Four Different Banks with probate - four very different experiences

onomatopoeia99

My experience with Nationwide was quite different - went into the branch with death certificate and account details, they went through everything with me, said I would need probate as there was one account I hadn't found with £25k in it that put the total over their threshold. Received a lot of paperwork for the probate application shortly after in the post with the form I would need when I had the grant.  When I got the grant I filled in the form they provided and posted it with the grant, had a cheque in the post within a fortnight.

NSI I filled in an online form, nine days later the value of my father's holdings (£3k, probate not needed) was credited to the account I had set up to collect the contents of his estate for distribution and a letter in the post around the same time.

SevenOfNine

Nationwide were the WORST!  Went in with death cert to close/withdraw a mere £150 or so from an old passbook savings a/c (I even had the book). Asked if I was applying for LoA/probate, said "yes" & that was it, they REFUSED to close a/c & pay out until LoA was granted.

NatWest, even worse. Less than £20k, did their on-line notification but hit a wall as probate not completed yet so I couldn't supply the Grant. Phoned bereavement dept & was told "go to branch". Did that & they wouldn't deal with it, said I had to phone. Wouldn't even freeze account which meant a pension overpayment went in. I finally demanded bereavement dept at least freeze the a/c.

Fed up with pratting about I instigated formal complaints to both places & got a few hundred pounds from each for the estate.

Lloyds, death cert & some ID was more than adequate, disclaimer signed & they were EAGER to pay out. Never even asked who executors were or for sight of the will. The disclaimer clearly washed their hands of any problems that might arise.

Santander - great. Paid out on sight of ID & death cert, by cheque.

Barclays - great. Over their limit so probate had to be obtained, but they reimbursed for funeral deposit from the deceased's a/c & paid the rest of the bill when it was due.

onomatopoeia99

SevenOfNine said:

Nationwide were the WORST!  Went in with death cert to close/withdraw a mere £150 or so from an old passbook savings a/c (I even had the book). Asked if I was applying for LoA/probate, said "yes" & that was it, they REFUSED to close a/c & pay out until LoA was granted.

I needed probate for Nationwide due to the amount anyway, but a couple of the other institutions where the amount was under their probate threshold and that would otherwise just need a death certificate and completed "small estates form" worked on a "if you're applying for probate for any reason, we also require it irrespective of the amount" basis.

Lloyds were no problem, I just told their helpline all the details including the serial number of the death certificate and they transferred the balance to the account I specified.

JGB1955

Barclays were a total PITA when registering EPA. 

However, when it came to death the £30K+ in my father's account was paid to my Nationwide account within days. 

Santander were an absolute shambles on 1) my mother's death and 2) registering EPA for my father.  Upon my mother's death my brother and I had to visit our local Santander branch with ID.  They managed to photocopy the blank side of the ID.  Twice.  In branches 150 miles apart.

When I asked Santander about registering EPA for my father they said, 'no need.... everything remains as previously'.. totally ignoring the fact that the registration of EPA should prevent my father from using his own bank account (which is what we needed to happen).

I still get emails from Santander about 'my' account - the one I've never had!  Wouldn't touch with a barge pole.

JGB1955

Sorry - just to say, I found (and still do find) Nationwide brilliant for dealing with my personal circumstances with my father's estate.  I realised, quite early on, that all of the beneficiaries to my father's estate banked with Nationwide.  One of them lives abroad but has (legitimately) a UK account. Phew!  Was able to send 6 figure sums to my nearest and dearest with no cost and no delay.  No questions asked.  

Newly_retired

Lloyds bereavement team have been excellent. They advised me I could open an account in my name for the purpose of receiving the money in my late husband’s accounts. They also advised me I could open a new ISA and transfer the money from his ISA into iit, then go into branch to sign a form to get the APS, ie preserve its ISA status, without touching my own personal ISA. All this without Probate, just the death certificate uploaded. I think it helped that I already had an account with them.
A 35 minute bus journey to go to branch. I waited to speak to someone knowledgable, but he soon admitted he had never heard of it! He did go into the back to ask to information, and helped me complete the form. Finally he thanked me for enabling him to improve his knowledge! 

tetrarch

Nationwide have been unequivocally the worst.

No real help thing from the branch, they didn't even pass on all the documents that they would accept. 

Then the bereavement team delayed doing anything. Another chase said that the delay wa and admin error and then a hopeless back-and-forwards with a junior on the bereavement team who didn't even know what a CHAPS payment was

Funds finally received, plus an apology yesterday

Regards

Tet

Sea_Shell

It's amazing that banks seem so "off the ball" when dealing with Executors and bereavement.

Anyone would think it's a new thing!  Not something that happens 1000s of times a year, across their whole customer base.

hicksmat1976

Hi, joined the forum just to reply to this.

My mum passed several weeks ago. I am the sole beneficiary and sole executor of mums estate.

Mum banked with Nationwide - just 1 account.

I went into her branch to notify them of her death.

I then was told to wait 2 weeks for letter in the post (why this couldn't all be done in branch I don't know - I had all the paperwork on me such as the will and the death cert).

I've had the letter back now a few weeks later, and it says what I expected which is - go to probate - why could they simply not just say this in branch 2 weeks ago?

I look at their bereavement booklet they have provided, there is a section about help paying for things such as funeral and probate. The booklet claims "you may need to pay for urgent expenses such as grant of probate - to cover these fees fill in a form and send to us - we don't need to see the bill - we will make the cheque out to the court".

This is NOT how it works if you are applying for probate online.

Filling out the probate application online ends with the payment section - which is card only, which means the executor has to pay (not as previously claimed by nationwide in their booklet, the deceased) and then Nationwide will reimburse you after.

I called Nationwide and they have had to log a complaint because a) they agree the bereavement booklet advice looks incorrect, and b) they insist I pay for probate and they will pay me back - which I refuse to do.

Online I also saw this:

"Nationwide allows you to access money from a deceased customer’s account to pay for urgent probate court fees, funeral costs, and Inheritance Tax before the Grant of Representation is officially issued. You can request this assistance by contacting their dedicated bereavement team or filling out specific forms in-branch."

also not true.

reading the stories on here, particularly regarding Nationwide, sound like a horror show, and I'm in one myself now.

hicksmat1976

hi just a little update on my specific circumstance with Nationwide.

So I want to submit probate online and the only way to do that is to pay via card. Nationwide processes only allow payment from the estate via a cheque - either to the courts directly or reimbursement to the executor.

So I’m the executor of the estate as per the will. Nationwide effectively saying that I have to pay for probate myself via card, and then I’ve got to prove that I’ve paid it and take that Nationwide to get reimbursed.

This is contrary to what they say both on their website and in the bereavement booklet that they provide.

This specific circumstances of applying online isn’t catered for, and is a process issue with Nationwide.

I’ve made a complaint and apparently I will hear back in up to 56 days.

so my options are that I either pay the probate fee fees myself and claim back or I potentially wait 56 days to get some sort of resolution before applying for probate

I think I’ll be leaving Nationwide when this is all over