Proof of Address

eoin5

This isnt a thread on how to get one, its about what exactly constitutes one and who decides it.

I've had plenty of proof of address problems in the past and present being a student and a tenant. My problem is they ask you for something, you hand it in and then they tell you its not good enough, sometimes without telling you why.

In the past it was rent receipts, the local social welfare office wanted proof of address from me and they said in some documentation that a rent receipt would do. Thinking nothing of it I got my landlord to write me one on the back of an envelope. They didn't accept that because of the shoddiness so next time round I got him to do a proper one from an invoice book. They still didn't take it saying that anyone could do it. I asked in the office in what circumstance would they accept a rent receipt and all I got was silence. I finally sorted that one with a bank statement. I know its very easy to forge a rent receipt but my landlord was a real person with a phone number and a deed to the house, and his signature means something.

This time its for an AIB credit card application, I've given a home heating oil bill as a 'utility bill' and that was rejected with no reason "ah yore not giving me this as a proof of address" said the guy. What makes airtricity so different to naas oil in proving my address I ask myself. Today I gave at his suggestion the paper that my insurance disk was stuck to when it came out, but even though its still my current insurance because it was issued more than 6 months ago its no good either. How is a 10 month old insurance document saying that I'm currently insured not better than a 2 year old driving license I ask myself (its an old address, I'm privy to the irony that I can currently prove that I live were I don't but not where I do). And why would they say 'current' instead of 'issued in the last 6 months' I also ask myself. I have solutions at my disposal but its just the refusals based on their undisclosed clauses that are testing my patience.

Sorry for the diatribe, anyways in a proof of address is there a set legal criteria or is it just whatever policy a company or state body decide to enact themselves? Does the criteria have to be fully disclosed on request? I get the feeling that its just a fuzzy adhoc consensus that people work on in these cases.

Victor

You need to convince the bank.

The best way to do that is to have a recognisable document addressed to you at the address that has been dated / post-marked in the recent past.

So while they may have heard of Airtricity and and electricity bill in linked to the premises, an oil bill isn't necessarily linked to the premises - the oil could have been delivered elsewhere.

Why not get your current documents updated? Have your bank statements and driving licence at the address. Both changes are free AFAIK.

eoin5

Victor wrote: »

You need to convince the bank.

The best way to do that is to have a recognisable document addressed to you at the address that has been dated / post-marked in the recent past.

So while they may have heard of Airtricity and and electricity bill in linked to the premises, an oil bill isn't necessarily linked to the premises - the oil could have been delivered elsewhere.

Why not get your current documents updated? Have your bank statements and driving licence at the address. Both changes are free AFAIK.

So its a game of "We'll tell you things we accept but some are untrue and some have hidden stipulations, try to guess what we actually accept". That game sucks :rolleyes:.

What I'm going to do is get a bank statement and use that as a proof of address and to get a Tesco credit card or something along those lines.