banking and not using your given name

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Sandra6

Veteran
Location
Cumbria
Does anyone here use a different name to the one on their birth certificate and does it affect banking etc?
My youngest son is callum James but has always been known as Jimmy.
We've recently had to open bank accounts for the children as my gran has taken to sending them cheques instead of cash.
His Xmas cheque was payable to J surname and we cheekily added a C , but his birthday cheque is to Jimmy. I'm wondering if it'll be payable or not?
Has anyone any experience?
 

MisterStan

Label Required
Does anyone here use a different name to the one on their birth certificate and does it affect banking etc?
My youngest son is callum James but has always been known as Jimmy.
We've recently had to open bank accounts for the children as my gran has taken to sending them cheques instead of cash.
His Xmas cheque was payable to J surname and we cheekily added a C , but his birthday cheque is to Jimmy. I'm wondering if it'll be payable or not?
Has anyone any experience?
I have paid cheques for my daughter in to my account in the past, this shouldn't be a problem.
 

shouldbeinbed

Rollin' along
Location
Manchester way
My daughter changed her name by deed poll a couple of years ago @ 13 years old. The only place we've had problems with not updating their records is HBOS.
 

ScotiaLass

Guru
Location
Middle Earth
My surname is spelled differently from the normal (due to being married to an American!).
I was sent a cheque and they refused to pay into my account as there was an extra letter. I suppose it depends on the bank (this was the Halifax).
 
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Turbo Rider

Just can't reMember
Depends who you speak to really. Technically, they shouldn't accept it without proof of the additional name / lack of actual name. It's down to them to prove that the customer is who they say they are. Passport or birth certifcate should meet this requirement though, assuming he's not old enough to have a drivers licence or pay utility bills.
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
I was given the same first name as my father but have always been called by my second one. It was a pretty daft thing for my parents to do but I couldn't argue about it at the time. The banks have never been much of a problem but the NHS just can't cope so I revert to the first name on my birth certificate to save everybody trouble.
 

Saluki

World class procrastinator
My bank has a note of what name I go by. Nobody uses the name on my birth certificate - not that many people know it. Even my mother doesn't use the name. Sometimes I get a cheque from work but I ask for just an initial rather than a name, which seems to be OK for most people. When I get cheques in my known name, the Halifax will accept them with no problems. I did take an official letter from a solicitor pal of mine. The CAB should be able to help with that though.
 
Never had a problem with the banks (I had 2 bank accounts as a child, one in each surname... ) or my driving licence ironically, but my passport and getting married were another matter entirely.

My surname was never legally changed after my mother remarried in the 80s, just changed by general use, so my birth certificate said one thing, my school records & driving licence another. my passport had to have both names in it until I married, which had to include both surnames in the ceremony.

I hate forms that ask for 'previous surname'.. Which one? and they never give enough space to write in both!

My brother has similar issues because all of education records were in a different name to his birth certificate. He has now re-adopted his original surname.

Marriage at least gave me a legal surname to use!
 

Berk on a Bike

Veteran
Location
Yorkshire
I was given the same first name as my father but have always been called by my second one. It was a pretty daft thing for my parents to do but I couldn't argue about it at the time. The banks have never been much of a problem but the NHS just can't cope so I revert to the first name on my birth certificate to save everybody trouble.
Similar situation with me, in fact my physio has always call me by my [otherwise unused] first name and it's been so long I can't bring myself to correct her. :shy:
 
OP
OP
Sandra6

Sandra6

Veteran
Location
Cumbria
@MisterStan they don't let you do that anymore, or so they told me.
I think James and Jimmy are very different, so does Jimmy - he wouldn't answer to James , or callum for that matter.
The irony is that my gran - sender of the cheques- is the only person to try and call him callum since the health visitor and I gave up when he was a month old. Now she decides to get with the program!
All things official are in his actual name, I'm thinking deed poll may be the way forward.
Of course the obvious thing to do is ask granny to send a new cheque but she's pushing 90 and might well decide not to bother.
 
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