Proof of address for NatWest student bank account?

2

I can't send a student finance letter cause I haven't had one - probably can't get one until I actually have a student bank account to pay the money into.

I can't use a university letter - I emailed and they said it's all paperless now but they might be sending an enrolment letter much closer to course start date which isn't helpful to me rn

I asked UCAS and they said the same thing apparently they don't send letters anymore. I tried taking a picture of the digital letter they sent and NatWest rejected that as proof of address

The other options are some Scottish thing which doesn't apply to me and another option which I'm sure is only a thing for students fresh out of college - whereas I'm a mature student and I don't have any college correspondence to my new address.

I'm just not sure what to do at this point. I spent 45 minutes trying to get through to NatWest live chat and the guy just repeated the listed options and would not respond otherwise.

Anyone else had this issue? Is proof of address something you have to give to every bank for a student account or is it just NatWest being nitpicky?

Reply 1

Euapp

21

Original post by spicysosig

I can't send a student finance letter cause I haven't had one - probably can't get one until I actually have a student bank account to pay the money into.

I can't use a university letter - I emailed and they said it's all paperless now but they might be sending an enrolment letter much closer to course start date which isn't helpful to me rn

I asked UCAS and they said the same thing apparently they don't send letters anymore. I tried taking a picture of the digital letter they sent and NatWest rejected that as proof of address

The other options are some Scottish thing which doesn't apply to me and another option which I'm sure is only a thing for students fresh out of college - whereas I'm a mature student and I don't have any college correspondence to my new address.

I'm just not sure what to do at this point. I spent 45 minutes trying to get through to NatWest live chat and the guy just repeated the listed options and would not respond otherwise.

Anyone else had this issue? Is proof of address something you have to give to every bank for a student account or is it just NatWest being nitpicky?

Get the person with whom you live to write an attestation saying that you live with them ( free of charge if this is the case) and have done since x date. They then provide a photocopy of a utility bill in their name with a photocopy of their I.D. It’s legally acceptable for just about everything.

Reply 2

normaw

Volunteer Section Leader, Clearing and Applications Advisor

19

Original post by spicysosig

I can't send a student finance letter cause I haven't had one - probably can't get one until I actually have a student bank account to pay the money into.

I can't use a university letter - I emailed and they said it's all paperless now but they might be sending an enrolment letter much closer to course start date which isn't helpful to me rn

I asked UCAS and they said the same thing apparently they don't send letters anymore. I tried taking a picture of the digital letter they sent and NatWest rejected that as proof of address

The other options are some Scottish thing which doesn't apply to me and another option which I'm sure is only a thing for students fresh out of college - whereas I'm a mature student and I don't have any college correspondence to my new address.

I'm just not sure what to do at this point. I spent 45 minutes trying to get through to NatWest live chat and the guy just repeated the listed options and would not respond otherwise.

Anyone else had this issue? Is proof of address something you have to give to every bank for a student account or is it just NatWest being nitpicky?

Are you still at the address where you received your National Insurance notifcation letter? If so, use that. Driving licence? Council tax bill?

Usually, you can only open a student bank account once your uni place is unconditional.

Reply 3

martin7

20

Original post by spicysosig

I can't send a student finance letter cause I haven't had one - probably can't get one until I actually have a student bank account to pay the money into.

I can't use a university letter - I emailed and they said it's all paperless now but they might be sending an enrolment letter much closer to course start date which isn't helpful to me rn

I asked UCAS and they said the same thing apparently they don't send letters anymore. I tried taking a picture of the digital letter they sent and NatWest rejected that as proof of address

The other options are some Scottish thing which doesn't apply to me and another option which I'm sure is only a thing for students fresh out of college - whereas I'm a mature student and I don't have any college correspondence to my new address.

I'm just not sure what to do at this point. I spent 45 minutes trying to get through to NatWest live chat and the guy just repeated the listed options and would not respond otherwise.

Anyone else had this issue? Is proof of address something you have to give to every bank for a student account or is it just NatWest being nitpicky?

I'm a bit confused here. The subject of your post is "Proof of address for NatWest student bank account?" -- but it seems that you're talking about proving your student status rather than your address.

NatWest describe their ID requirements in the section "What ID's needed to open a Student account?" at https://www.natwest.com/current-accounts/student_account.html where they say:

You'll need:

•

UK Passport or Driver's Licence (full or provisional)

•

Proof of address - Driver's Licence, Utility Bill or Bank Statement. If you don’t have one of these, you can use one of the documents we ask for to verify your UK student status.

You’ll also need to verify your UK Student status. Your 16 digital UCAS code is the fastest way to do this - we’ll ask for it in the application form. If you don’t have this, you can verify your Student status in many other ways (see question ‘what do we need to verify your Student status’ for more information).

Typically, you won't open a student account until you have a confirmed place at university, at which point you should have the UCAS code referred to above. For people with conditional places, that's after A-level results day.

Note that you can get your student finance into any account that's in your name. It doesn't need to be a "student" account. So if you have an existing current account (and you say you're a mature student, so it seems likely you'll have a current account of some sort already) then you can just give the details of that account for student finance, and later provide the details of your student account once you've opened it.

Every bank is likely to need two forms of identity -- normally a photographic ID to prove your identity and something "official" to prove your address. Simplest is a passport (for the photo ID) and a driving licence (proof of address).