Sainsbury Bank impossible to close account

JohnStanley

We are buying a house. So we need need access to our savings online with SAINSBURY bank. We need to close the account.


They have a sytem where they ask questions based on EXPERIAN report, and if we dont know the fantasy answers to such questions about our personal banking (with other providers from years ago), our account gets blocked!!


We don't want credit. We want our money to buy a property.
Beware SAINSBURY BANK money in easy, out not at all easy!!




HELP please how we put right this disgraceful behaviour.
Wasted hours on this, it needs exposing.

Exodi

I truly love threads like this, not just from the whimsical language used but also because, should your suggestions that security be lower for taking money out of accounts, I'd bet my bottom dollar you'd be the first person back on here complaining about theft.

I don't personally use Sainsbury's so can't validate your comments about the use of questions as held by Experian however I'd suggest that if this is the case, and you believe the details to be incorrect, you update your Experian report?

Out of interest, what are the fantasy questions?

Tom99

Sainsbury's Bank is the worst I have ever dealt with. The only bank where I have closed my account due to the poor service.
You can send them a secure message to close your account and transfer the funds into your bank account.
Make sure you download or print any statements you need before they close the account as immediately it is closed you can no longer access the account online.
After you close the account they may send you an email saying you have a new secure messages (maybe to confirm the closure details) however you will not be able to read the secure message because you will no longer have access to your online account.

[Deleted User]

Exodi wrote: »

I truly love threads like this, not just from the whimsical language used but also because, should your suggestions that security be lower for taking money out of accounts, I'd bet my bottom dollar you'd be the first person back on here complaining about theft.

I don't personally use Sainsbury's so can't validate your comments about the use of questions as held by Experian however I'd suggest that if this is the case, and you believe the details to be incorrect, you update your Experian report?

Out of interest, what are the fantasy questions?

You've obviously never come across the buffoonery that is the Experian validation checking service or whatever the hell stupid name they've got for it. I've come across it once when trying to do a money transfer from BoS which, said transfer being £5k, meant I was clearly a money launderer! The questions are multi-choice along the lines of "which credit card account has a credit limit of £5,500: Halifax, Ulster bank, MBNA, ... [several others possibly listed]", followed by perhaps two more questions potenetially as difficult to answer correctly. Get one wrong and your account is locked.


I have every simpathy with the OP. The likes of Sainsbury's Bank seem intent on making life difficult for their customers. In fact, for various reasons I would classify Sainsbury's as one of the worst financial institutions currently doing business, and would urge everyone to steer clear of them.

Gaz83

johnsmith1890 wrote: »

The questions are multi-choice along the lines of "which credit card account has a credit limit of £5,500: Halifax, Ulster bank, MBNA, ... [several others possibly listed]", followed by perhaps two more questions potenetially as difficult to answer correctly. Get one wrong and your account is locked.

Why would someone not know the answer to that question?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I know how many credit cards I have and what their limits are.

NaughtiusMaximus

Gaz83 wrote: »

Why would someone not know the answer to that question?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I know how many credit cards I have and what their limits are.

Quite.

I've been asked questions like these a couple of times and considered them to be a perfectly reasonable and sensible way of confirming my identity.

[Deleted User]

Gaz83 wrote: »

Why would someone not know the answer to that question?

Maybe I'm missing something, but I know how many credit cards I have and what their limits are.

Really? At the moment I have 15 active credit cards and without looking at a statement I couldn't be sure to give a correct answer on any one them, though I could hazard a guess - which is, of course, not good enough. Incidentally, the list of financial instutions they give you, is likely to include ones that you have no dealings with. For a first-time victim of this idiocy this might be very disconcerting: "Eh! I don't have a credit card with Ulster Bank" ....

redux

I have an old Sainsburys account with only a few quid in.

I forgot to notify them of a change of address for several years, but nowadays I can log in if I want to.

Contact them.

Gaz83

johnsmith1890 wrote: »

Really? At the moment I have 15 active credit cards and without looking at a statement I couldn't be sure to give a correct answer on any one them, though I could hazard a guess - which is, of course, not good enough. Incidentally, the list of financial instutions they give you, is likely to include ones that you have no dealings with. For a first-time victim of this idiocy this might be very disconcerting: "Eh! I don't have a credit card with Ulster Bank" ....

But surely you would have some kind of record of what cards you have, and what their limits are? That just seems a bit, well, daft if you don't keep track of that kind of stuff.

[Deleted User]

johnsmith1890 wrote: »

Really? At the moment I have 15 active credit cards and without looking at a statement I couldn't be sure to give a correct answer on any one them, though I could hazard a guess - which is, of course, not good enough. Incidentally, the list of financial instutions they give you, is likely to include ones that you have no dealings with. For a first-time victim of this idiocy this might be very disconcerting: "Eh! I don't have a credit card with Ulster Bank" ....

Look at the statements or the accounts then - afterall only you should be able to access them?

And for ones you don't have, the bottom option is usually along the lines of "none of the above"

[Deleted User]

LOL! Of the 15 cards I have, only four are used on a regular basis, and only a couple of them on a day-to-day basis. Nevertheless, I keep all the others open (I might have a tidy up at some point). Most of them are paperless. So, when asked which of these cards, listed alongside others that I don't have, has a specific credit limit are you suggesting I keep the call-centre clerk on hold while I furiously log on to all the accounts which I operate online (two of them are offline, paper-based) to ascertain which one has the stated limit?


This sort of thing might be alright for people with a couple of cards, but most of us these days have numerous cards. And, I'm told the questions can be about other aspects of your (CRA recorded) finances, such as current balance and last transaction.