UCAS admin error turning out to be a serious issue

JackJ321

Hi everyone,

As this is my first post I could really appreciate it if someone can help me here.

From September I will be attending university and my place has already been confirmed. I am currently interested in opening up the Student Account with Lloyds Bank. The problem I am facing is an very small admin error caused by UCAS. On my confirmation letter it states that I am due to start my course on "21st September 0015" when it should say 2015. This is quite obvious that it is an admin error. I showed this letter along with my ID and proof of address when I was at the bank earlier today. The member of staff saw this error and spoke to her manager to say back to me that they are unable to approve this application due to this error. The annoying thing is that UCAS are not sending out Confirmation Letters out to students via post as they want to be "eco-friendly". I have complained about the service I received I experienced today as this is the second occasion where I have been turned down, which I am annoyed about. Why are banks rejecting applications over a very small admin error? Do I have a case to stand here? If so I would like to hear some answers if possible. Lloyds said they will contact me by Tuesday so I will update here if necessary.

Thanks,
Jack

Dobbibill

Hi Jack,

Welcome to the forum.

How frustrating for you :eek:

Is this a letter printed off from UCAS website or is it one they have sent you in the post? Is there a copy of correspondence on their website with your correct start date, you can use to evidence this?

Have you complained to UCAS? Are they willing to send you a new letter.

The other option is may be to get a letter from your uni when you start and go back with that as your evidence that you are studying.

HTH

Paul_1977

I assume they sent you the letter in electronic form.

If you have written confirmation from UCAS that its an error, just edit (correct) the letter they sent you electronically and print it out.

If its a PDF you can find websites on the internet to edit it.

JackJ321

UCAS have informed me that they have changed their policy to say that they will not be sending out these letters to students via post. They told that this is first year of doing so and I have complained but there is nothing they can do as they won't accept responsibility regarding the admin error. As a result, UCAS are now expecting students to print it off to show at banks to confirm student status, which I showed to a senior member of staff today who originally said that I could get this application approved until she spotted this mistake. I really do hope that this Confirmation Letter is not generic otherwise students, like myself will have their application turned down, especially if the start date is incorrect. I really thought that the bank was not very helpful. I could apply elsewhere although the Student Account with Lloyds appeals to me the most. I am surprised despite this admin error, which is really small, the bank are raising this complaint on a more higher matter. I suppose if there was any sort of consolation, the customer advisor I spoke to in the phone was more helpful than the two members of staff who I saw today as well as two other staff I saw on Thursday put together.

Helix

It might not be UCAS that is the problem, start date information is provided by the University to UCAS - not all Uni's start on the 21st Sept.

knack92

JackJ321 wrote: »

UCAS have informed me that they have changed their policy to say that they will not be sending out these letters to students via post. They told that this is first year of doing so and I have complained but there is nothing they can do as they won't accept responsibility regarding the admin error. As a result, UCAS are now expecting students to print it off to show at banks to confirm student status, which I showed to a senior member of staff today who originally said that I could get this application approved until she spotted this mistake. I really do hope that this Confirmation Letter is not generic otherwise students, like myself will have their application turned down, especially if the start date is incorrect. I really thought that the bank was not very helpful. I could apply elsewhere although the Student Account with Lloyds appeals to me the most. I am surprised despite this admin error, which is really small, the bank are raising this complaint on a more higher matter. I suppose if there was any sort of consolation, the customer advisor I spoke to in the phone was more helpful than the two members of staff who I saw today as well as two other staff I saw on Thursday put together.

What woeful service from UCAS (a service you have paid for). Who have you spoken to there? I'd put in a complaint to complaints@ucas.ac.uk. It may not be their fault but they should get this rectified for you.

It's also a bit poor from Lloyds considering it's clearly an administration error. What draws you to them over other banks?

silvercar

Should be easy to arrange for the university department to send you confirmation that you have a place.

JackJ321

Knack92,

Thanks for your reply, I'm quite shoked that I paid £23 to use this service. I spoke to someone over the phone who confirmed with his manager that it would not be possible to send out physical copies of the confirmation letter. I have looked around and Lloyds seem to have an account which appeals to me the most. I don't need a railcard, which Santander and Natwest offer to students as I have already got one. Barclays and Halifax don't offer much and Lloyds provide a free NUS Extra card. I know £30 is not much but it would be handy to have as it will give me discounts in many stores and online. So I think that's one of the reasons if I'm honest.

cfp28342

Hi Jack

As mentioned above there is software that can be used to edit PDF files so if the letter is in that format you should be able to change the letter yourself.

If you're not sure how to do this I could do it for you if you are able to email it to me. Send me a PM if you would like me to help.

reclusive46

If its just in plain text, try using this https://www.branded3.com/blog/cut-and-paste-one-line-of-code-to-make-any-website-editable/ and edit it yourself and print it out. (This doesn't work in Chrome)

eskbanker

JackJ321 wrote: »

I have complained about the service I received I experienced today as this is the second occasion where I have been turned down, which I am annoyed about. Why are banks rejecting applications over a very small admin error?

Is this two rejections from Lloyds or Lloyds and another bank? Are you absolutely sure that it's the date on a UCAS letter that's causing the problem?

Also, it's still not clear exactly how you've got your UCAS letter, i.e. did they email you a PDF file, or did you print something directly from their website? If the former, you should be able to reply to the email pointing out the obvious error and asking them to resend a corrected copy (electronically again, no point in getting bogged down in their new rule about no posting). If the latter, have you tried different browsers, computers, etc? Either way round, if it's their (UCAS'S) problem, they need to be the ones fixing it, so even if they aren't in a position to put something in the post, what is their proposed resolution?