Accepted ID for Account Opening

I hear you, I too prefer to deal with institutions that exercise discretion rather than tick forms but to do so you significantly upskill the requirements on the verifier and hence the costs of running the service. The potential for social engineering is way higher if you have an unrestricted set of IDs and a relatively low skilled verifier.

It’s interesting to read about the social engineering attacks on phone companies to get them to transfer phone numbers to new providers so the hacker can then use the SMS verification route to access the original owner’s accounts. Most of them would not have happened if the customer service person had stuck to the allowed reset methods, but they were convinced to exercise discretion and some users lost significant amounts.

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Your best bet then is to contact them through the app?

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I just contacted them through the app and they confirmed that provisional driving licences are fine. And so is my french ID card so I am assuming other European countries as well.
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I am assuming this means we should see an official list from Monzo soon🎉

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Just re provisional driving licences: I know ALL my legacy banks specifically discount it as allowed ID and, for the purposes of buying age restricted products, it would frequently be turned away. I know it seems weird but from personal experience I can say it is not widely accepted as a valid form of ID!

I’ve had a provisional driving license, and used it as my main ID from bank accounts to investments, to opening business, for nearly 20 years.

I used it to open my Monzo current account.

It IS a valid form of ID.

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Just to clarify, the following types of ID are accepted for opening a current account

Passport
Driving license (UK Provisional also accepted)
National identity card
UK biometric residence permit

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All passports (i.e. are any countries not accepted) of any validity (i.e. do they need to have a certain period remaining on them)? And does this include British Consular Emergency Passports or only regular passports?

Only photocard driving licenses or old style paper ones too? Only DVLA and DVLNI or all EU driving licenses?

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So no solution for the millions of people without photo ID then?

By “National identity card” would something like CitizenCard be acceptable or do you mean an ID card issued by another nation (as UK no longer issue ID cards).

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National Identity Card as used by the provider Monzo selected does mean official ID cards issued by Governments not some unofficial 18+ pub ID scheme

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Thanks Naji.

Is this list exhaustive or just based on what we have requested on this thread?

I’m genuninely curious how much government ID will be accepted (firearms licence, police warrant card etc) for Monzo in the future.

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Hmmm. As I say, it has always been turned down (perhaps incorrectly) when I’ve presented it.

Can confirm that provisional is OK for Monzo as I used mine.

I know a lot of banks now accept this - Barclay’s do not as I have discovered.

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I know Lloyd’s and TSB definitely did not as I have tried!

Barclays did for me when I did it and that wasn’t so long ago

According to their own rules they shouldn’t have: www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/what-do-i-need-to-open-a-bank-account - and I’ve been turned away :-1:

I don’t know about Lloyds Bank but TSB should: www.tsb.co.uk/current-accounts/faqs/identity/

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Well, no one answered the questions regarding if passports need to still be valid or if they will accept expired ones as proof of ID even though they no longer valid for travel?

It looks like there are a very long list of potential scenarios for Monzo to consider. So I’d recommend contacting the support team via the in-app chat, if you don’t have one of the forms of ID that Naji’s listed & want to check your options.

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Opened my student account with a provisional licence and heir website confirms that: http://www.lloydsbank.com/legal/proof-of-identity.asp

Specifically: A current photo driving licence or passport from the United Kingdom. - photo driving licence means that any driving licence that has a photo on it therefore provisional meets the criteria

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This is where my provisional licence has been accepted:

  • Monzo
  • GOV.UK Verify
  • Lloyds Bank
  • DBS check
  • Life in the UK test
  • Coinbase
  • Current job/former jobs
  • University
  • Purchasing age restricted items

Places that didn’t accept it:
None

I know this is specific to DBS checks but this is probably the best list of all possible IDs and how they compare to other documents: https://www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check/documents-the-applicant-must-provide-

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