Published on 12, July, 2020
Mum told me this morning that our buildings and contents insurance needing renewing so I offered to look online for a better deal, I found one £200 cheaper than the renewal quote and went to move forward with it, filled in loads of forms etc, like you do, then it came to payment, the bank refused to authorise it, it didn't give any reason other than they thought we were being scammed. The branch ws closed by this time and so tomorrow will be taken up with trying to persaude the bank to let my Mum have access to HER money. It bugs the F**k out of me, they say she has to go on her online or mobile account, she has neither and never has had, She can barely use a mouse or make an emergency phone call on the mobile. We tried her other bank account and they came back saying they needed to send a code only they had two numbers that were wrong, one of them being the house phone that won't accept OTP's.
It's becoming a real problem for people like Mum who are elderly, and don't understand the internet and mobiles, it feels like the only person the banks wants to keep her money safe from is her.
Thanks rant over.
Well we went to the first bank and got stonewalled, just a complete refusal to engage, blamed it on the card issue-er and not them, even though it was a debit not a credit card. They said as they can't see any attempted transaction theres nothing they can do, they didn't really believe us about a screen that appeared and gave us no way of pregressing, they asked for a print out or a photo of it, when I said that was not possible, they refused to help any further. A person we spoke to in the queue, who was coming round to "help" people, said that they do home insurance and they're not on any comparisson sites, would we like to insure with them? We said said no thanks, but it made me wonder if the reason the payment couldn't proceed was because they don't actually want you to go elsewhere and stop you from doing so.
Then we went to the other bank Mum uses and got her mobile number updated for OTP's, she had to scrawl her signature on a piece of paper so as they could check it against their records, but it was all fine. The lady there said that the government keep putting so many checks on them that it's really hard for people to do normal banking. I thought to myself, I bet the only people that have all the right documents when they go in a branch are scammers as the rules are so arcane no normal person would know.
Now my friend is having problems with yet another bank who seem to have lost several hundreds pounds of his. Another friend had massive problems buying some premium bonds, they didn't like it that she dosen't have a smart phone.
Anyone got any recomendations for a UK bank, because I think we'll all be changing?
I think it might be hard for Mum to open a new account as she dosen' thave any of the documents they want to prove ID, she's never driven and her passport expired years ago. It's totally wrong that these are the only proofs of ID allowed, there must be loads of people excluded from banking because of it? I wonder how many of them are elderly?
I can feel a letter to the national press consumer pages coming on!
I agree that ID is a nightmare. I don't drive now so ID is what I use my licence for. I was wondering if your Mum has an ID card for voting and if that can be used. When my son reached 16 a photo ID was requested for registering on NHS services and one of the options was a driving licence even though he is too young to drive?
In respect of changing banks. I am probably a rarity but when I wanted to change I made a checklist and went to the local banks customer service desks and asked them the questions. This also helped to work out the helpful banks. I decided to bank with a large one who does not have shareholders. I have always found them very helpful.
Mum was able to use her photo bus pass for voting, but it's not acceptable for banking. My son's bank baulked at his second form of ID being and HMRC warrant card! I mean FFS, what more can they want?
At least the insurance is done now.