Bank Account

In what world does it make sense to assume 100% of the population are committing a crime that probably 0.01% of the population are? It's the reverse of "innocent until proven guilty".

Sure, the banks should take "reasonable" and common-sense steps, but in reality they make new immigrants feel as if they have done something wrong or are under some kind of suspicion, simply by trying to open a bank account.

When I moved to New York City in 2004, I'd been living out of the US for a few years, and figured I'd have to jump through a bunch of hoops proving my credit worthiness to get power hooked up in my name.

I was surprised to find that all it took was an address. When I asked the guy why they weren't doing credit checks, he said, "If you don't pay the bill, we'll turn the electricity off."

They'd realized they were spending more money credit checking everyone than they were losing to people not paying their bills, so it made more sense to trust people, because most people are trustworthy.

UK banks could learn a lot about trusting their customers, especially when you consider that really all we're asking is for them to hold our money. How they think I'm going to rip them off is beyond me.

In what world does it make sense to assume 100% of the population are committing a crime that probably 0.01% of the population are? It's the reverse of "innocent until proven guilty".

Sure, the banks should take "reasonable" and common-sense steps, but in reality they make new immigrants feel as if they have done something wrong or are under some kind of suspicion, simply by trying to open a bank account.

To be fair it is not just immigrants. My wife and I retained and used our bank account in England through the 29 years we were living in the USA. When we arrived back in 2016 we went in to register our new address, at a house we were renting back in the same town where our bank was. Since I managed getting the rental the agent switched all the utility bills to my name only and even though the lease was in joint names our bank would not accept that my wife lived where she said she was, and would not issue her a bank card etc. it was so incredibly frustrating. The bank employee showed us the government list of acceptable documents for proof of address and we ended up going home fuming and prepared to get the utilities switched to joint names, but fortunately discovered that the water bill was in joint names.

What ID is required to utilities in your name?

What ID is required to utilities in your name?

None of the utilities asked for proof of anything. We just had to cancel the gas and electric and then I had to get the account since they couldn't have more than one name on the account.

None of the utilities asked for proof of anything. We just had to cancel the gas and electric and then I had to get the account since they couldn't have more than one name on the account.

Thank you so much.  I will be moving in August.  So much to take in and learn

To be fair it is not just immigrants. My wife and I retained and used our bank account in England through the 29 years we were living in the USA. When we arrived back in 2016 we went in to register our new address, at a house we were renting back in the same town where our bank was. Since I managed getting the rental the agent switched all the utility bills to my name only and even though the lease was in joint names our bank would not accept that my wife lived where she said she was, and would not issue her a bank card etc. it was so incredibly frustrating. The bank employee showed us the government list of acceptable documents for proof of address and we ended up going home fuming and prepared to get the utilities switched to joint names, but fortunately discovered that the water bill was in joint names.

It's also not just people new or returning to the country - everyone has to provide required ID documents for bank accounts and other official purposes. For example it has become an issue for some elderly people, as they may have allowed their passports/driving licences to expire as they no longer wish to travel or drive or because they never had those documents in the first place and therefore they have no photo ID. Whilst this isn't usually an issue for bank accounts (as those people would normally already have those) the same proof of identity is required for retaining a lawyer. Elderly people often need to update wills or grant powers of attorney etc, which means they need to find some way of complying with the rules.

Recently opened up bank account in HSBC. Got papers by mail  - for "your individual tax residency self-certification":

- For United States of America you have not provided a Tax Identification Number (TIN)...

Should I send them my USA social security number as TIN?

Recently opened up bank account in HSBC. Got papers by mail  - for "your individual tax residency self-certification":

- For United States of America you have not provided a Tax Identification Number (TIN)...

Should I send them my USA social security number as TIN?

Yes, if you have a SSN it is your TIN.