Nat West stressful to deal with!

SevenOfNine

My mum died last Saturday. Already established that Nat West were incapable of freezing her a/c, so now she's received pension & winter fuel overpayments, something I wanted to avoid! 

Told to notify them by on-line bereavement form & download the death cert, but they also want the probate grant & I must supply it as soon as I have it.  In the meantime they will "remind me regularly to send it"!

Are they seriously planning to hold on to my mum's £19,810 for 6 months or more while I apply for probate, slow at the best of times & worse with lockdowns & workplace limitations. I can't believe their limit for paying out isn't higher than that. I have ID, the original Will, plenty of death certs, a separate a/c to hold all estate funds.

All the other organisations I've been in contact with in the past 2 days have gone to great lengths to keep their bereavement teams available, personal, very helpful & making sure they explain all the steps clearly & kindly.........& then there's Nat West!
 

Dox

NatWest's payment limit without probate has been £25,000 for some years, so unless they've reduced it, they should pay out before you get probate.

Savvy_Sue

Sorry for your loss. You know that you'd be able to settle the funeral bill by asking for the bill to be sent straight to the bank? So I'm not sure why you need the proceeds of her bank account quickly? 

For a simple estate, probate may not take very long either. 

Uxb1

Upon notification of death the banks usual freeze the account for outgoing payments but allow incoming payments to continue until the account is closed by the executors.

SevenOfNine

Thanks all.  They refused on the phone & in the branch to freeze the account. All the cashier would do was cancel all direct debits. No point in that, it wasn't outgoing payments due I was trying to block, it was incoming monies I know would have to be paid back, in itself not a great problem either but some of it is DWP & they can take forever to sort it out, unnecessary delays & added administration.

Nat West have no active bereavement telephone line, just on-line notification with uploading of documents so you can't even have a conversation with a human being. I've uploaded the death cert but they system also requires the probate grant, we won't get that for months, so all the system states is that I will be reminded that this document is outstanding at intervals before progression.

I can indeed send the original funeral invoices to Nat West for payment, but that isn't the be all & end all of outgoing payments that will be required.  As Dox has said, and I discovered on-line last night, my mother's a/c is below their threshold for release without probate, so why indicate that it isn't going to be released whatever the sum?

Though I don't claim to need any of my mother's finances to progress everything, not even for her funeral, I have funds of my own to cover it.  BUT, we are hurtling straight into the time of year that already holds catastrophically tragic thoughts & memories of the most painful loss of our lives. It is extremely difficult to cope with anything as December draws closer, but I don't expect anyone to 'get' that.  I just need to get all the bits of this tied up, get probate underway & the funeral sorted.  I can't be swamped with paperwork, difficulties or distractions at a time of year that is already difficult for me to cope with emotionally & mentally.  On top of which I simply must do my mother proud as best I can.

I've contacted at least a dozen organisations, ones that I should have had breathing space to speak with had Nat West simply frozen the account, every last one of them has had a personal bereavement contact, kindly explained each of their processes for dealing with this, every last one except Nat West.  All managing an important customer service delivery even with the trials of covid. 

After yet another sleepless night I've decided Nat West can keep my mum's money if it's so important to them, I can't give them any more of my headspace to bicker or chase them about it.  I've set up the separate bank a/c for the estate with my own bank, funded it to cover every/all outgoings including the funeral, flowers, house clearance, deep cleaning etc the list grows by the minute! Thank goodness Nat West are not my bank, that's all I can say.

naedanger

I agree that service is unacceptable. 

You could submit a formal complaint, but I am not sure it will do a lot of practical good since your issue is bad and slow service and the complaints process itself is likely to be quite slow. The one advantage is you are likely to be able to speak to someone. 

SevenOfNine

Thanks naedanger - I did decide to formally complain, mainly because it's an inconvenience to the bank (though probably only a minor one). Now I've let it go with Nat West.  Skimming over probate/tax forms (6-9 months estimated wait according to the forms), & the bank can shove my mum's hard earned cash where the sun doesn't shine until mid 2021. Then they'll have no option but to cough up!

Bill568

Nat West Bereavement Helpline no is 0800 161 5903. I found the people helpful but they offered different information each time I needed to call. My mothers accounts were frozen immediately both incoming and outgoing transactions. This is not what I was told by NatWest, but it suited me.

The Portal system is not fit for purpose. The simple key is to fill in all the information. I recall 5 different headings including a final sign off which is offered once all other parts are complete. For Grant of Probate simply upload a blank document. Create a blank pdf document, or scan a blank piece of paper. Yes, Really. It's not required to release funds but the computer does require it.

SevenOfNine

Thanks Bill568.  Today I got a standard email saying "we've taken action to protect you", accounts blocked except for any cheque payments (too late, I rang all the organisations last Tuesday when Nat West wouldn't help me, & did the Tell Us Once a day or so later, so sorted it myself). Instructions repeated to log in & upload all outstanding documents.  I'll certainly give it a try with a blank document, though I've set up a method of handling the finances from my own money now. Nat West just did my head in.

On the phone I was directed to the portal, in the branch I was told to use the portal - I''ve found it incredibly impersonal, every other organisation I've dealt with still have their bereavement teams working & have been extremely helpful.  Be interesting to see what happens when they receive a blank sheet!  Thanks.

Keep_pedalling

SevenOfNine said:

Thanks Bill568.  Today I got a standard email saying "we've taken action to protect you", accounts blocked except for any cheque payments (too late, I rang all the organisations last Tuesday when Nat West wouldn't help me, & did the Tell Us Once a day or so later, so sorted it myself). Instructions repeated to log in & upload all outstanding documents.  I'll certainly give it a try with a blank document, though I've set up a method of handling the finances from my own money now. Nat West just did my head in.

On the phone I was directed to the portal, in the branch I was told to use the portal - I''ve found it incredibly impersonal, every other organisation I've dealt with still have their bereavement teams working & have been extremely helpful.  Be interesting to see what happens when they receive a blank sheet!  Thanks.

So how are people supposed to manage who do not have access to the internet? 

badger09

@SevenOfNine

Condolences on your loss. It is an extremely emotional time for you, made doubly difficult by the current COVID restrictions.
Please try not to add to your own stress by battling with NatWest, even inside your own head.

Most financial institutions publish only a general guide to their processes, as it would be impossible to cover every eventuality. This usually means that their descriptions of what they need, are generic but slanted towards 'worst case scenario'. For example, when I was executor a couple of years ago I was told by more than one institution that Probate would be needed before they would release funds. In the event most of them, including NS&I, released funds without it. Hopefully, as the amount involved is less than NatWest's published limit, they will release to you.