YBS returning a deposit into my Cash Transactor account - advice needed

General_Bounce

Hi guys!

I have had a YBS Cash Transactor account for 15 years and have been using it as my only savings / ATM account for the last 5. I understand YBS account numbers are actually the roll number, while the first 8 digits are the bank account number. In the time I had my proper bank account I would make online transfers to my YBS account as savings using only the 8 digit account number, name and sort code. I was advised to do this in a phone call to my bank the first time I tried to transfer money to it, as Lloyds TSB's online banking site didn't have any space to input a roll number. They advised me roll numbers were being phased out of use and are no longer necessary.

In the last 5 years my YBS account has been my sole account for everything and ever since being told the roll number wasn't necessary, I have never provided it to anyone, and I have been receiving bank transfers from people via online banking almost monthly with no problems. The lack of a roll number has never been an issue, even my wages have always gone into my account on time despite the fact my employer's online payroll system cannot accomodate roll numbers.

Today however, I was chasing a payment from someone that I had been due to receive 2-3 weeks ago. This person had paid money to my account before. He told me it was done on July 4th and showed me proof of this, so I called YBS who advised me the payment was returned on the same day because the roll number was not provided. I advised her what I was told and how long I had received payments without the need for this, but she said that the roll number is always required. When questioned why this was suddenly necessary after so many prompt payments into my account without it, she simply answered "I don't know".

I went on to speak to a complaints handler who advised me it was my fault for not providing the roll number. He agreed the roll number system wasn't widely used any more and couldn't explain why not using it hadn't resulted in problems at any point in 8 years. Regardless of this I felt I should have at least received a letter from them to advise a payment was returned to the payee, as I don't believe this is an uncommon problem and they always do this when direct debits are returned unpaid, but he said they don't do this as it is not their responsibility.

He has agreed to investigate my complaint as per normal procedure but I advised him I felt some compensation for stress and inconvenience was necessary, I was relying on this payment coming through and now have no money for up to a week due to YBS's lack of communication and antiquated processes, also both myself and the payer are having to go through the hassle of sorting everything out again unnecessarily.

Have any other YBS account holders experienced returned payments or other roll number-related problems?

General_Bounce

Apologies for the long first post by the way!

YorkshireBoy

How did the other party make the payment?...Faster Payment from a personal account or a BACS Direct Credit from a business account?

System

I was always told to use the account (roll) number with YBS as their accounts have 10 digits - they didn't support the standard 6 digit sort code and 8 digit account number format alone (except for Direct Debits).

Given that's still the current information, you're only complaint was being given the initial incorrect information to drop the roll /reference field.

It wouldn't surprise me if someone in the building society has to manually 'fix' credits which arrive without a valid reference number.