The increasing necessity for ID verification documents...

When we lived in the UK - nearly three decades ago! - we had a joint sterling bank account which we used for all our income and outgoings. We did have a 'savings' account too, but it rarely had anything much in it. And a credit card, which was useful when there was a cash flow problem.

When we moved to Cyprus towards the end of 1997, we opened a joint account at a local bank here. It was originally in Cyprus pounds, but then, seamlessly, moved to euros at the start of 2008. Each month we had an automatic transfer set up from our UK account to our Cyprus account via one of the reputable online transfer places. And the amount we transferred, which was the majority of our regular income, just about covered bills, utilities, insurances etc in Cyprus. Extra generous gifts and donations allowed us to travel to the UK once a year, and a few other luxuries. 

When we arrived here, colleagues told us that we shouldn't have mail sent to our street address, as the postal system was notoriously unreliable. They all used a PO Box address instead. For a while we used that one too, and then we started to lease our own. And we made sure that our bank statements and utility bills went to the PO Box. 

Early in 2004, my last grandparent died. She was 96. Some months later we received a generous legacy from her. That, and other circumstances during that year, and 2005, made us decide that we would sell our house in the UK which had been used by one of the local churches. The lady living there at the time wanted to buy it, so the timing was perfect. And we had my grandmother's gift to use as a deposit on a house here. 

In 2006, we sold our house in the UK, after some months of uncertainty, and bought the house in Cyprus where we are still living. And since it was Richard who met the vendor to transfer our utility bills, it was Richard's name that was associated with them. It was still quite a patriarchal society, and he was much more comfortable dealing with utility board officials than I was. 

Fast forward to 2020. A year that stands out in most people's memories, when there were lockdowns, and uncertainties, and nobody knew what was going to happen. Our UK debit cards expired, and they wouldn't send new ones to Cyprus. We had used various family members' addresses in the UK for mailing, and collected them when we visited. But in 2020, no travelling was allowed. International post was either non-existent or delayed. We could access our bank account online, and make transfers, but we didn't have a card to make online payments in sterling. And sometimes we needed to do that. 

Richard had already opened a multi-currency online account for times when he travelled for his ministry, and he suggested I open one too, at least as a temporary measure. The process was easy, and while I didn't use it much at first, I gradually realised that it was quite convenient to have a separate account where I could move money between currencies at an excellent rate, and which allowed text 'notes' added to each transaction, to help me keep track. 

A couple of years ago Richard started receiving his UK state pension. We were able to stop relying on gifts from churches and friends. We found, for the first time in our lives, that we had what is sometimes called 'disposable income'. We give some away, of course, but we also transfer an amount every month to each of our multi-currency accounts. 

Then...

On Saturday morning a week ago, the multi-currency account sent me an email, and also notified me in the account when I logged in, that they needed to verify my street address. They didn't say why.  They wanted me to upload a recent utility bill or bank statement, with my full name and street address. They told me I had until June 28th to do this. 

But I didn't have any of the documents they wanted. As explained above, our utility bills were all in Richard's name, as is our equivalent to council tax. Our Cyprus bank account still had the PO Box address on statements, even though everything now comes via email rather than in the post. 

So I uploaded the annual sewage bill, which, for some reason, is in my name. 

But that was rejected because it was dated November 2024. 

So then I uploaded a recent Cyprus bank statement.

That was rejected because it didn't have our street address. 

Then I uploaded an electricity bill which has our street address, and that was rejected because it wasn't in my name. 

So I emailed customer support, uploading all three of these documents again, plus my 'yellow slip' which has my full name and street address. I explained what the problem was, and asked if a human could put together the information on these four documents, and verify manually rather than relying on the automated requirements.

The customer support person was very friendly, and seemed to understand the issue. They said that what I needed to do was take a photo of the electricity bill next to my husband's ID, and send them that. And they would forward it on to the verification department. 

It didn't quite make sense - I didn't see how that could verify who I am! -  but I did what they asked. They thanked me, and said that if there was still any problem, they would get in touch again, and make some more suggestions.

 
We realised that this issue was likely to come up again, so we decided to change one of our water bills into my name, to preempt future problems of this nature. Since our house is in two parts, we have two sets of both water and electricity bills. So on Monday morning we went into the Water Board. 

It's greatly updated since the last time we were there, which was probably nearly twenty years ago. Instead of queueing, we were given a ticket with a number, and sat down in the air conditioned waiting area. Eventually - after about half an hour - our turn came up. After checking the IDs we took in, and our house deeds,  the helpful lady on the desk changed the account over from Richard's name to mine. 

Not that it was any use for the current issue, as we paid the last water bill and the next one isn't due until August. But she printed out a sort of non-invoice, saying we owed them nothing, but giving my name and the street address.

On Tuesday morning at 8.00am I had an email saying that the latest upload - the one showing Richard's ID next to our electricity bill - was also rejected, though they didn't say why. As before, it gave a link to upload something else. So I tried to do so... 

And saw a rather terse notification that my account was closed. It said that they thought I had been using it in inappropriate ways, whatever that means.

So much for having until 28th June! They did say they would refund all the money, but it has been so very convenient having this multi-currency account. I was not happy. I was, in fact, extremely stressed. I hated the idea that I had done something wrong and didn't even know what it was. 

Feeling frustrated, I opened the 'YouBible' app on my phone, and saw the verse of the day:

'Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you' (I Peter 5:7). 

The verses of the day often seem quite random, but this one felt as if it was specifically for me. Not that it was easy to cast my anxieties, but I did feel slightly more peaceful, and tried to trust that, whatever happened, God was in charge.

 
I emailed customer support again. I sent them the non-invoice from the Water Board. 

I could see that I had the option to appeal my account closure. But when I clicked the link to appeal, the first thing I had to upload was... a document that I didn't have. As I had already explained. 

Given that banks have worldwide reporting, I was also a bit concerned that this might put our other accounts at risk. Although I was doing my best not to be too anxious. 

I didn't hear back from customer support until some hours later, and they said they were sorry to hear that this had happened, they didn't know what had triggered it, and they recommended that I appeal and upload whatever documents I thought might help, including the non-invoice from the Water Board.

I didn't want to rush into it. And Richard thought it would be a good idea to get our bank statements showing our street address. I also remembered that our house insurance bill is due around now, and that has both our names on it. 

So on Thursday morning, we walked to the bank. A helpful, friendly man on the desk examined our documents, understood our problem, and - after filling in a lot of different fields on his computer - told us that future statements would show our street address rather than the PO Box. But nothing will change on statements until the next one is generated... at the end of June.  However, he did print out some of the relevant documentation that showed our names and address. He and Richard were chatting like old friends by this stage, and would probably have continued doing so if I hadn't pointed out that a queue was starting to form behind us. 

When we got home, Richard phoned the insurance brokers. They said that, yes, they could generate a new invoice, but for some reason they couldn't email it to him. But if we were willing to go there, we could sign and collect it. So off we went in the car, and eventually found the right office. For the first twenty years or so that we lived in Cyprus, the broker came to our house, and we signed the papers here, and wrote him a cheque. For the past few years, it's all happened via email and online payments. So this was the first time we had actually been to the office.

Once again it was quite slow, punctuated by general chat, and without the benefit of air conditioning. But eventually we left, with an invoice that showed both our names, our street address, AND a recent date. Insurance wasn't mentioned as one of the possible documents that the appeal accepted, but I wanted to upload as many possibilities as I could manage. 

The insurance brokers' office is very close to where the Electricity Board used to be. And Richard thought we might as well get my name changed on one of those bills, too. So we found where the new offices are, and they had a similar process to the water board. Our ticket said we should expect to wait 17 minutes. In the event it was over 40 minutes, but eventually we were seen. Again it seemed to take a long time to do something which seemed quite straightforward to us. But at last it was done. And

they gave me a stamped verification that one of the electricity bills is now in my name. 

That afternoon, I scanned the new documents, and clicked the 'appeal' button. It allowed me to upload up to ten documents, which is good, as I had eight of them to send. There was a brief hiatus where everything appeared to upload, and then crashed. But Richard pointed out that some of the scanned documents were quite large, and the total upload was over 30 megabytes. So I scanned the larger ones again, and this time they were taken. None of the documents was exactly what was asked for, and I didn't hold out a whole lot of hope. It said that they would take up to 15 days to process them. 

Half an hour later, I received an apology email saying my account was reinstated. 

Alleluia!

But... there was still a red notification in my account telling me I needed to upload a recent utility bill in my name, and that I must do so by the end of June. Which, of course, I could not do. 

So I got in touch with customer services again. And I also made sure to download all the statements from the account, and details of exactly how much I had in each currency, and other information which I thought I might have lost. 

To my tremendous relief, about twelve hours later I had another message from customer support saying my documents were accepted, and the red notification should have gone. Which, indeed, it had. 

I was very thankful. 

As Shakespeare put it, all's well that ends well....

Except that, just after my bank account was reinstated, I had an email from GESY, the Cyprus equivalent of the NHS. It said they need to recheck that I'm still eligible, and that they do this routinely every few years. 

The email said I had to print out a form, and fill it in, and scan it, and send it back, along with my ID, Richard's ID, our marriage certificate....and a year's worth of utility bills that show my name.

Sigh. 

Time and Trust in Cyprus

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a lengthy post bewailing modern technology as it gradually takes over life in Cyprus. Things are no longer as simple as they used to be.

To summarise the post: I couldn't pay our van tax because it needed an MOT, and when the MOT was done I couldn't pay it because my debit card had expired. When I went to collect my new card from the bank, they had returned it because I hadn't collected it in December, despite not knowing it was there. Meanwhile I couldn't pay our PO Box fee because the 'system' wasn't working, so I left the money with the postmistress who assured me she would do it the next day...

There's something about starting a routine, or habit, which makes it become easier as the weeks go by. Those two Fridays in January, I made sure I had things to post to motivate me to walk to the Post Office. It's only a mile away, and it wasn't as cold as it had been some early mornings when I walk with my friend Sheila, but I didn't much want to go out. However, Richard was away, and I don't drive.

I decided to combine the trips to the Post Office with my usual Friday shopping at our local froutaria...

... and the connected mini-market over the road from the froutaria:

The Post Office is about a mile from our house, near the sea-front. It's another mile or so in the other direction to the fruitaria, and then a short walk home. Quite a pleasant outing, once I was out in the sunshine, even if it was rather chilly.

So each time I took my Lakeland shopping trolley (one of the best purchases I have ever made):

A few days after my foray into the bank, they phoned me to say that my card had arrived.  I could have gone to collect it at once (the bank is perhaps half a mile away) but decided I would leave it until the Friday, and do another round trip.  There was no urgency to pay the road tax, and I didn't need the debit card for anything else; I generally use cash at the froutaria and discount mini-market.

PO Box Rental part 3
So on Friday, just over a week ago, I walked down to the Post Office once again. There was no receipt in my box, so although I didn't have anything to post this time, I went inside.

Once again there was only one postmistress there, not the one to whom I had handed over the cash for the box renewal. She remembered me from the previous week. I asked her if, perhaps, the other lady had done the renewal and forgotten to give me my receipt. She checked the system, and said that no, it wasn't renewed.

However, she told me, I wasn't the only customer in the same situation. Apparently the other postmistress had been off sick, and had put the money for the PO Box renewals in some account which her colleague couldn't access.  She assured me it would be done on Monday, and they would phone to let me know.

Perhaps I should have ensured I was given a receipt for the cash when I paid it; or, even better, kept it and said I would return another time, since I did in fact keep on returning every week. But trust is important in Cyprus, and I couldn't imagine they would try to cheat me, or insist that I hadn't in fact paid anything. So I said it was okay, and I would wait.

New Debit card part 2
I quite like walking along the main shopping streets of Larnaka, occasionally popping into a shop, or looking in the windows, but my next stop was the bank.

I stood in the queue, as usual, and when I got to the front was told I needed to go to one of the desks further inside the bank. I eventually found it, and instead of just handing over my card (in a thick envelope) and asking me to sign for it, the man at the desk had to access my account, and spend several minutes entering things and eventually succeeding in printing a form. Then I not only had to sign it, I had to enter my passport number. I have no idea why, but it's a good thing I carry it with me. It would have been very annoying to have got that far and been unable to collect the card.

The design of the card is different - it's yellow rather than red - and it's equipped with contactless technology, which always slightly scares me. But we keep our contactless cards in little metal-lined folders so they can't accidentally (or maliciously) be triggered.

Car Tax part 4
I got home, and logged into the jccsmart website, and - at last! - succeeded in paying the year's tax for the van.

Success!

Side note
A few months ago, when we realised we had to write off our two old cars, the mechanic agreed to deal with the scrap merchant, and harvest any parts that could be used. They said we might possibly get €200, and that was only because one of the cars had fairly new tyres. They were supposed to let us know when the transaction happened, but we didn't hear anything. Then we went away shortly after Christmas, and hadn't thought much about it.

When Richard got back from his travels, ten days ago, he went to collect the van after its MOT.  They had had to sort out one or two things, and did a full oil change too, and - including the test certificate - the bill came to €70, which seemed quite reasonable. Better still, they said that our old cars had in fact fetched €250, so rather than having to pay anything, he was given €180 in cash as well as the van with its up-to-date MOT.

PO Box Rental part 4
There was no phone call on Monday, but on Wednesday I had a call from the Post Office! They wanted to check the details, then went ahead and renewed our box rental for another two years.

Whew.

The receipt was awaiting me when I walked down to the Post Office yesterday.  So everything is now done. It might take much longer than it should, but I should have trusted that it would work out correctly. 

Replacing our bathroom....

It's coming up to ten years since we moved into our house in Cyprus. It's more than ten years since we first saw it, and pondered, and prayed, and decided that it was the right house to buy. As, indeed, the past decade has amply demonstrated.

But back in January 2006, we didn't know what to expect. We didn't really know what we were looking for although we had a few important criteria. At first we tried to find a four-bedroomed house, but they were too expensive in the area we wanted to live. So we started looking at three-bedroomed houses... only to have an estate agent take us a three-storey house which had three bedrooms on the ground floor, which is a separate flat, AND three bedrooms on the top floor, as well as a good-sized room off the living room which could be used as another bedroom.

We fell in love with the kitchen immediately, we saw lots of potential in the main living area, and although the bedrooms seemed a bit small compared to the ones in our rental home, we knew they would be fine.

But we really didn't like the bathroom.

It's not that it was too small, but there was a huge sink unit that seemed to take up almost half the floor space, and there was mould growing around the bath sealant (although everything else was scrupulously clean):

We really didn't like the colour, either. And whereas we could easily repaint other rooms (and did so before moving in) it's a lot more difficult to change bathroom tiles.

Thinking about the bathroom almost put us off the house entirely, but we went back for a second viewing. When we saw it again - and I took the above photo - we realised it wasn't as bad as we had remembered. We still didn't like the style or colours, but it was quite adequate; a great deal better than the one in our rental home (of which I don't think any of us ever took any photos).

Besides, with the amount we sold our UK house for, we had some 'change' when we went ahead with buying this one. We used some of it to buy important items such as a large freezer, and an electronic piano, and a television (since our previous one had quit some months previously), as well as a few extra bookcases. But we promised ourselves that once we'd settled in, we would do something about the bathroom.

Time, as it is wont to do, passed.

Richard replaced the sealant around the bath.

A few years ago, he managed to cut down the shower doors which were a bit broken and somewhat mouldy.

But it's continued to cause frustration. Nothing major, in the scheme of things, but it gets very damp, and the condensation turns to mould on the ceiling and wall tiles. I clean them regularly, but it grows back, and we don't always notice black on the ceiling. We could keep the window open, but it would be VERY cold in the winter. What it needs is an extractor fan... but that's not an easy thing to install without taking the bathroom apart.

The radiator, too, is extremely rusty. Each year it looks worse, and we wonder if it's going to leak. We muttered that it would be nice to have a heated towel rail...

We're not good at getting around to doing things, and time continued to pass, but we seriously needed a new shower on the ground floor (which we use as a guest apartment). The doors have been wonky since we moved in, and are getting worse. There's mould there too. And we have been given money specifically for the upkeep of the guest flat...

So at the end of last year, we started looking at new showers, and other bathroom fittings, curious to know what was available, and what the likely cost would be, and whether we would even be able to find anything suitable.

Finding a new shower for the guest flat wasn't too difficult, but we also wanted to know what might - theoretically - be possible in our main bathroom. We discussed having only a shower with no bath, to make it feel bigger. But occasionally we both like to take a bath, and it's important to have one for visiting children.

Visiting the bigger DIY stores was discouraging; nothing was inspiring, and we'd almost given up when we decided to look at a local bathroom supplies place. There we saw a corner bath, the kind of thing Richard had always rather craved, which would take up rather less space (or less awkward space, anyway) than our current bath.

We saw a sink we liked too, and Richard said he would be able to build a small, neat shelved unit to go around it.

I didn't think we needed a new loo; this is our current one:

But they're not expensive, and this one has a lot of scale (and needs a new seat lid anyway)... so we thought that if we were buying the rest new, we should go ahead with that, too.

We contacted the builder who has done some other work on the house, and he gave us a quotation for doing the entire bathroom - removing all the tiles and old units, plumbing in the new ones to our specifications, re-painting the ceiling, doing any necessary plastering, putting up tiles... at least a week's expert work. It wasn't cheap but not unreasonable either.

Richard was eager to go ahead, but I was still resistant. Partly because I have an inherent dislike of spending money on myself (part of my Scottish heritage, perhaps) and also partly because I find it extremely stressful having builders in the house, no matter how friendly and efficient they are. There's inevitable noise, and dust, and chaos... I really, really dislike it.

But I'd been wanting to spend a couple of weeks in the UK visiting relatives, as it's over a year since we've been, and so the idea formed that I would go on my own, and Richard would get the bathroom done in my absence.

The vague idea turned to more concrete plans in the past month. My flights and other travel arrangements are booked, and one of our bedrooms is currently full of bathroom fittings and fixtures. We've chosen tiles and paint, and the builders are booked for this week. They're going to replace the guest flat shower first, and that should have been happening today.

This morning Richard had a message to say that they're going to start a day late. They're still finishing a previous job that took longer than expected.

I can't say I'm unhappy about that. That means they'll do the guest flat shower tomorrow, and probably won't start work on the main part of the house until Wednesday, by which time I'll be a few thousand kilometres away.

The only slight problem is that the heated towel rail (to replace the rusty radiator) was not in stock when Richard put the order in, so had to be ordered from abroad. And last week there was a port strike in Limassol. I gather it's now been called off, so we hope that shipments will be unpacked and will make their way to the relevant stores in time for us, and for the many other frustrated customers awaiting bathroom and other parts.

Tomorrow morning I'll take my last shower in the present bathroom. I don't think I'll have any regrets... it's served us well for the past ten years, but I'm not going to miss it.

Levy on savings in Cyprus banks... Eurozone bailout?

I don't switch my computer on until after my walk, if  have one, and any necessary shopping or housework, and breakfast, and a shower... so it wasn't until about ten o'clock this morning that I sat down to check my email, and Facebook, and also the news.  Not that I'm a great one for world events, or politics.. I tend more towards human interest stories, on the whole.

But this morning, this story about Cyprus and the Eurozone bailout leapt out at me when I looked at the BBC news site. I don't begin to understand economics, but am aware that Cyprus is in huge debt - not entirely the island's fault - and that with the new government, elected recently, there was likely to be a big bailout package agreed. This appears to be the case, but according to the article 'savers' in banks - such as the Bank of Cyprus: 

Or the Laiki Bank:

are going to be subject to a one-off 'tax'.  Those with more than 100,000 euro in their accounts will have to pay almost 10%, which is rather a large amount of money at that level, and those with less will  have to pay 6.75%.  Moreover, to stop people transferring all their money out, or withdrawing it, all electronic banking is on hold for this (Carnival) weekend. Monday is a public holiday for Green Monday, and the levy will be imposed, I gather, on Tuesday morning. 

I was not clear whether this 'tax' applies just to savings accounts - in which case, we will be charged about €14 - or to current accounts, in which case it will be a bit more - but still not a great deal. We don't tend to keep much in our Cyprus account; we just transfer what we need each month from the UK. 

Having read the story at the BBC site, I then looked at the Cyprus Mail, the other place where I tend to glance at news each morning. Savers are forced to bear costs, the headline proclaimed.  The story is similar, and, again, no indication whether it's just savings (although that is perhaps implied) or all accounts.  There is a lengthy and somewhat angry comment thread at the end of that article, unsurprisingly.  It does seem like an odd thing, legally speaking, to be able to deduct money from ordinary people with no warning whatsoever. However, if the alternative was for the banks to become bankrupt and lose everything, it's certainly a lesser problem. 

I am surprised to learn that apparently about half the Cyprus savers are non-resident Russians, who will be contributing a large amount of this 'tax'.  Perhaps there are also ex-pats living here who have seen Cyprus as a tax haven - rates are low.  But there must also be people who have been saving carefully and frugally over the years, only to find that they lose a significant amount, out of the blue. Then there are small businesses, or organisations such as Richard's, who struggle to keep afloat, and who will be hit very hard indeed by this. 

Clearly it's a news story which will run for a while - other Eurozone countries are going to be worried, and if this tax is legal it's going to make a lot of people give up on banks, or withdraw all their savings, which - I would have thought - would make it still worse. 

Later news stories have reported incredulity giving way to fury in Cyprus, and shock as savers wake up to the levy.  The BBC is also reporting individual stories about the bailout. 

What mystifies me is that the reports say that levying this 'tax' is going to raise 6 billion euros.  That's a LOT of money. And since the majority is apparently going to come from people at the higher threshold, that means that 6 billion is only 10% of what is currently deposited in the banks.  

So... why are the banks supposed to be in crisis?