Changing your name with Coventry Building Society

How do I change my name with Coventry Building Society?#

Coventry gives two routes, and its help page calls the first one the easiest.

• In a branch. Take your documents into a branch, where staff check the change and update your details there and then.
• By post. Fill in the change of name form and send it with your documents to FREEPOST CBS CUSTOMER SERVICE, written in capitals on one line, with no stamp. Royal Mail treats Freepost as second class. The form itself gives a different return address, Oakfield House, PO Box 600, Binley, Coventry CV3 9YR; both are Coventry's, and only the Freepost one needs no stamp.

Online Services, Coventry's app and internet service, changes your phone number and email address, not your name. One form covers all your mortgage and savings accounts: list every account number on it. Coventry's pages mention no fee and give no processing time. Its contact page lists the other ways to reach it.

What does Coventry ask to see?#

Original documents or certified copies, depending on the change.

Coventry adds a rule that surprises people: it "can't accept passports or driving licences as proof of a name change", because they do not show the link between your old and new names. They count only as ID beside a deed poll.

An unenrolled deed poll needs ID in your new name#

This is the rule that matters with a deed poll you have signed and kept, as ours are. Coventry's help pages list a "Non-enrolled deedpoll - ID required - this must be ID with your new name." The ID comes from its Group A list:

• a current, valid UK or foreign passport;
• a valid UK photocard driving licence, full or provisional, or a current, signed old-style paper licence;
• a DWP pension entitlement letter valid for the current year.

The pension letter helps if you draw a State Pension and the Pension Service already has your new name: its letter is then ID in that name. By post it must be the original; the others can be certified copies.

The help pages say an enrolled deed poll needs no ID. The form, version 8393 of December 2025, has a tick box for each kind of deed poll and marks both "ID required", in your new name. Take ID in your new name with either, and ask Coventry if you only have an enrolled deed poll.

Do I need a new passport first?#

With an unenrolled deed poll, yes, or a new driving licence. Each wants something first: HM Passport Office asks for evidence that you already use the new name, such as a payslip or a council letter, and DVLA, with a deed poll, wants one document in the new name issued in the last 12 months, such as a UK bank statement or an HMRC letter.

So tell your employer, HMRC, your council, or a bank that takes a deed poll on its own before Coventry. HM Passport Office and DVLA have the steps. Enrolment is no shortcut: GOV.UK says it costs £53.05 and can take several months, and Coventry's form asks for ID even then.

Certified copies: who can sign them#

By post you can send certified copies instead of originals. Coventry is strict about who certifies:

• a solicitor, barrister or notary public;
• an accountant registered with ICAEW, ICAS, CAI, ACCA, AAT, CIPFA or CIMA;
• a serving armed forces officer or police officer, or a teacher in current employment;
• a doctor, dentist or registered nurse;
• a Post Office official, with the Post Office stamp or certificate;
• an embassy, consulate or high commission officer;
• a local councillor, MP, bank or building society manager, or minister of religion.

The certifier writes "I confirm that I have seen the original document", signs, and adds their full name, profession, professional body, business address, phone number and the date, within the last 12 months. They must not be related to you or a joint borrower on your mortgage. Coventry does not accept photographs of documents or internet printouts. The certified copies we sell are certified by us and we are not on that list, so for Coventry, take the original to a branch or have a copy certified by someone who is. What is a certified copy? explains more.

Cards, payments and children's accounts#

• Cards and passbooks. Coventry reissues cash cards and passbooks automatically. Your PIN stays the same, and old-name cards stop working once the new ones are produced.
• Your named account. Coventry pays money to your named account at another bank only if it can confirm that account is in your name, and says the name it holds must match the name at that bank. Change both.
• A child's account. The adult named on the account signs the form, unless the child is over 7 and the account has been signed over to them. The form asks whether the change is for a Junior ISA, and a reissued birth certificate is accepted for under-18s. Changing a child's name explains who must agree.

Mortgages, insurance and the Co-operative Bank#

The change of name form covers mortgage accounts as well as savings, and by signing it you confirm that you have told your property insurer about the change. Adding or removing someone is separate: a transfer of equity, with a full affordability and credit check for anyone joining, a solicitor, and HM Land Registry's fee. Your title at HM Land Registry is separate again.

Coventry Building Society now owns the Co-operative Bank, but its current accounts page says each is "responsible for it's own products", so change your name with the Co-op as well. For other banks, changing your name with your bank compares how they work.