Barclays complaint re. No Signature Mandate

Bundoran3

I've been with Barclays for 30 years or so and written many cheques in the past but none recently, my account still has over £3k sat doing nothing.

To avoid the account being closed they asked (by letter) for me to make a payment from the account

So I wrote a cheque for £50 to pay a local council bill - which they bounced based on 'No signature mandate' - effectively stopping me using the account.

Can they do this without giving me notice?

eskbanker

Bundoran3 wrote: »

So I wrote a cheque for £50 to pay a local council bill - which they bounced based on 'No signature mandate' - effectively stopping me using the account.

Sounds like they're not allowing you to write cheques without jumping through some more hoops but they're not stopping you from using the account itself are they? In other words, can't you access funds online, or withdraw cash at an ATM, or make debit card payments, etc?

And, as a separate issue, why leave £3K sitting doing nothing in a dormant account, you could be earning 5% interest on that....

grumbler

Some old thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2485957

Possibly, after many years your signature changed and doesn't match the one they have on record.

Bundoran3

Turns out they claim not to have my signature at all - after 30 years of using the bank and lots of cheques! So I have to go in the branch to register a signature. I guess the IT system has a bug - but surely I'm not the only person that has this problem?

I can apparently use the account on line - but I suspect that it will also fail since its not registered for online banking as such - they now use a secure mobile system but have not sent me any notification and they don't have my mobile details.

The £50 cheque was for a school item - which now means the school will respond back to my lad that we haven't paid for his equipment - together with the stigma that that will introduce. This will be very annoying.

Just to add to this fiasco - the person taking my complaint call had broken both arms and couldn't use a keyboard or mouse so someone else had to do the typing. And the call center computer could only view recent transactions on my account - so they questioned whether I had written any other cheques at all!

(PS I do have a 123 and other accounts paying interest...)

DCFC79

Regarding the council bill, what bill is it, can you not set up a direct debit ?

EarthBoy

Do you need to keep the account if you don't use it? If not, just switch it to another bank.

Bundoran3

The council bill was just a one off payment which (apparently) I can only sort with a cheque since it goes through the school (we'll solve this with another bank account) - it's the embarrassment of my Barclays cheque failing and the letters to and from school that will be upsetting - when there is no good reason.

Bundoran3

The account is a feeder account to other Barclays services - I just don't use cheques. As above - Barclays claim not to have my signature at all! I think this means they've turned on some computer system without entering my details. They now say this a 'reactive' system - which IMHO means they wait for problems to surface?! But surely they could have honoured the £50 and asked my to update details...

jonesMUFCforever

Doesn't make sense to me as I thought banks clearing departments don't check for signatures under a thousand pounds.
Perhaps there is something else going on in the background here such as dormancy?

Flobberchops

If it's a feeder account why did you receive a dormancy warning letter? That doesn't add up.

The rest of your issues could be resolved with precisely one visit to a branch. Sign a mandate form, update your contact details, and get your online banking details sent out.

Thrugelmir

Bundoran3 wrote: »

Can they do this without giving me notice?

I bet you'd be concerned if someone else received the letter. Obtained a new cheque book and pretended to be you. Having a little pragmatism helps in this 24/7 age.