By: Money Navigator Research Team
Last Reviewed: 09/02/2026
FACT CHECKED
Quick Summary
In Tide sign-up and ongoing checks, “what must match” usually means the details that tie an account to a real person and a real business need to remain consistent across what you enter, what official records show (where relevant), and what your documents can support.
Some addresses can legitimately differ (for example, registered office vs trading address), but mismatches, frequent changes, or unclear trading information often trigger re-checks because they break the “single coherent story” a provider needs for onboarding and ongoing monitoring.
This article is educational and not financial advice.
The key details Tide typically stores (and why they get compared)
Tide’s own account-details guidance separates personal details (including home address) from business details (including trading name and trading address).
It also describes trading address as the location used for card delivery within the app flow, and notes that directors’ company name/registered business address updates are tied to Companies House updates (View and update your account details).
To make sense of re-check triggers, it helps to distinguish four “buckets” providers commonly reconcile:
Personal identity and home address
This is the core identity anchor: who the person is, and where they live. If automated checks can’t confirm the address/identity link, Tide may ask for proof of address and lists examples of what it can accept (I’ve been asked to supply Proof of Address).
Trading name and trading address
Trading details describe how the business presents itself and where it operates day-to-day. Tide describes trading address within business details and also uses it for card delivery in its support content (Which address will my card be shipped to?).
Registered business/office address (limited companies)
For limited companies, official company address data sits with Companies House. GOV.UK’s Companies House “company address” guidance sets out that registered office address changes must be recorded and that an address change is not effective until it’s registered (Company address: make changes to your private limited company).
GOV.UK also provides the AD01 process for changing a registered office address (Change a company’s registered office address (AD01)).
“What the business does” (nature of business / intended account use)
Trading details aren’t just labels. Providers rely on them to understand the expected pattern of payments and counterparties. FCA material emphasises that firms must have policies and procedures for due diligence and monitoring, while not prescribing a single “one size fits all” method (Money laundering and terrorist financing).
What typically needs to match (in practice)
“Must match” rarely means “every field must be identical”. More often it means there should be no unexplained contradictions across the details that establish identity, control, and business activity.
1) Home address vs proof-of-address evidence
If the address entered doesn’t align with what automated checks can verify (or if formatting/variants confuse matching), a follow-up proof-of-address request is a common outcome.
Tide’s proof-of-address page explicitly frames this as “not automatically verified during on-boarding” and then sets out acceptable evidence categories (I’ve been asked to supply Proof of Address).
Practical impact: additional steps and delay while documents are reviewed (and sometimes a request to re-state or clarify the address).
2) Limited company address data vs Companies House
For companies, the “registered business/office address” story is expected to align with Companies House records. Tide’s own guidance for directors indicates company name/registered business address updates are handled after the Companies House update, and then reflected in-app (View and update your account details).
Practical impact: updates may appear “out of sync” temporarily if company records are changing, or if the business is mid-update during sign-up.
3) Trading address vs delivery and operational reality
Tide uses trading address for card delivery in its support content (Which address will my card be shipped to?). A trading address that appears implausible for the stated business model (or changes frequently) can attract questions, because trading address is part of the operational narrative.
Practical impact: a request to confirm what happens at that address, or to provide supporting documents that connect the business to it.
4) Trading description vs observed activity patterns
Where stated activity and observed payment flows diverge sharply, providers often revisit the original “what does the business do?” answers as part of ongoing monitoring.
HMRC’s internal guidance describes ongoing monitoring as keeping due diligence information up to date and scrutinising activity over time (ECSH33375 – Ongoing monitoring).
Practical impact: additional questions, requests for updated information, or requests for evidence that explains the activity.
What can differ legitimately (and still be coherent)
Differences aren’t automatically “wrong” if they are consistent with a clear business setup.
Registered office vs trading address
It is common for a company’s registered office to differ from where the business actually trades. GOV.UK’s company address guidance explicitly treats registered office as a formal company address record, separate from day-to-day operations (Company address: make changes to your private limited company).
Home-based businesses
A sole trader (or a director of a company) can operate from home while still using a separate trading name and a different delivery/trading address in some cases. What tends to matter is that the combination of addresses and the business model still makes sense together, and can be evidenced if asked.
Multiple trading locations
Businesses with more than one site can still be coherent if the account profile describes the business accurately. Where a single “trading address” field exists, providers often expect that address to represent a primary operational location or delivery point, rather than every location.
What often triggers re-checks
Re-checks tend to happen when the profile stops looking internally consistent, or when a provider needs to refresh/confirm the facts underpinning the business relationship.
1) Unexplained inconsistencies between addresses
Common examples include:
home address that can’t be verified against the person’s identity details;
a trading address that doesn’t align with the stated business model;
company records changing (or recently changed) without the in-app/business profile reflecting the same story yet.
2) Frequent changes in key fields
Multiple rapid edits (address, trading name, nature of business descriptors) can create ambiguity about which version is correct, and whether the changes reflect genuine business updates or data-quality issues.
3) “Documentation mismatch” during onboarding or refresh
If the document provided doesn’t clearly support the address/name combination on file, the request may repeat with different acceptable document types.
Tide’s supporting-documents guidance explains how documents are supplied in-app and sets out examples of acceptable proof-of-address documents (How to provide your supporting documents).
4) Company address updates (especially registered office)
For limited companies, changes to registered office address are recorded via Companies House, and GOV.UK describes the formal process and timing expectations around recording that change (Change a company’s registered office address (AD01)).
Companies House also explains practical considerations around choosing/changing a registered office address (How to choose or change your company’s registered office address).
5) Ongoing monitoring refresh cycles
Even with no obvious “problem”, providers may re-check details as part of ongoing monitoring. HMRC guidance frames this as keeping due diligence information up to date and scrutinising activity (ECSH33375 – Ongoing monitoring).
For the broader “why this happens to established businesses”, see our explainer on Periodic KYC refreshes for established SMEs.
Summary Table
| Scenario | Outcome | Practical impact |
|---|---|---|
| Home address can’t be automatically verified | Proof-of-address request | Extra review step; possible back-and-forth on address formatting or acceptable documents |
| Trading address doesn’t fit stated business model | Clarification questions | Request to explain what happens at the trading address and how the business operates |
| Registered office updated at Companies House | Provider profile may lag behind company record briefly | Temporary mismatch prompts a re-check or a “please confirm” request |
| Frequent edits to trading name/address | Re-check for consistency | Longer review because multiple versions must be reconciled |
| Stated trading activity differs from observed payment pattern | Trading details revisited during monitoring | Request for updated business information and evidence explaining activity |
What a re-check usually looks like (and what it can affect)
A re-check is commonly a request for information: confirm details, provide evidence, or explain the trading setup. Tide’s guidance on supplying supporting documents describes providing documents through in-app messages and gives examples of accepted proofs (How to provide your supporting documents).
The practical impacts are usually operational rather than “structural”: the process can take time, and business activity may be paused or limited while information is reviewed (the specific impact varies by case and product).
For a broader view of what can slow things down during onboarding checks, see Tide application delays: common checks that slow sign-up, and for what providers commonly request during ongoing monitoring, see Bank review evidence packs: ongoing monitoring info banks request.
Scenario Table
| Scenario-level | Process-level | Outcome-level |
|---|---|---|
| Address story is unclear | Compare entered details to evidence and available records; request clarification where gaps exist | Additional questions and/or document requests |
| Company record is changing | Wait for Companies House update to be recorded and reflected; reconcile old vs new | Temporary mismatch prompts confirmation requests |
| Trading setup is non-standard (multiple sites, remote, virtual office) | Assess whether the profile still forms a coherent operational narrative | More scrutiny of “what happens where” and “who does what” |
| Payment flows don’t match the stated business | Revisit nature-of-business answers and expected activity; refresh due diligence info | Requests for updated trading details and evidence |
| Multiple edits in a short period | Treat data as potentially unreliable until reconfirmed | Re-check cycle repeats until a stable set of details is established |
Tide Business Bank Account
Tide sits within the app-based business account market and offers different products depending on the underlying arrangement. Our neutral overview of Tide, including fees and feature trade-offs, is here: Tide business account.
This article only covers address/trading-detail alignment and re-check mechanics.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Home address is a personal identity detail tied to the individual.
- Trading address is a business detail used to represent where the business operates or receives deliveries; Tide’s help content explicitly links trading address to card delivery in the app context.
- Registered office (for limited companies) is a formal Companies House address record. The practical reason it matters is that it is a legal-company identifier, whereas trading address is typically an operational identifier.
Not necessarily. It is common for registered office to differ from where the business actually trades. The key is whether the combined story is coherent: a registered office that is different from a trading location can still be completely legitimate.
Where it becomes a trigger is when the relationship between addresses is unclear, or when the company address record has recently changed and the provider needs to reconcile old and new details.
Tide’s own wording indicates this can happen when it cannot automatically verify details during onboarding. In those cases, the process shifts from “automated verification” to “evidence-based verification”, and proof-of-address documents are requested.
This can be triggered by address formatting differences, data-quality issues, or where the identity/address link is not strong enough in automated checks. It is not necessarily a judgement about the business; it can be a verification pathway issue.
Tide states that the card is shipped to the trading address. That means the trading address isn’t just an informational field: it is also operationally used in the product experience.
If the trading address looks inconsistent with the rest of the profile (or changes repeatedly), it can invite questions because it affects delivery and the provider’s understanding of where the business is run.
Tide’s account-details guidance indicates directors need to update company name/registered business address with Companies House first, and then Tide reflects it in-app after that. This means the “source of truth” for company address is the company record.
In practice, the most common friction is timing: while the change is in progress (or recently recorded), different systems can temporarily show different address versions. That temporary mismatch can itself cause a follow-up check until the new data is clearly settled.
Trading details typically include:
- Trading name
- The nature of business description
- Sometimes information about how the business expects to receive and send payments (for example, typical counterparties and payment reasons)
These fields help a provider understand what “normal” looks like for that account.
The relevance to re-checks is straightforward: if actual activity appears very different from the stated trading details, the provider may ask for updated information and evidence explaining the difference as part of monitoring.
The most common pattern is an address that cannot be supported by the documents provided, or that doesn’t align with identity information. This includes small but consequential differences (postcode errors, missing flat numbers, name variants) that stop matching.
Another frequent driver is “address story ambiguity”: when there are multiple addresses (registered office, trading address, home address) but their roles aren’t clear and consistent with the business model described.
They can happen later. Ongoing monitoring is a standard part of regulated financial services operations and includes keeping due diligence information up to date over time. Even stable businesses can be asked to reconfirm details periodically.
Where the re-check feels surprising, it is often because nothing “changed” from the business perspective, but the provider’s monitoring cycle, risk triggers, or information-refresh requirements mean the details need reconfirmation.
A change during review can create two parallel versions of the story: the version being reviewed, and the new version after edits. Review teams often need a single stable snapshot to assess, so mid-review changes can increase back-and-forth.
The typical outcome is additional clarification: which version is correct now, what changed, and what evidence supports the new details. It is usually less about the fact of change, and more about making the “before and after” coherent.
They can, depending on the nature of the review and the product arrangement. Some checks are purely informational and only slow onboarding; other checks may pause or limit certain actions until details are confirmed.
The common thread is operational risk control: if key identity or business facts are unconfirmed, providers often prefer to confirm the facts first, then allow normal operation once the profile is consistent and supported.
Address and trading-detail re-checks are best understood as coherence checks, not “gotcha” checks. The provider is trying to maintain a single consistent record of who is behind the account, what the business does, and where it operates, because those facts underpin both onboarding and ongoing monitoring obligations.
Most friction comes from ambiguity rather than any single “wrong” value: multiple addresses with unclear roles, documents that don’t obviously support the profile, or activity that no longer matches the stated trading model. The faster the profile returns to a stable, supportable narrative, the faster the re-check loop typically closes.
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