Activo, like all(?) Portuguese banks ask for many things to be updated regularly (more or less annually), which is quite annoying. But as long as they are updated when requested through the mobile app I don’t think they’d have issues requesting a new card.
But I am a bit confused, were you surprised that the bank asked for proof of the changes that they requested to make (like address)? Or are you saying that they wanted to update something unrelated and they still refused due to lack of proof of address?
In either case, it’s probably easier to update their profile in the app. You first make the changes, then you’re asked to upload the required proof as a PDF or photo. If something else has expired (like passport), you’ll probably need to update that as well.
No I am not surprised at all. I know it was going to be another hell.
They want to update the following information: resident card, passport, proof of address, tax address, employment contract. All needs to be translated and apostilled at portuguese embassy or certified by lawyers.
If it is that simple, then PT is Singapore. We are in 2025, not in 3025 yet. Portugal is still Portugal. I personally tried to update via App and it did not work. The App says that updating needs to be done physically.
I guess it’s one of those things that is easier if all the documents are from the EU as they need to accept them without any fuss/translation/apostille.
I personally updated my address, residence status, etc late last year, and it was all done through the app. The only thing we needed to do in person was opening a joint account.
Are your family members changing to a Portuguese address? If not, I don’t think that could be the reason for not being possible in the app yet.
By the way, my experience at the Almada Forum branch was very good last year. It’s the best and least crowded branch I’ve visited by far, and I believe the only branch still allowing walk-ins for account opening. Maybe worth trying that branch if they are nearby.
My dependents do not live in Portugal and have zero intention to change the current address to the Portuguese address. Updating info is a good way to stop non EU customers from using it. My dependents actually do not have any need to use it because they do not live in Portugal. So we basically give up. But just the information for someone who intends opening bank account in Portugal. At least they can expect what might come up.
To be honest I am also a bit confused now
If the account holder is a non-EU person, and the bank asks them to update their KYC info, there should be no problem submitting the same info as before, no? Because I presume nothing changed if the non-EU person did not ‘relocate’ to Portugal.
If the account holder is now a PT-resident, and they inform the bank about it, then I guess the bank will go full-steam requesting all sort of PT-based KYC info. And if the holder does not really have it, then yeah, they might be stuck.
Is this the situation here?
That’s what I told the bank since my dependents have been non-tax resident of Portugal and they live forever outside EU. But bank did not care. They only gave a list of documents that need to be updated and all docs needs to be apostilled at embassy or certified by lawyers. No one really cares if it makes sense or not. It’s up to the account holders to decide whether it’s really worth updating (i.e. mainting Portuguese bank accounts) or not. In my case, my dependents give up because they do not live in Portugal. The cost to apostille all documents for two persons can be up to 1000usd in my country. It really does not make sense for us to spend 1000usd to update docs and not use it at all. Alternatively, instead of getting apostilled docs, we can use lawyers to certify the docs. I have had enough of lawyers in Portugal and really want to avoid them at all cost. I know there are still some good lawyers out there, but probability of finding a good one is too low and it is not worth to try again. Enough is enough for me.
I have yet to have activo ask for apostilled documents. I wonder if this is somehow new.
They did tell me once that having some combination of non-matching addresses was a problem requiring an override. That said I have also in past years done fine just updating docs via the app. there seems to be some amount of hit-and-miss to this.
I am curious - have your dependents actually used the accounts for anything at all?
It is not impossible that Activo is actively starting to attempt to shed non-resident customers. Especially if they are effectively inactive. A lot of paperwork bother for no upside. It could of course be the actions of the employee you’re dealing with, but it could be a simple commercial decision. This happens with US banks all the time - they make decisions to un-bank various customers for reasons that seem capricious or malicious to the ex-customers but the reasons are basically commercial decisions around cost/risk/benefit; however for various reasons it does not behoove the bank to actually tell the ex-customers that (or anyone else for that matter).
I have debated whether to attempt to proactively update my information with Activo or let well enough alone until the next time they ask. There is no clear “win” here.
My dependents never used the ativo’s bank cards because they do not live in Europe.
Ativo did not say they wanted to debank or close account. They wanted to have updated information first, then they would issue bank cards to my dependents. For now, we do not provide update means we do not have new bank cards. That’s all!
