Praise/Vent for Bank

juliedotcom

I recently got married and a guest at our wedding kindly wrote a cheque to my new husband and I in our joint names. Unfortunately, we don't share a joint bank account, and so far, were unsure of what to do to cash it.

The cheque was written from our guest's Bank of Scotland account, and for convenience as it was near to where I was yesterday, I popped in to see if, with with proof of MY identity, I could deposit it into my husband's BoS account. The lovely gentleman at the counter told me that it as impossible to do this, as "half of the money" belonged to me, and as such, there is no way to cash it without opening a joint account. I explained to the gentleman that I hold my main account with RBS and as I work for them, did not wish to switch my accounts to BoS. Nevertheless, the boy booked me an appointment for Saturday morning to open a joint account, saying I didn't need to use it, it was only for the cheque. I again reiterated my situation and said I would not be needing the appointment. He printed out a confirmation for the appointment anyway. I came out absolutely fuming that A) the boy didn't even check to see if there was any way around the situation and only seemed to care about 'selling' me a new account.

Both my husband and I hold separate accounts with RBS. I called them this afternoon to see if they might be able to help. "Yes," I was told. "Both of you sign the back of the cheque, we'll verify your signatures with what we hold on file and pay it into your chosen account."

2 minutes, 30 seconds on a phone call and all was sorted, as opposed to the almost half hour in the bank of Scotland. The difference in service was astounding.

So, thumbs up for RBS and thumbs down to BoS. Thank you for making sure I wont ever bank with your shoddy service!

peachyprice

IanManc wrote: »

According to the UK Payments Council, who quote the relevant legislation, the "boy" at BoS was correct, and so the RBS are acting unlawfully.

http://www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/payment_advice/key_payment_questions/

Yup, signing over cheques stopped a fair few years ago. I'd be interested to see what will happen when you actually take the cheque into RBS and try to do that.

nico26

Seconded BOS was correct. It should go to a joint account only.

Alex-Riley.

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear Similarly, a cheque payable to two beneficiaries can only be paid into an account in the name of the two beneficiaries exactly as it appears on the cheque.

Sorry

soothyerboots

That's not actually true though. I got married in September and we got loads of cheques from guests in both our names. We both have HSBC accounts and didn't want to have a joint account so we didn't link our finances (my credit rating sucks, hers is excellent). We didn't need to! Had an appointment with HSBC and they said we could pay the cheques into whoever's account that we wanted - so we split it and paid them in as normal. Accepted. Easy peasy.

DD1966

My OH and myself had a cheque sent to us in joint names (ppi refund) and as we both hold individual accounts at The Coop we had to open a joint account to pay the cheque in! they told us this was the only way to do this as paying a jointly named cheque into a sole named account was no longer viable due to the change in the law! We could have asked for the cheque to be re issued but as we already had it we thought it was far easier to just open a joint account!

nwc389

The BOS "boy" was correct , however the two posters who did manage to pay joint cheques into sole accounts may have been allowed to do so at the discretion of a manager as they both individually banked there . It really isn't something that would be done as a matter of course .

juliedotcom

They let me deposit the cheque, just as they had agreed. Finally, a bank who sticks to their word.

Thank you to those of you who took time from your day to post a snide reply. I am fortunately more inclined to take the word of the branch staff than anonymous forumite but I appreciate it all the same.

I am of the understanding that as we could both be verified as those named on the cheque then there was no issue, and RBS were able to fulfil my wish, pay the cheque into one of our accounts and perform some good customer service.

Alex-Riley.

juliedotcom wrote: »

They let me deposit the cheque, just as they had agreed. Finally, a bank who sticks to their word.

Thank you to those of you who took time from your day to post a snide reply. I am fortunately more inclined to take the word of the branch staff than anonymous forumite but I appreciate it all the same.

I am of the understanding that as we could both be verified as those named on the cheque then there was no issue, and RBS were able to fulfil my wish, pay the cheque into one of our accounts and perform some good customer service.

you are very lucky that they let you signing on the back stopped in 1992

and you're understanding is wrong as me and so many others have tried to tell you our remarks were truthful

busyladee

I'm not one to post much, but lurk a lot! It really peeves me when people come on here and dont like what they hear when it is completely sound advise and kick off, grrr.

Rant over

Starrystarrynight

I guess the OP was lucky in finding a member of staff who was prepared to go against the law and their own company guidelines. When I worked on a bank counter, we'd have been for the high jump had we done what RBS did for the OP,