08 01 | 2015

Proof of address: use common sense!

Written by Tanguy

Classified in : Homepage, Debian, Miscellaneous, Grumble

As I have just moved to a new home, I had to declare my new address to all my providers, including banks and administrations which require a proof of address, which can be a phone, DSL or electricity bill.

Well, this is just stupid, as, by definition, one will only have a bill after at least a month. Until then, that means the bank will keep a false address, and that the mail they send may not be delivered to the customer.

Now, bankers and employees of similar administrations, if you could use some common sense, I have some information for you: when someone moves to a new home, unless he is hosted by someone else, he is either renter or owner. Well, you should now that a renter has one contract that proves it, which is called a lease. And an owner has one paper that proves it, which is called a title, or, before it has been issued by administration, a certificate of sale. Now if you do not accept that as a proof of address, you just suck.

Besides, such a zeal to check one's address is just pointless, as it is just to get a proof of address without waiting for a phone, DSL or electricity bill (or to prove a false address, actually…) by just faking one. And as a reminder, at least in France, forgery is punishable by law but defined as an alteration of truth which can cause a prejudice, which means modifying a previous electricity bill to prove your actual address is not considered as a forgery (but using the same mean to prove a false address is, of course!).

2 comments

thursday 08 january 2015 à 13:57 Daniel Aleksandersen said : #1

In Norway, we have a government registry that companies use to verify addresses. (The National Population Register.) The registry has to be updated within six weeks of moving to a new residence and most companies will periodically pull the information on their own to be up to date.

I believe the system works pretty well compared to the French/American system were companies demand bills from other companies to verify your current residency.

I believe companies here have to go through some kind of privacy verification and pay some fee to use the registry. This could be wishful thinking.

thursday 08 january 2015 à 14:11 glandium said : #2

The best part of this system is that when you live in, say, Japan, and give your french bank your new address, they ask for those same kind of documents. Except they are written in japanese, and that the address definitely doesn't match the transliteration you have to give them so that they can actually write that address when they are sending something.

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