Changing your name with Ulster Bank

How do I change my name with Ulster Bank?#

Ulster Bank gives three ways to tell it about a new name: its app, which it calls the quickest, Telephone Banking, or a branch. Through the app or by phone, it says your name is updated in 2 to 4 working days. It accepts a deed poll "enrolled or unenrolled", so no passport or licence in the new name is needed first, and its page mentions no fee.

• In the app. An eForm in the app, followed by an email with a picture of your document; the steps are below.
• By Telephone Banking. You need your Telephone and Anytime Banking login details, which Ulster Bank says are the same, and a member of its team takes you through it. Its change of details page gives the number.
• In a branch. Bring your debit card, photographic ID and the documents. Staff will ask you to enter your PIN as a security check.

If an Ulster Bank credit card is all you hold, call the number on the back of the card instead. The page gives no time for a branch change.

What does Ulster Bank ask to see?#

The list is sorted by why your name changed:

A deed poll "can be enrolled or unenrolled", Ulster Bank says, and it calls the second kind a "Make Your Own Deed Poll". An unenrolled deed poll is the ordinary kind, signed in front of witnesses and kept, as ours are. In a branch the list differs slightly: for divorce, the decree absolute with a passport in your former name also works; for separation, the marriage certificate with identification and proof of address; for adoption, a deed poll letter, or identification and proof of address.

Is this the same as NatWest?#

Yes, almost line for line. Ulster Bank is a NatWest Group brand, and its website describes it as "a business name of National Westminster Bank Plc". Its change of details page gives the same steps, the same list of documents and the same 2 to 4 working days as NatWest's and Royal Bank of Scotland's. Its online service is called Anytime Banking, and it has its own Telephone Banking number.

One detail shows the shared template. The email address on Ulster Bank's page reads ChangeofName@rbs.com, Royal Bank of Scotland's address, and the link behind it opens a message to ChangeofName@Natwest.com. The page gives no Ulster Bank address of its own and does not say which of the two to use.

Using the app, step by step#

Before you start, Ulster Bank asks you to download the app, register for biometric security and have to hand the document showing your full new legal name.

1. Log in and open your profile, using your initials or picture in the top left corner.
2. Go to Personal details and tap the arrow beside your legal name.
3. Check the name Ulster Bank holds, then confirm it is you with biometrics.
4. Fill in the eForm, giving your new legal name.
5. Send a picture of your document by email, putting your current name, main account number and sort code in the subject line.

The email is a separate step from the eForm, and Ulster Bank asks for both. Photograph the whole document, so every signature, the witnesses' details and the date can be read.

In Northern Ireland: GRONI, the DVA and the passport#

• A GRONI record. nidirect says that someone born or adopted in Northern Ireland can record a change of name with the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, or change their name by deed poll. Ulster Bank's list does not mention that record, so if it is your only evidence, ask before you go in. A deed poll is on the list. Changing your name in Northern Ireland compares the two.
• Your passport. HM Passport Office wants your deed poll and one document showing you use the new name, and the guidance its staff work from lists a bank statement issued in the last 12 months. Ulster Bank sets no passport-first rule, so its statement can be that document (HM Passport Office).
• Your driving licence. In Northern Ireland that is the DVA, not DVLA.
• Your other bank. Danske Bank says a deed poll must be enrolled through the courts to be accepted, which makes Ulster Bank the easier one to tell first.

Mortgages, titles and gender#

• Your mortgage. The change of details page sets out one change of name process and no separate one for mortgages. Adding or removing a borrower is a Transfer of Title: everyone added or removed must agree and sign, Ulster Bank checks the mortgage is still affordable, it allows up to two people on a mortgage, and you instruct your own solicitor, registered with Legal Marketing Services. On cost its pages disagree. The mortgage page says it charges an administration fee, refunded if the transfer does not go ahead, but the tariff it links to, dated May 2024, lists the change of parties fee as "No charge". Ask before you apply.
• Titles. A title change needs no documents: start a chat with Cora in the app or Anytime Banking with "Change of title". Ulster Bank can change a title only to one that matches the gender it holds for you, or to a gender-neutral title such as Mx (gender-neutral titles).
• Gender. A change of gender is made on a form in a branch, without documents; Ulster Bank can record only male or female for now. Name, title and gender can all be changed on the same branch form.

The page says nothing about joint or children's accounts, or about new cards after a change of name. Changing your name with your bank sets Ulster Bank beside the other banks.