The UK law doesn't say you have to use ID photos, that's porn companies knowing that charging even £1 a visit would be devastating to the business. Credit card verification is a completely legal method in the UK.
They can check for credit cards without requiring any payment. Are you sure that's sufficient given these vaguely worded laws? If so many HN readers could solve the whole problem by making websites which issued digital signatures of random numbers to anyone who can support a £0.01 debit which is then immediately reversed.
The problem is porn companies know full well nobody, nobody, wants that on their credit card statement. Kinda weird that something supposedly as natural as rain needs such levels of privacy; the hypocrisy is notable (if it's so natural and so many people do it, own it).
Authorizations may not show on statements; but they are full well in financial records which could come up in court or a divorce claim later. Credit card companies are absolutely not allowed to turn a blind eye to any kind of usage.
I have always wondered how this would go if you applied for a loan through your bank. Or a rental that wanted 'last three months financial transactions' in the application.
I'm confused by what you mean (I'm an American though).
I don't think I'm unique for putting miscellaneous stuff like this on a credit card, and not even necessarily the one my bank offers. Not to hide the transaction, but because charging to debit/checking would make tracking my monthly expenses less straightforward. Payments online are also safer on credit in case a chargeback is required.
Also, are you sure you don't mean "proof of employment" showing the last three months of direct deposits? I've never heard of anyone asking for any other transactions. Similarly, pretty sure loan applications are based on credit reports. Transactions aren't relevant unless they got flagged for something so bad they showed up in the credit report (fraud, missed/late payments, etc).
All the properties ive rented over the last decade required an application with "full financial transaction history" for three months. I know ive submitted a statement before where a lot of expenses were "paying off credit card" and they complained the credit card expenses werent shown. I would have to imagine a rental agent looking at months worth of pornhub spending is going to count it against you.
Ive never been hit by something like this but I have friends who have:
That's absurd and error prone for even the most cooperative of tenants. What does "full financial transaction history" even mean? Lazy and corrupt is what it means.
If they're too cheap to pay for a basic background check, there's no telling what kind of shady people will be your neighbors or how unmaintained those apartments are. Just find somewhere else or provide the bare minimum that will convince them (checking account only). Clearly they have no way to find what else you have, and nobody else is taking this that literally.
Whilst I agree in principle, its a bit like saying "never apply for a job that requires whiteboard coding or leetcode questions". Our rental market is abysmal and people can spent months sitting through rejections, without doing more of their own.
I once rented a place where you needed either a decent credit rating or three months of full bank statements to prove income. (Paycheck stubs were not deemed sufficient.) Very invasive, fortunately I passed the requirements and didn’t need to provide that info.
