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Bank of Scotland Frustration

glitterball
Posts: 129 Forumite
So I am one of those people who is called by their middle name not their first name don't ask me why it was the parents.
I have tried to pay a cheque into the Bank of Scotland through mobile app) which was made out to my middle name and the bank has refused to accept it as they insisted the name on my account was my first name and they had no note of my middle name. Interesting says I your letter is addressed to First name, middle name, surname and the front of the bank cards have both my initials on. I have paid cheques in before which are just my middle name and surname with no issue. 'well you've just been lucky its not your name and its not our problem that you want to be known as a different name- Eh it is my name it has always been my name - degenerated into a fraud discussion and something about contacting the police- are you having a laugh says I its a cheque for £11.50. No I cant get the person to re write it I don't have their contact details, no its not any of you business what its for they gave it to me in good faith and I have never had this issue in the 30 odd years I have banked with you. And I want the cost of this hour long call back - not sure we can do that. Luckily thats where the call got cut off cause I was just about to really lose it.
So goes into the branch - they have already flagged it up on the system so they took the cheque but can guarantee it will be accepted. despite me showing my driving licence with the signature being middle name, surname. Laugh is they honour my cheques I sign with my middle name and surname only.
Beyond frustrated
I have tried to pay a cheque into the Bank of Scotland through mobile app) which was made out to my middle name and the bank has refused to accept it as they insisted the name on my account was my first name and they had no note of my middle name. Interesting says I your letter is addressed to First name, middle name, surname and the front of the bank cards have both my initials on. I have paid cheques in before which are just my middle name and surname with no issue. 'well you've just been lucky its not your name and its not our problem that you want to be known as a different name- Eh it is my name it has always been my name - degenerated into a fraud discussion and something about contacting the police- are you having a laugh says I its a cheque for £11.50. No I cant get the person to re write it I don't have their contact details, no its not any of you business what its for they gave it to me in good faith and I have never had this issue in the 30 odd years I have banked with you. And I want the cost of this hour long call back - not sure we can do that. Luckily thats where the call got cut off cause I was just about to really lose it.
So goes into the branch - they have already flagged it up on the system so they took the cheque but can guarantee it will be accepted. despite me showing my driving licence with the signature being middle name, surname. Laugh is they honour my cheques I sign with my middle name and surname only.
Beyond frustrated
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Comments
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I used to work for a different bank. I think you've just been lucky in the past.
Cheques do need to match the account name, or be clearly intended to match the account name. So, if your name was Mr Glitter Ball Surname, you could use Glitter Surname, Glitter Ball Surname, Glitter B Surname, that kind of thing.
Ball Surname or a variant of it, is not clearly the same person. You could have a child, sibling or partner, it's not unusual for people to have a middle name that's a family member's first name, which is what could trigger a fraud investigation - for example, "have you been paying cheques intended for your father into your account?" type of thing. I'm not suggesting you have, but you can see how that could be construed.
Either way, the bank is technically correct to refuse the cheque.
https://www.bankofscotland.co.uk/aboutonline/mobile-banking/cheque-deposits/faqs.html
Q13 in the FAQ correctly says, "The recipient name can be in any language as long as it matches the account name."
Your cheque doesn't match the account name. Therefore, as frustrating as this is, the bank is correct.
Banks are changing over to cheque imaging to process payments, which means the details are imaged and "read", so the mismatch between the payee on the cheque and your account are more easily flagged. It's of course possible that this automatically prevents the payment going through (I'm not sure, I haven't worked for a bank in a while, and this is new!).
Unfortunately I think your options are either to get a new cheque made out to match the account, and in the long term, if you use your middle name, change your name so that everything you get comes in that name.
In terms of your signature, that's a non-issue as far as I understand it. The fact you do sign using that, and were able to prove it by showing your driving licence, just shows that they are right to honour your cheques signed that way. The Scottish Law Commission says:
...the following can be a valid signature where only formal validity (i.e. category (ii)) is required:
• a name which is not the signatory's full name (e.g. the forename Hector standing without a surname);
• a description (e.g. Dad);
• an initial (e.g. HLM or, perhaps, H); or
• a mark (e.g. X),
if (1) these are the person's usual method of signing, whether generally or only for documents of the kind in question; or (2) if the person intended it to be a signature of the document.
The difference is they know your cheques are intended to be paid, while they cannot be certain that the cheque you're trying to pay in is intended for you.0 -
In our family its actually our Forenames that are after relatives and our middle names are what we are all known as. I just cant get my head round how I have reached my mid 50's and its a problem now. Ive paid in much larger cheques at the branch and never been questioned. Ironic thing is I was selling charity Christmas cards at a church and a lady didn't have enough cash so she gave me the the balance she was short of in a cheque and I put the cash in for her. You try to do something nice.
Just feel really hacked off and frankly discriminated against, that only the social "norm" of being known as your forename is acceptable.
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glitterball wrote: »In our family its actually our Forenames that are after relatives and our middle names are what we are all known as. I just cant get my head round how I have reached my mid 50's and its a problem now. Ive paid in much larger cheques at the branch and never been questioned. Ironic thing is I was selling charity Christmas cards at a church and a lady didn't have enough cash so she gave me the the balance she was short of in a cheque and I put the cash in for her. You try to do something nice.
Just feel really hacked off and frankly discriminated against, that only the social "norm" of being known as your forename is acceptable.
I can see it's frustrating, the problem is the bank have actually done the right thing. I really do think you've just been very lucky - I haven't worked for a bank in a long time and everything had to match.
I now work with students and we have some from countries where they have one name only, so technically no forename or surname. That's what's on their passports, so we have some students who look like they have "*" or "-" as a first or last name because our IT system doesn't know what to do with one name! It physically won't let us leave it blank.
Perhaps a more positive way to think of it is in terms of fraud prevention. The bank is following the rules, which for you has been frustrating, but that may prevent someone else losing money. Fortunately you're less than £12 out of pocket, so not an expensive lesson I guess.
I would look at changing your name legally so that it matches what you actually use. Remember, the banks are starting to check names on transfers too, so that might affect anyone paying money into your account (such as your employer!). These checks are industry wide, so switching banks isn't going to remedy that for you.0 -
The difference is they know your cheques are intended to be paid, while they cannot be certain that the cheque you're trying to pay in is intended for you.
As far as I am aware people called Smith are usually permitted to pay cheques into their account.0 -
brianposter wrote: »This argument is silly when the OP can show a driving licence showing the appropriate name.
As far as I am aware people called Smith are usually permitted to pay cheques into their account.
I wonder if you have misread this? The OP saysglitterball wrote: »despite me showing my driving licence with the signature being middle name, surname.
The OP only says that the signature is the middle and surname. It's not clear that the name on the driving licence is as well. But as I said, signatures don't have to match the name, so merely having that signature on a drivers licence doesn't get around the payee and account name not matching.
As I mentioned, I used to work for a bank. Say you work in a small village branch. You know there is a family with a John Adam Smith, and an Adam John Smith. If John Smith tried to pay a cheque made out to Adam Smith into his account, what would you think?
The rules around payee names matching account names are there for a reason and are long established.0 -
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As I mentioned, I used to work for a bank. Say you work in a small village branch. You know there is a family with a John Adam Smith, and an Adam John Smith. If John Smith tried to pay a cheque made out to Adam Smith into his account, what would you think?Eco Miser
Saving money for well over half a century0 -
brianposter wrote: »No. In the real world the signature may well be a better indication of the name by which a person is known than their official documants.
Clearly not seen mine then. Never work out my name from that. Just the same as many other people.Life in the slow lane0 -
brianposter wrote: »In the real world the signature may well be a better indication of the name by which a person is known than their official documants.0
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What's in a name, eh? I'm known as "H M Revenue and Customs" to all my friends, and yet my bank wouldn't let me cash a bunch of cheques with my nickname on them. Humbug!: )0
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