Two weeks before completing on my new home, I notified my bank, NatWest, that funds would be transferred via my current account to my solicitor. It assured me there would be no problem and sent a congratulatory bottle of alcohol.
I duly transferred £260,000, whereupon NatWest refused access to my funds. First, it instructed me to use a public fax bureau to transmit sensitive details, then that I had to resubmit my biometrics in a branch.
I was sent the addresses of a branch in Cornwall and one in the Hebrides. I live in Northern Ireland. After I’d booked a ferry to the mainland to comply, the bank U-turned and let me renew biometrics at Ulster Bank.
The vendors, meanwhile, had lost patience and placed the property back on the market.
In desperation, I called NatWest’s fraud department. It told me I could, all along, have made a Chaps payment instruction by phone. I did, the bank verified the payee account and twice promised the funds would be transferred immediately. Twice it did not happen. It turned out the bank had recorded the sort code incorrectly. NatWest offered £175 for this error. Had I seized the bank’s money would they accept £175?
AF, Bangor, Co Down
You did complete two weeks later than planned, but NatWest’s delays nearly cost you your new home and another month’s rent.
You say being barred from your life savings was terrifying. When I questioned it, NatWest apologised for “the inconvenience” and admitted a “service failing” caused a “slight delay”. This, it turns out, refers to the sort code error.
It told me it required additional information for security reasons and only admitted further service failings when I pressed it. The bank should have explored “emergency” options for sending the information sooner, it conceded, and belatedly recognises that your experience “did not meet our usual high standard”. Your case is now with the Financial Ombudsman Service.
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