L&G refusing me my pension due to the bank that I use.

Doctor_Who

Deleted_User said:

Emmia said:

Can you open an account with a bank on their approved list?

Is your account with a high street bricks and mortar type place e.g. Lloyds, HSBC, Natwest etc. Or a newer fintech bank e.g. Monzo, Starling...

Why should I have to open a new bank account? It is a fully licensed and regulated UK bank. Whether it adheres to an outdated stereotype of a 'bricks and mortar' bank isn't relevant.

It's often recommended to have at least two bank (current) accounts in case you can't access one for some reason (e.g. website down etc), that way you can at least access some of your money when you need it. There is obviously a reason (rightly or wrongly) why your bank is not on L&G's list, but you are unlikely to change that. The quickest and simplest solution is to open an account with a bank that is on their list.

marcia_

Deleted_User said:

Please can I respectfully ask people not to ask me who I bank with. I will not answer this online. It's a well-established UK licensed and regulated bank.

The question was does anyone else have experience of this? Or know anything about the legality of it? 

Thank you.

 Why the paranoia about naming the bank. Nobody knows who you are or where you are from 
 

legally they can implement what policies they want. You either comply or do without 

NedS

As I see it, you have 3 choices:

1. Open a bank account at a bank on their approved list.

2. Move your pension to another provider who is prepared to deal with your current bank

3. Continue to argue the toss with L&G

Option 1 looks like the solution that will get you your cash the quickest.

Option 2 looks lengthy, and if there is a legal reason why L&G is unable to deal with your bank, will likely affect all other pension providers too.

Option 3 likely has you going round in circles for some time, becoming ever more frustrated. I doubt there is anything you can say which will cause L&G to change their minds.

Good luck.

Tommyjw

Deleted_User said:

Please can I respectfully ask people not to ask me who I bank with. I will not answer this online. It's a well-established UK licensed and regulated bank.

The question was does anyone else have experience of this? Or know anything about the legality of it? 

Thank you.

Seems like you're limiting the help anybody could provide by withholding information which in no way shape or form would have any impact on yo ufor saying who it is. The fact you arent willing to say who it is is actually a red flag and likely explains why L&G think the same.

Them for some reason not accepting to pay into HSBC because in their world it isn't on 'their list' is a lot different that e.g. Raisin who i dont think actually count as a 'bank' in the same way, atleast from my knowledge. Whichever one it is impacts what people may suggest is done and whetehr its you or them that has to move.

Emmia

Deleted_User said:

Please can I respectfully ask people not to ask me who I bank with. I will not answer this online. It's a well-established UK licensed and regulated bank.

The question was does anyone else have experience of this? Or know anything about the legality of it? 

Thank you.

I'm not sure anyone can help you with the sparse information given. 



Oddly since the forum was redesigned, there seems to be more people not willing to share relevant information which is pretty fundamental to their question. 

Ciprico

Odd the secrecy about who you bank with but you freely bandy around where your pension is....

There's obviously "something" odd about this bank in that L&G won't deal with them and you feel the need to to be super secretive...

The problem is obviously with the bank......

dunstonh

Deleted_User said:

Please can I respectfully ask people not to ask me who I bank with. I will not answer this online. It's a well-established UK licensed and regulated bank.

The question was does anyone else have experience of this? Or know anything about the legality of it? 

Thank you.

In which case, I do not believe you that it is a bank.

Until you name the so-called bank, there is no way for anyone to provide you with any help or information.      Nobody can actually answer your question as it would need the name of the so-called bank for them to say whether they had experience with it or not.

All we can say is that the providers have no issues with UK banks but do have issues with payment service providers that mimic some banking services but lack the appropriate regulatory permissions to be a bank.       Its not about being regulated.  Its about being regulated with the appropriate permissions.  If its classed as an EMI, API or SPI then its not a bank.

55ryan

In a previous job we weren't allowed to let anyone have payments go to Skipton Building society. It was due to them not agreeing to refund overpayments as a matter of course. Some complained but there was no budging with it despite their complaints to the Ombudsman/MP.

This was a few years ago (and may have changed since) but I thought it would be an interesting example of why sometimes people will be refused payment being made to their bank. 

Personally, I would move on. If they don't allow payment to a particular financial institution, it is incredibly unlikely they would make exception. 

Pat38493

(Removed by Forum Team)

Yes I am pretty sure it's legal for them to refuse to pay to any bank that they decide to take a dislike to.  Obviously if they started saying "you can only bank with xyz bank if you want to do business with us", they would probably lose a lot of customers, but there is nothing legally to stop them doing that.

I've never seen anyone else on these boards who refused to divulge the name of the bank they were with, whilst insisting that they receive answers about that particular bank, and that it's a mainstream UK bank.  There would be no reason to refuse to answer the question unless there is something that would be clearly relevant that you are not telling us.

If you believe it's illegal for them to refuse to pay into your mysterious mega bank, I would suggest that you hire a lawyer to force them to do so.

[Deleted User]

UPDATE:

The manager dealing with this at L&G has been in touch. She is very helpful. She acknowledges that this is a problem and it's not one that L&G are happy about either. The situation arises because of L&G use a credit checking (Lexus Nexus) company to verify my bank account, and Lexus Nexus use two other credit checking companies (names unknown), and those companies have lists of 'accepted' banks. They do now know what the criteria for being an 'accepted bank' is, but L&G are trying to get my bank added to this list for the longer term issue, and they are still working on the short term issue. I am impressed with the seriousness with which they have taken the issue, and with the way they are dealing with it.

This new information changes my thoughts slightly. Why is a credit-check company able to dictate what banks people can and can't use? It is the regulatory body that decides what is and isn't a proper bank. If a credit-check company can pick and choose which bank accounts it will verify this leaves them wide open to corruption. And it does rather fly in the face of an economy that is based on a free market and fair competition.

If anyone has any experience of similar issues, or knowledge about the legal issues involved I would like to hear from you, please do post.

But from here on I will have to ignore the personsplaining. I don't need advice on fixing this - I am doing pretty well on that thank you. I am interested in experiences and views on questions above, and in the OP.