Ulster Bank pathway account A word of warning!!!!!!!

thirlmere

A word of warning for anyone thinking about opening one of these accounts. I have a large sum of money with Ulster bank which is intended for a house purchase.

I had previously used ING, Sainsbury and Citibank and moved my money around in order to gain the best interest rate. All these banks offer instant access and the ability to transfer your cash with no problems.

I have found out to my potential cost that Ulster Bank does not give you instant access to your funds in any way shape or form. There is a £10,000 a day limit which is not mentioned in any Ulster Bank literature.

I hope that no one else makes the same mistake as I have as I am now in a situation whereby I could lose out on a house purchase because I cannot access my money. The only way I can access my balance is by closing the account in writing and then wait for them to send a cheque which can take anything up to 21 days.

The interest rate is attractive but there are hidden terms which may have severe consequences in my case and I hope that no one else ends up in the same situation.

ETROL

Not 100% sure but I discussed this with a member of their staff

If you open a current account with them you can instantly transfer online from your pathway account without the 10k limitation

thirlmere

Thanks for the advice, it may have worked if I'd had advance warning of the £10,000 limit and I had an Ulster Bank current account in place. Unfortunately in my case I've just literally found this out and opening a current account with them involves a postal application which of course takes time.

D1zzy

Chaps?...................

thirlmere

Possibly, I'm looking in to that option and need to talk to Ulster bank on Monday to see how to go about a CHAPS transfer.

I've been advised by a manager on their telephone helpline that a CHAPS request needs to be sent to the branch in writing. With special delivery it would be with them next day and hopefully the request would be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

Fingers crossed there is a solution to my predicament but purchasing a property is stressful enough without having to worry about how to access your own money.

The Ulster Bank Pathway account isn't instant access by any stretch of the imagination

thirlmere

Having spoken with several customer care advisors and eventually a manager I can confirm that a Chaps withdrawl for amounts in excess of £10,000 is NOT an option on an Ulster Bank pathway account.

You can only withdraw or transfer funds in excess of £10,000 in a single transaction by closing the account and writing to the bank and waiting for them to send a cheque. There is no other way.

One customer advisor came up with the bright idea of processing £10,000 daily transfers with immediate effect, unfortuntely I needed access to my money urgently that would take three weeks!!

I'm amazed that Ulster Bank have the audcaity to claim that their Pathway account offers instant access when clearly it doesn't

ETROL

thirlmere wrote: »

Having spoken with several customer care advisors and eventually a manager I can confirm that a Chaps withdrawl for amounts in excess of £10,000 is NOT an option on an Ulster Bank pathway account.

You can only withdraw or transfer funds in excess of £10,000 in a single transaction by closing the account and writing to the bank and waiting for them to send a cheque. There is no other way.

One customer advisor came up with the bright idea of processing £10,000 daily transfers with immediate effect, unfortuntely I needed access to my money urgently that would take three weeks!!

I'm amazed that Ulster Bank have the audcaity to claim that their Pathway account offers instant access when clearly it doesn't

I too have been grappling with Ulster Banks misinformation and incompetence

I have a catalogue of instances of being told one thing by one adviser and different information coming from another

it does appear that you are correct and that anyone with a larger amount in the Pathway account cannot make a transfer of any sort above £10k per day

Due to other problems with my application, I opened a dialogue with one of their customer complaints managers before I opened the account.

At that time he did mention that there was a £10k limit but said that I could get round this by opening a current account.

In light of your post I decided to ring him again. It was only when I pushed him on the matter that he consulted with someone else in their office that he confirmed that their was no way round the £10k limit

As you have stated in your earlier posts, there is nothing on their website that tells you this before you open the account and I have a recorded telephone conversation from last night where an adviser told me that all I hade to do was make a written application to the Ulster branch and they could arrange for a CHAPS transfer.

ETROL

I am thinking that a complaint should be made to Ulster Bank about the misinformation. Perhaps to their chief executive

Rollinghome

Presumably the £10K BACS limit would also apply to a current account too though you would be able to write an unlimited cheque.

There doesn't seem to be any limit on internal transfers so one avenue to explore might be the effect of opening up several eSavings accounts which just need £1. Would mitigate the problem if you could transfer £10k per day from each though I suspect that the limit may apply per account-holder rather than per account.

ETROL

Rollinghome wrote: »

Presumably the £10K BACS limit would also apply to a current account too though you would be able to write an unlimited cheque.

There doesn't seem to be any limit on internal transfers so one avenue to explore might be the effect of opening up several eSavings accounts which just need £1. Would mitigate the problem if you could transfer £10k per day from each though I suspect that the limit may apply per account-holder rather than per account.

Problem is that their staff just are not trained so you cannot rely on asking over the phone about anything at all

For instance I arranged a transfer yeterday and during the conversation I was told that the fast bacs service did noy rely upon the receiving bank being able to accept fast bacs transferes. Now I am not 100% sure but I think that this is incorrect (can someone please post advice on this point)

I have just been told that i can make an internal transfer to a current account (if I open one) and then issue a cheque as you say.

Unfortunately I have been told the exact opposite by two other customer advisers but I have recorded this call for any future complaint that I might make

Rollinghome

Yes I found that. When I phoned on 21 Dec they assurred me the bonus was unchanged and I had to point them to their website which was showing the lower bonus on 20 Dec. Was also surprised that a manager was unaware that other readers will read their cards.

And yes you're right, the receiving account must be able to accept FP transfers. Provided they issue a cheque book you should be able to do as you suggest without a problem. Helpful enough staff but not getting the training they deserve and probably not used to dealing with a popular account.