Basic bank accounts

You can open a basic bank account in branch, or sometimes online or over the phone, depending on the bank. As well as filling in an application form, you'll be asked to show some ID, and proof of address.

To confirm who you are, you'll usually need one (original) of the following:

• Full, current passport
• Current UK photocard driving licence or UK full paper driving licence
• Current European Union member state identity card
• Identity card issued by the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland
• Benefit entitlement letters, including pensions, disability payments and universal credit (or benefits such as income support and jobseeker's allowance if you've not yet been moved on to universal credit)
• HM Revenue & Customs tax notification or assessment letter

Banks publish their own lists of acceptable ID, so you should check these too. Though if in doubt, it's easier to call the bank or visit a branch and ask them what you'll need, and if they're able to accept anything else.

If you don't have acceptable ID, you might not be able to open the account. But if this happens to you, it's not the bank being difficult – it needs to see certain acceptable ID documents to comply with money-laundering regulations (basically, it needs to check you're not a fraudster and you're opening the account for legitimate purposes).

Yet two banks have launched pilot schemes to help those who may not be able to fulfil the above requirements, though the schemes will only help those in a couple of specific situations...

• HSBC – will open accounts for those with no fixed address
  
  HSBC is working with charities Shelter, Crisis and Refuge (and their networks) to open accounts for people who don't have a fixed address of their own.
  
  This can be a first step towards claiming benefits and getting into local authority housing schemes, so if someone you know is affected and might benefit, tell them to contact one of the charities above.
  
  To open an account, you'll need to attend one of the selected HSBC branches with your case worker from the above charities. Bring along any ID or official documentation you have, as it will all help – but if you don't have any at all, your case worker will be able to vouch for your identity in branch. You'll be able to use the charity's address, your safe house address or a PO Box address on the application.
  
  You can find a full list of the branches taking part on this HSBC page.
  
  
• Halifax – will open accounts for those soon to be released from prison
  
  Halifax has been working with the Ministry of Justice, the Prison and Probation Service, the Scottish Prison Service and also directly with prisons in a scheme to set up bank accounts for prisoners who are soon to be released.
  
  The bank account opening process starts before the prisoner is released, the idea being that having a bank account helps them adjust back to life outside the prison walls.

Basic bank accounts are designed to help people with poor credit scores, who won't pass the credit check for standard bank accounts. Because of this, past credit problems – such as county court judgments, defaults or having been declared bankrupt in the past year – aren't usually a barrier.

Yet they're usually open to anyone who wants to open one. They can be useful if you're struggling to, for example, manage your money, and want an account which won't let you go overdrawn. However, some banks only offer basic accounts to people who fail a credit check for their standard accounts, so it may be best to ask whether your chosen bank does this before applying.

The only people who categorically can't have a basic bank account are people with criminal convictions for fraud (people with other convictions can still apply and be accepted, subject to fulfilling the other account-opening criteria) or people who fail the bank's ID checks.