Besides being stupid, inefficient, and a really good way to convince people not to do business in your country, this is scary. Since when is a utility company a trusted authority for issuring identity credentials? Sure they know where you live, but really, that’s about all they know. And if you don’t actually live there, then the bank’s screwed anyway. Welcome to the world security snakeoil – where people adopt solutions that are imperfect, short-sighted, insecure, and ultimately worse than the problem they seek to address.

What I wonder: Did this practice evolve due to the lack of a proper credit reporting structure in the UK or something else?

I walk in, and they told me I needed a $500 deposit. In USD. (I personally have an issue with leaving that kind of deposit for almost anything. They tell me it’s because I am not American or some crap like that … but they would accept my credit card as the form of payment.

Uh … sorry? You don’t trust me, but you’ll take a (potentially fraudulent) credit card as payment? Wow, why don’t I just write you a personal cheque instead??

Anyway, I eventually got out of the deposit idea by forcing them to check my Canadian credit record. (Who knows if they actually did it, but then, who cares?)

Kevin gives a great example of excise while trying to open a bank account.

Alan Cooper talks about Excise in Chapter 10 “About Face 2.0″. Specifically, excise is all this junk you need to deal with while you’re trying to get something else d…