When Spinson refuses a verification document

A refused document is the most common reason an identity check stalls, and it is almost always fixable in one attempt once you know which of a short list of causes applies. It is worth treating it as a formatting problem rather than a judgement about you — the reviewer is checking whether a document is legible, current and matching, not whether they believe you.

The causes, in rough order of frequency

The image is unreadable at the edges. A document photographed at an angle, with a corner cut off, or with glare across the key line is refused even when everything on it is correct. All four corners have to be inside the frame.

The proof of address is out of date. The standard UK requirement is a document dated within the last three months. A bill from six months ago is refused on date alone, regardless of how clear it is.

The document type is not accepted. Mobile phone bills are the usual casualty here; bank statements and utility bills for a fixed address fare better. A document with the address on one page and the name on another is also a problem, because they have to appear together.

The details do not match the account. The name and date of birth on the document have to match what was entered at registration. A middle name on one and not the other, a maiden name, or an address you have moved from since signing up will all stop a check.

The file itself is the problem — a heavily compressed image, a screenshot of a photo rather than the photo, or a PDF that opens blank.

Photographing a document so it passes

Lay it flat on a dark, plain surface in daylight rather than under a ceiling light, which is what produces glare. Shoot straight down rather than at an angle. Include the whole document with a margin of background visible on every side. Do not crop, rotate or adjust the image afterwards, and never obscure anything that was not asked to be obscured — the exception being a card number, where the standard request is for the middle digits to be hidden and the name and last four left visible.

Check the result by reading it yourself at normal zoom before sending. If you cannot read a line of it, neither can the reviewer.

Fix the cause before resending

This is the step most people skip. Resubmitting the same image because the first attempt “must have gone wrong” adds another review cycle and produces the same refusal. If the message from Spinson named a reason, address that reason specifically. If it did not, work down the list above and change something real — a different document, a fresh photograph, a current bill — rather than sending the same file again.

When the same document keeps failing

At that point the issue is more likely to be a mismatch than an image. Contact support through the channels on the support page and ask directly which field failed, giving the document type you sent and the date you sent it. A specific question of that kind gets a more useful answer than reporting that verification is not working.

If your registered details are genuinely wrong — a misspelled surname from sign-up, or an address you have since left — say so plainly. Correcting the account to match your documents is a normal request, and it is better raised openly than worked around by sending a document that does not match.

What this is holding up

While a check is outstanding, any withdrawal you have requested waits in front of the published payout window rather than inside it, which is why a refused document and a payout sitting in pending so often turn out to be the same problem described from two ends.

If the refusal itself seems wrong

A document that meets every requirement and is still refused, with no explanation after a proper exchange with support, stops being a formatting question. The route beyond the operator’s own channels is set out in making a complaint about Spinson, which also explains why the order of those steps matters.