavingexpert resolver tool. You need to tell them what you want, which is the account being made active again, so you have access to the money if needed and it's not lost.

Try and get the phrase 'treating customers fairly' into the communication or tell them that they have not treated you fairly. It's a requirement of their banking code that they treat customers fairly, so if they know that you don't think they have done this, it alerts them to the fact that you are not likely to go away without the matter being resolved.

If you don't get a resolution, you can go to the Financial Ombudsman, but you can't do this until you have officially reached deadlock with your bank. The bank gets charged if you go to the Ombudsman, so it is in their interest to settle the dispute before this happens.

Stop focussing on the signature. Many people can forge signatures. It's not enough to prove identity. Hopefully the manager was able to sort it all out today.

No one can forge a signature if they can't see the original one, surely. It's only visible under the card reader.

No, I didn't get it sorted. I had to remain in his office in tears before I could compose myself to walk back out past the customers. I had brought council tax, birth certs, utility bill and NHS Card. No.... Finally he gives me 'Letter of Introduction' to take to GP. Yes, the GP surgery who frankly have far more important things to deal with. £36. Fine. I don't care about that - but another ten days to sort out. And why do Halifax think a letter from the doctor identifies me more than all the other documents.
So... let's now wait for the GP letter.

For all those posting who clearly have no idea how the financial services industry works the bank are doing what they are legally required to do. No amount of complaining or going to the ombudsman is going to work. They will just maintain that the bank is fulfilling their legal obligations. All you need to check the signature in the back of a book is a VU light. Would you rather the bank give your money to just anyone? Sorry OP but you need to provide the correct ID to access the account.

No, I would have preferred a bit of notice for my account to be deemed dormant actually.

Upset that a council tax and utility (proof of address) passbook, signature, birth cert and NHS card aren't enough.

Oh, and I did think banks were supposed to help customers open accounts. This is what it is now - I have to open the account again.