RBS - The Last Straw!

jonewer

So my parents live in South Africa and have always had an account at RBS. My dad is on the way out with pancreatic cancer and my mum needs to move money around using online banking.

They wont send a debit card to South Africa because its too insecure so she wrote them a letter asking them to send it to me and I would then be able to do the appropriate.

After around a month of nothing happening and my mother making many very long, very expensive phonecalls to find out !!!!!!, and assurances that the card would be with me any day now, they now say they WON'T send the card to me.

Frankly, this is not the first time RBS has severely let me down but I'm going to do what I can to make sure its the last by moving ALL of my money out of that shoddy excuse of a bank.

And needles to say so will my mother, thus ending at least four generations of my family banking with RBS.

/rant

Now the questions - which is the best bank account in terms of MSE and customer service these days?

Also, how difficult will it be for my mother to open a bank account here with no UK address/bills/etc?

Thanks.

meer53

Your mother won't be able to open a UK bank account. RBS have done nothing wrong by not agreeing to send a card to you. They can't bend the rules just for you.

Your mother needs to look at opening a bank account in S Africa.

jonewer

meer53 wrote: »

Your mother won't be able to open a UK bank account. RBS have done nothing wrong by not agreeing to send a card to you. They can't bend the rules just for you.

Your mother needs to look at opening a bank account in S Africa.

The why not tell her that in the first place? Why spend a whole month telling her they will send it to me when in fact they will not send it to me?

If that's their policy, fine. But they need to say so from the off, not string people along by telling them they can do it and will do it imminently and only after a month reveal that its against their policy.

My mother has a bank account in South Africa, thanks, but she needs to maintain a UK bank account that isn't run by a bunch of clodpate inchoates.

meer53

Why not make a formal complaint ? It may not change things but it might make your mum feel better.

I'd be careful though, they may close your mums account but if she's closing it anyway she has nothing to lose. If your mum has told them she wanted the card sending to you so you can use it to move money then i can understand their concerns. I know you're trying to help your mum but the bank won't see it the same way, it's a breach of their T & C's.

If they'll send the card to your mum, can't she just send it on to you ? Still against the T & C's but it would be a way round your problem.

grumbler

Does she really need the card to "to move money around using online banking"?[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

zerog

What they perhaps should have done from the very beginning is to change their address to your UK address. Or even change it just before they wanted the debit card sending. Then instead of sending the card to you, they would be sending the card to her, just at your address.

I know of no UK bank that wants proof of new address when an existing customer moves (although First Direct has asked existing customers for proof of address, but not because they have moved).

A South African resident will not be able to open a UK bank account, unless it is an offshore bank account (or they have HSBC Premier in SA).

RBS doesn't care how many generations of your family have banked with them,

jonewer

meer53 wrote: »

I'd be careful though, they may close your mums account.

They close the accounts of people who make complaints?

Very nice.

TheEffect

So your mum sent a letter to the bank saying please send a new debit card to someone else that isn't me? Surely common sense states that's not going to happen.

As for your mum closing her RBS account and moving elsewhere, she can't. No bank will touch her with a bargepole, and no bank will send out debit card to random people after receiving a request via letter.

Stop trying to blame the bank. Your mum doesn't need to make long and expensive phone calls. There's cheap methods of calling back to the UK from South Africa, and RBS even offer Live Chat via internet banking.

System

RBS offer an authentication card to use in the card readers - either in addition to or in place of a debit card.

grumbler wrote: »

Does she really need the card to "to move money around using online banking"?

Archi_Bald

Heng_Leng wrote: »

RBS offer an authentication card to use in the card readers - either in addition to or in place of a debit card.

RBS will only mail an authentication card to the account holder. Not sure they would mail it if the cardholder address is outside the UK, but worth asking, and I am sure they will be reasonable to all reasonable request from existing account holders with a track record.

stclair

You can request a new debit card online now in the cards section of the online banking.

If the account is registered to the South african address it will be sent their accordingly. Unless there is a marker on the account preventing this from happening. Surely all the previous cards have gone to the South African address or if the account is registered to a UK address it can be sent thier and then forwarded on accordingly.