End of Tether- Change of Signatories

valmac11

Our Scout Group in Oban has been trying for 2 years to change signatories with an account at the Bank of Scotland.

Lost count of how many phone calls, mandates we have filled in plus personal visits with our ids.

Seems that papers held at branch level are not sufficient for the centralised mandate team, anyway forms now on way back for the 3rd time as they require an existing customer to obtain a US Visa to become a signatory on account.

Yes she is a US citizen living in Scotland married to a Scot with teenagers and the Bank will not accept the visa contained within the passport. Is this really correct??

agrinnall

If the visa is still valid (and possibly the passport that it's in) I would expect that to be acceptable. What sort of visa are they asking for? I've never had one that hasn't been stuck into my passport.

BMN

Did you fill in the electronic mandate variation form (downloadable from the BOS Business Banking website http://www.bankofscotlandbusiness.co.uk/pdf/12452e_BoS-1014.pdf)? If you read the form properly it is quite difficult to get wrong.

I'd be surprised if she needed a US Visa. She would need a UK Visa/residence permit if she has a US passport though.

valmac11

No we were sent the form- it is a Charity type account rather than a normal business account.

They marked where we should sign- did so ,then returned to us again as they had not highlighted all the correct places plus another form was not included.

valmac11

The passport is still valid, without personally seeing it I am unsure re length of visa/type/expiry date.

Just seems bizarre that they require this when she already is in account with them.

nwc389

Valmac11 , I used to work for the banking group that BOS is part of .
you should register a complaint as the service you have had is unacceptable .

agrinnall

nwc389 wrote: »

Valmac11 , I used to work for the banking group that BOS is part of .
you should register a complaint as the service you have had is unacceptable .

What's unacceptable about asking for proof of eligibility for residence in the UK? I'm pretty sure that we don't have the full story (one of the perils of second hand posting) but I've seen nothing to suggest that they shouldn't ask for the proof - the issue is more whether what the new signatory has been able to provide is good enough for the mandate team to accept.

Ben8282

valmac11 wrote: »

Our Scout Group in Oban has been trying for 2 years to change signatories with an account at the Bank of Scotland.

Lost count of how many phone calls, mandates we have filled in plus personal visits with our ids.

Seems that papers held at branch level are not sufficient for the centralised mandate team, anyway forms now on way back for the 3rd time as they require an existing customer to obtain a US Visa to become a signatory on account.

Yes she is a US citizen living in Scotland married to a Scot with teenagers and the Bank will not accept the visa contained within the passport. Is this really correct??

As she is a US citizen living in the UK I assume you mean a UK visa not a US visa.
As US citizens do not actually require a visa for the UK, I assume what they will not accept is the UK entry stamp or the leave to remain stamp or vignette (commonly incorrectly referred to as a visa) issued by the home office.
The bank presumably want to make sure that she is actually resident in the UK for some reason. I cannot understand the basis for them to refuse to accept whatever is in the passport which I assume is a vignette stating that she has indefinite leave to remain or a UK entry stamp with an additional stamp stating that there is currently no time limit on the holders stay in the UK? If you can describe in detail the stamp/vignette and wording I will provide more info so that we can correctly determine her immigration status to try to understand what is causing the problem. Have the bank actually said what they will accept .... if they actually said a US visa then they really are talking out of the backs of their necks!

nwc389

agrinnall wrote: »

What's unacceptable about asking for proof of eligibility for residence in the UK? I'm pretty sure that we don't have the full story (one of the perils of second hand posting) but I've seen nothing to suggest that they shouldn't ask for the proof - the issue is more whether what the new signatory has been able to provide is good enough for the mandate team to accept.

The bit where the OP mentions that forms were sent but incorrectly highlighted so they were not filled in properly by the scout group and ended up having to be done again .
Also they seem to have had little help from their first point of contact which is their local branch .

agrinnall

nwc389 wrote: »

The bit where the OP mentions that forms were sent but incorrectly highlighted so they were not filled in properly by the scout group and ended up having to be done again .
Also they seem to have had little help from their first point of contact which is their local branch .

Well that's just poor service from whoever sent the form, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have to be completed properly. And I doubt if the branch staff in Oban have much experience of this and have to rely on what they are told by the central mandate team. None of which is to say that BoS have handled this properly, and a complaint would probably be worth making if only to let off steam, but the important thing is to find out exactly what needs to be done to meet the requirements and do it.

gt94sss2

valmac11 wrote: »

Yes she is a US citizen living in Scotland married to a Scot with teenagers and the Bank will not accept the visa contained within the passport. Is this really correct??

Whether you complain or not about the poor service, I suspect the real problem is that she is a US citizen which is causing BOS issues.

The US FATCA Act requires foreign banks to report to the IRS the details of all US citizens who have accounts with them.

Many non US banks and other financial institutions have simply taken the view that as a consequence they will no longer deal with US citizens and be at the risk of massive US fines etc. if they get something wrong.

I am not saying BOS have taken that view but you may find it easier to get a non US citizen to be a signatory - and just blame the US Government!

Regards
Sunil