Ulster Bank asking for Passport etc to verify a/c

mockingjay

Ulster Bank refused to process my Partners mortgage payment last month as he hadn’t brought in his & my passport details for verification, we have been banking with them for 20 years! Anyone know why they want this all of a sudden?

Atlantic Dawn

Money laundering legislation. It's likely your partner never used photo ID to establish the account, back then it wasn't required or may have been just looked at and no record of it taken.

It would be likely they would have received notification in the post prior to this telling them they needed to verify their details before x date.

Spocker

Banks are required to "Know their customer" and part of that process is holding up-to-date proof of identification, such as a passport: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/personal_finance/financial_institutions/financial_institutions_and_identification.html

As AtlanticDawn said, the account may have been opened before proof of ID was a requirement, but financial institutions have to have the details on file, or they can refuse to let you operate the account

mockingjay

Thanks guys, that would be right, I was wondering why BOI have never asked me as the rules would have been the same, but it does make sense then.

Purple Mountain

I think financial institutions require customers to update photo id/proof of address every few years.
My CU has had me do this anyhow.
Nothing to worry about OP.