ID required for opening a bank account?

Every bank will take their own decisions about what they need to confirm your identity, based partly on what they find on electronic checks, but the guidelines say that banks should be ok with a photocard licence (full or provi) plus another official document showing you address.

There are many different ways to verify your identity, so next time go back in with your boyfriend who has an account and ask to open a joint account. If they won't accept your expired passport together with your current provisional licence, recent utility bills or similar and their track record with your boyfriend ask to see a supervisor or manager. They can use things like checks with a school or college, even if you are not studying at the moment. Schools and colleges expect to have to give reference for at least 2 years after you leave.

The kind of proof of address they need would be official utility bills (not printed off the web and not for a mobile), council tax bills or a court summons. If they are not happy it will help to have as many documents as possible, so for example if you have a few months (the more the better) of your statements from your last bank plus phone, water etc. bills and council tax bills. You are presumably renting in which case your landlord could give a reference to confirm who you are, or you would have council paperwork if you are in social housing.

Ultimately if you want a joint account you could both move, so if Natwest won't be sensible you could both move to a new bank. Suggesting this may make them rethink whether a live provi plus a passport plus utility bills plus a personal introduction by an existing customer plus a reference from landlord isn't enough.

You could try a credit union, but in the UK most of them don't issue checks and you can't have your wages paid in.

You should probably have a look at your credit record, as one of the reasons they might be a bit touchy would be signs of identity theft. You can ask for your file for £2 from each of the agencies. The two main ones are Experian and Equifax. They offer services where you can see your account for free but if you don't cancel them they charge alot, so it is best to just pay £2. If you see any credit searches you don't recognise you should contact whatever organisation to check it out. It probably isn't the reason, but ID theft is a real pain to get sorted out.

The reason they prefer a full licence is because you have to turn up to a written test and then a practical test to get a full licence, but it doesn't help much as anyone who looks like the picture in the provisional can turn up, so it just means the fraudster has to go to a couple of places.

You need two forms of ID: A photo ID (driving licence, passport) and an address ID (utility bill etc.). At my company we either require these OR we do an Experian check. This is an online service to confirm ID.

there should not be a problem of ADDING your name to his account, because it is an EXISTING account. He has the right to add anyone he likes, and all the bank would need from you is a signature. They would only need all the fancy ID if you open a NEW joint account.

Do you have credit unions in UK? They tend to have better service then banks.
I have been married about twenty years and one of the reasons is we have separate banking accounts. It is so much easier to have an overdraft with more than one person drawing from one account. We divide the bills like she pays the car and the house and I pay the rest with our separate accounts.
Also you said boyfriend not husband if you have a joint account it could cause problems if you later decide to kick him out.

TERRIBLE idea to get a joint account with your bf. deal with it till you get your proper id then open your own account. As for which ids they do accept, you have to call banks and ask.

i opened a bank account with yorkshire i dont have a driving licence i use a utility bill and a letter from social about my benifits thats if u get them