Changing linked account on Birmingham Midshires Internet Saver

bubieyehyeh

pearl123 wrote: »

I opened a BMidshire account on the 9/11/17 and I'm still waiting for a user name. Nearly, a month later.
I presume the user name is that last thing to arrive?

I'd give them a ring, I applied in October and still haven't got the username. When I rang 3 weeks ago they said wait another week. When I rang last week they agreed to sent it out again.

Not greatly impressed so far.

pearl123

Its taken 32 days for my BMidshires account to be up and running. By that i mean I finally have access. Non cleared funds so far.

I though the post office had a slow system when I used them years ago, but BM is even worse. I realise that they've probably had huge numbers applying.
When I opened a Tesco account it was almost instant.

claire07

Mine was opened on 2 November and I was sent the account number and direct debit details. Since then nothing.


Each time I chase it I am told they are very busy and to be patient(!) They seem to have totally lost the first cheque and heaven knows where the second one is.


To add insult to injury they increased the rate to 1.45, were swamped and then withdrew it so by the time I eventually get the user name and activation code I 'might' get the increased rate for 10 months not a year!


Why oh why couldn't they let you pay the opening amount online rather than having to send in a cheque by post which is what is causing all the problems in my case.

clivep

So to answer my original post...

The linked a/c can be changed online to one that doesn't have a cheque book. When you do this it states "If you change your Linked Account, it will take 10 bank working days to set up your new Linked Account. During this time, you'll be unable to make any deposits into your account. You'll also be unable to make any withdrawals for 5 bank working days".

Once my a/c was set up with the £1 cheque cashed and the 1st DD taken, I set about changing the linked a/c on 29th November. On 1st December I noticed my a/c was no longer showing online. I thought it may reappear after 5 working days but this was not the case.

I received paperwork from them confirming the new linked a/c details but there was still no online access.

I've just telephoned them. 60 minute call with the first 40 minutes on hold waiting for an advisor. Apparently the a/c had been blocked, presumably due to suspicious activity. After further security questions the block was removed and I can now see the a/c online again.

The exact same situation was experienced with changing the linked a/c for my wife's Internet Saver.

I don't know whether of not waiting a longer time before changing the linked a/c would have worked without getting a block. There's certainly nothing in their information about changing your linked a/c that tells you that it could cause a block.

badger09

clivep wrote: »

So to answer my original post...

The linked a/c can be changed online to one that doesn't have a cheque book. When you do this it states "If you change your Linked Account, it will take 10 bank working days to set up your new Linked Account. During this time, you'll be unable to make any deposits into your account. You'll also be unable to make any withdrawals for 5 bank working days".

Once my a/c was set up with the £1 cheque cashed and the 1st DD taken, I set about changing the linked a/c on 29th November. On 1st December I noticed my a/c was no longer showing online. I thought it may reappear after 5 working days but this was not the case.

I received paperwork from them confirming the new linked a/c details but there was still no online access.

I've just telephoned them. 60 minute call with the first 40 minutes on hold waiting for an advisor. Apparently the a/c had been blocked, presumably due to suspicious activity. After further security questions the block was removed and I can now see the a/c online again.

The exact same situation was experienced with changing the linked a/c for my wife's Internet Saver.

I don't know whether of not waiting a longer time before changing the linked a/c would have worked without getting a block. There's certainly nothing in their information about changing your linked a/c that tells you that it could cause a block.

UGH

Although setting up my BM account hasn't been as tortuous as others have reported, I've already been locked out because of their stupid security details spacing hyphens etc configuration.

I changed my linked account on 25th November and set up a monthly DD to pay from 11th December (allowing 10 days). I got letter of confirmation and the DD appears on the correct account. However, though set to pay on 11th it hasn't been paid.

I've just checked my BM account and it says 'You do not currently have a regular deposit':( I've set it up again to pay from 28th (earliest date it will allow:mad:) and have taken photos of every screen this time.

Bye the way, I do know I can pay in by FP;)

clivep

I too can confirm that you can pay in by Faster Payments.

I wasn't 100% sure that they worked for the Internet Saver as well as other BM savings accounts as under Additional Information on their site it states "Deposits - into your Birmingham Midshires account can be made by Direct Debit taken from your Linked Account". Also, in the Welcome letter I received says "All payments in must be by Direct Debit from your linked account".

On the other hand, their General Account Management page says "For payments through the Faster Payments Service: Sort Code 20 97 78 Account Number 00968773 You must quote your personal account number as your reference".

To get a definitive answer, I thought I'd fill in their online contact form. When I tried submitting this I got an error about an invalid link and to try clearing my cache/enable cookies/some other such nonsense. It's certainly not easy contacting them is it?

So instead I decided to send £1 from my Nationwide a/c (which is also my linked account) by Faster Payments to see if it worked OK. Their General Savings t's & c's say that "Payment instructions made through the. Faster Payments Service will normally be credited to your account by the end of the next bank working day following the bank working day on which the instruction was received".

I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did it work but also the deposit showed up in my BM a/c within 2 hours on the same day.