Is this normal: Request for National Insurance Number?

cortex · #1 05-02-2009

Just logged into my PP [premier] account today which has £200 in. Its been limited and theyre asking for a shed load of info..is this normal? Previously they only asked for drivers licence and a utility bill, but this thime theyre even asking for NATIONAL INSURANCE NUMBER!
Heres what they want from me...

30 Apr. 2009 Confirm your bank account Information Submitted Complete
30 Apr. 2009 Photo ID
30 Apr. 2009 Proof of Address
30 Apr. 2009 Resolve complaints
30 Apr. 2009 Validate your Account Information
30 Apr. 2009 Confirm National Insurance number
30 Apr. 2009 Provide proof of delivery
30 Apr. 2009 Provide more information about payments

GreenBean · #2 05-02-2009

Yep.

paypal changed its requirements on 4/8/2009. I got an email (in fact several emails

) with a notice of changes:
https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/we...rivacy-outside
Below is an extract from the changed agreement
Required Information
To open a PayPal account, you must provide your name, address, phone number, and email address. In order to make certain payments through PayPal, you must provide credit card, debit card or bank account information. We also ask you to choose two different security questions to answer (such as your city of birth or your pet's name). This required information is necessary for us to process transactions, issue a new password if you forget or lose your password, protect you against credit card fraud and current account fraud, and to contact you should the need arise in administering your account.

We will also require your national insurance number or other commercial and/or identification information if you send or receive certain high-value transactions or high overall payment volumes through PayPal or as is otherwise required in order for us to comply with our anti-money laundering obligations.

Since paypal moved to Luxembourg life has become harder.

cortex · #3 05-02-2009

Damn this is now going to be near impossible to run multiple accounts now, or even stealth accounts due the NI Number request.
I entered a made up NI number: not accepted.
I then entered my real NI number: not accepted.

Theres obviously an algorithm which generates a unique NI number based on a constant, such as a name(s).

What can I/We do??

oompaloompa · #4 05-02-2009

GB, what do you need to put in for ni number, is this on all accounts or just newer ones?
at what amount does, high payments kick in?

GreenBean · #5 05-02-2009

Right now, testing the waters.

Hell will freeze B4 they get any NI from me.
Cortex, how old is your account? Approx. how much has gone thro' it B4 the limitation?

cortex · #6 05-02-2009

Its a month old.
Its a Premier account.
About £3-400 gone through.
2 Sales made on ebay. One was for £100 the other was £5. Neither amount was on the 21 day hold.
Some money was sent to me from one of my other PP account - approx £100.

GreenBean · #7 05-02-2009

OK, thanks. Trying to establish info.

lucy · #8 05-02-2009

PayPal is asking for my national insurance number, i tried entering a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ national insurance number but it failed, paypal will use the national insurance number probably on experian database and equfax and also see if you vote at the address, it is impossible to get pass this, its all over now

Burning · #9 05-02-2009

Do they ask for canada accounts too, or just us.

oompaloompa · #10 05-02-2009

yozalo, were on uk forum here

so its limitations they ask for it, they are pretty stupid, they will shoot themselves totally in the foot in terms of business, how do they US guys bypass ssn? I know there is a way round it, just dont know how, can we switch it to the vip forum if we get an answer?

cortex · #11 05-02-2009

Lucy:
-What happened with you before they asked for the NI# ?
-How much £ went through the account?
-Was it a premier or Business?
-Did you verify your PP before, or after, setting up your ebay?
-How old is the PP account?

Burning · #12 05-02-2009

It is pretty stupid, other countries do not need specific stuff. Like us need ssn while other countries do not.

Lyda · #13 05-02-2009

This is a sign that paypal will start asking for SS# on all US accounts..and than what?

lucy · #14 05-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by cortex

Lucy:
-What happened with you before they asked for the NI# ?
-How much £ went through the account?
-Was it a premier or Business?
-Did you verify your PP before, or after, setting up your ebay?
-How old is the PP account?

i just managed to open up a stealth ebay/ppal account after months and i though everything was fine, until i got limited, the account was less than 2 weeks old.

i think any account old or new that gets limited, ppal will ask for national insurance numbers, all accounts look to be included, if they don't limit your old account now, they will do so at some point in the future and ask for your national imsurance number

is the national insurance linked to your name, address?................ebay will use experian or equfax with the national insurance number, they has to be away around this

can you use a friends or relatives number, will that work?

oompaloompa · #15 05-02-2009

I was always under impression, paypal had no power under data protection to check these facts, so whats different about NI,
Many People not registered to vote at addresses either because they live there temporarily or because they vote but hide their details from public view.
Experian.equifax, they are for lenders to see your credt rating, paypal can look at the name address dob and type it in to see if you exist but it isnt definate they will find you and in any case they dont need ni number for that, so why dont they do that already? Lucy, give us the lowdown on what they can and cannot tell just someone asking off the street (cos thats who paypal are, Joe public) You are you saying they can get the financial details of anyone at any address? They could type in your name and address and your financial deatils dont come up, so what, that doesnt mean you dont live there. They cannot just type in an address and then get the name of the person who lives there, they need to put all details in, the screen will say not listed, whatever, so what? Lets clarify...

lucy · #16 05-02-2009

paypal operates from luxemburg, outside UK juristication, they can do whatever the want to do, they already can place a hold on all your paypal money, so you cant take it out, they can do whatever they wish

even if that means checking experian, equfax or any other financial database, they might as well check the voters records, to see if your nat insurance number is valid

Quote:

Originally Posted by oompaloompa

I was always under impression, paypal had no power under data protection to check these facts, so whats different about NI,
Many People not registered to vote at addresses either because they live there temporarily or because they vote but hide their details from public view.
Experian.equifax, they are for lenders to see your credt rating, paypal can look at the name address dob and type it in to see if you exist but it isnt definate they will find you and in any case they dont need ni number for that, so why dont they do that already? Lucy, give us the lowdown on what they can and cannot tell just someone asking off the street (cos thats who paypal are, Joe public) You are you saying they can get the financial details of anyone at any address? They could type in your name and address and your financial deatils dont come up, so what, that doesnt mean you dont live there. They cannot just type in an address and then get the name of the person who lives there, they need to put all details in, the screen will say not listed, whatever, so what? Lets clarify...

Lyda · #17 05-02-2009

Hey Ooompa, Lucy is ignoring "change the avitar requests"..LOL!

Burning · #18 05-02-2009

It looks nice, just leave it the way it is.

gurusgrafx · #19 05-02-2009

lol... Lyda you don't like that avitar? seems ok to me.

oompaloompa · #20 05-03-2009

I just need to clarify, watched double jeopardy film last night with Ashley Judd! In it they put ssn in to any database and came up with current name and address. It is not the same in UK, NI is not as powerful or widely used as a locater, as far as I know.

We need a Uk experts opinion on this, but I think we may be able to give any number and they will not be able to do anything with it via equifax/experian BUT if the have another database, well for a start they are NOT supposed to. I strongly suggest you DONT give them a real NI number. I get the Luxembourg thing (lovely country by the way) but they are still a voluntary member of the Financial ombudsman service, and they have to adide by our rules or pay to have case reviewed by them, none of their goddam business with regards to UK (just my opinion)

Can a US forumer please pm me about how you bypass ssn, I will then adjust it to UK needs and pm anyone that needs to know (if I like you)

lucy · #21 05-03-2009

do you think its a good idea to move this thread to subscriber discussion?

cortex · #22 05-03-2009

Does it matter what PP does with the NI number?
The fact is theyre asking for it, and we cant supply it. So back to square 1.

The only thing I can think of is use the PP/ebay account until you get the limitation and then move on. This would mean, you would have low feedback on the account and you should only keep minimal amounts of money in the account.