Virgin Money - spotted fraud & refuse to act.

B144C

Hello,

This is a bit of an odd problem.  I opened a current account in Yorkshire Bank, Birkenhead, Wirral, in 1992/3 and had to take wage slips, passport, driving licence etc to prove who I was and where I lived. That was all accepted and one day the Post man knocked and said, "I think this might be yours". It was a letter with the account details and on the envelope it had part of my address missing. The second bit of the road name wasn't on it...for example "Beech Tree Road" was "Beech Road". The post man said that would be enough to "Return to Sender", but he had other letters and thought he was doing me a favour. 

I called the Bank and they said they would look in to it. A few weeks later after my bank card didn't show up I went in to ask why, I was given no explanation but issued with another which the Post Man spotted again and handed to me. The address was wrong.  I complained again, they said they would fix it.

A while later I applied for Internet Banking and the details turned up in an opened envelope with "not know at this address - try .....................".  I went in to the bank and was told to send a letter.  That resulted in an apology from the Bank Manager and £50 as an apology.  I thought that was the end of the matter as I was assured this had been fixed.

I was hunting for new accounts last month and wanted to try the Virgin Money one.  I had an ISA with them, so put my user name in and it kept throwing me out.  I had not realised that it's now Yorkshire Bank & others trading as Virgin Money and because I had kept a visa, which later got changed to mastercard for Yorkshire Bank, they still had my details on record.  Virgin Money was asking me to log-in with my Yorkshire Bank Customer Number and Password.  I did so and clicked on the button to apply for the account, put all my details in and then because the site knew me, it put the details on the screen.  THE WRONG DETAILS !  It was the original Yorkshire Bank record that had never been changed from the 90s.

I phoned Virgin Money and they said they could see the correct details had gone in to set up the account in 1992-ish, but someone at Yorkshire Bank, Birkenhead, had altered the main bank record and postal address almost straight after.  After I complained, all they did at Yorkshire Bank was alter the Postal Address and made no effort to change anything else to put my bank record as my correct road name.  I suspect this was done for fraudulent purposes and was to have items posted from the bank either diverted or returned so they could be stolen and used.  Fortunately they never got to do this as the Post Man was very helpful !

I have been trying for around 3 weeks to have this resolved.  I have so far made around 16 Hours worth of phone calls, not had a single one returned as they couldn't be bothered, sent 8 emails and offered repeatedly to supply all documents relating to every bank I have been with since I was about 7, all ID and wage slips, plus dates only I would know about events on the Yorkshire Bank accounts and they don't want to know.  I am repeatedly fobbed off and given the same old rubbish about "this could take 8 weeks before anyone looks at it".  If I took 8 weeks to deal with an email at work I would be shown the door!

I am still at risk from fraud and despite all the proof I can provide, and the fact that the incorrect road name doesn't even exist in the UK, Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money REFUSE to correct this or report it to Police to have whoever went changing addresses investigated.  I doubt I am the only person at that Bank that was a victim of fraud.  This has probably had a severe impact on my Credit Reference over the years as there would be a bit of an odd record or disjointed one.

SO the question is - How do I get Virgin Money to do the right thing and correct the address?   I said I would approach the Financial Ombudsman and they said that unless I make a complaint to Yorkshire Bank/VirginMoney, the ombudsman will nto look at it and they have no intention of dealing with it as a complaint.  That's one way of covering up!!!  Virgin Money refuses to supply me with names of Managers, will not let me speak to any and pass me around various operators, they send scripted replies to emails and no one will take ownership of this or deal with it.  The customer service and complaints resolution falls way below the standards I expect from a major Brand.

Open to fraud, credit status ruined and a refusal to let me open a VirginMoney account thanks to the criminal actions of people at one Yorkshire Bank and the refusal to correct this.

Ed-1

B144C said:

...

You have both a right to complain and a right to have personal details corrected.

So submit a formal complaint to Virgin Money with your findings and keep it factual.

maxsteam

The procedure for complaints at any bank is that you follow the bank's own procedure and then, if you are unhappy with the outcome, you can pass the matter to the financial ombudsman. The ombudsman will indeed not look at matters until/unless you have completed the bank's own formal complaints procedure which should be outlined on their website. The bank is allowed 8 weeks to produce their final response to your complaint. When making the formal complaint you should avoid words like "fraud" and "criminal" for a matter that has not even been (and is unlikely to ever go) to court. The bank cannot stop you making a formal complaint. Simply writing a letter which includes the words "this is a formal complaint" and sending it to the address provided on the website for complaints is enough. You should keep a copy and a posting receipt and then, if you get no response, you can contact the ombudsman eight weeks later.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/how-to-complain

Before you take another step with this matter, you need to appreciate that most large organisations never type more than your postcode and house number into their records. They rely on the Royal Mail's database of addresses. You should check whether this database contains your correct address and postcode and, if it doesn't, you should contact Royal Mail.

https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/update-your-address

eskbanker

B144C said:

I doubt I am the only person at that Bank that was a victim of fraud.

But you weren't a victim of fraud, unless there's something you haven't mentioned?

As far as I can see, you've concluded that the reason for an address record being changed must have been to perpetrate some sort of fraud but have no evidence of this (or of any actual fraudulent activity on your account), and seem surprised that nearly thirty years later nobody's interested in reporting a notional 'crime' to the police!  If you're that convinced that there was a crime, why not report it yourself - please make sure you have someone filming it though, as it would be comedy gold....

B144C said:

...credit status ruined...

Really?  What evidence do you have for this?

B144C said:

SO the question is - How do I get Virgin Money to do the right thing and correct the address?   I said I would approach the Financial Ombudsman and they said that unless I make a complaint to Yorkshire Bank/VirginMoney, the ombudsman will nto look at it and they have no intention of dealing with it as a complaint.  That's one way of covering up!!!  Virgin Money refuses to supply me with names of Managers, will not let me speak to any and pass me around various operators, they send scripted replies to emails and no one will take ownership of this or deal with it.  The customer service and complaints resolution falls way below the standards I expect from a major Brand.

Anyway, moving on from all the exaggerated rhetoric, inaccurate personal information is really a data protection matter rather than one for the financial ombudsman, so if you don't have any joy with Virgin Money then the escalation route should be the ICO.  Perhaps worth going via Virgin's data protection officer first though - https://uk.virginmoney.com/security/#rectification-of-information explains your rights and also includes a specific email address for such matters:

You can contact us at any time to discuss how we hold and use your information and how to exercise your data protection rights. Please contact us by email at CYBG.data.protection.officer.queries@cybg.com or by post at Group Data Protection Officer, Group Risk, Level 3, 51 West George Street, Glasgow G2 2JJ.

MovingForwards

As you now use the internet, search 
Virgin money change of address form

Print, complete and return it to them

Or use the messaging facility, ask them to send you a change of address form, fill that in and return it to them.

Change your account settings to online only, then when everything is updated you can switch back to paper copies.

All this can be done and resolved while you wait for them to look into your complaint.