Ulster Bank BEWARE

martinisfab

I understand the only route to withdraw/transfer externally is to transfer from the Ulster Bank Savings Account to a Ulster Bank Current Account and then to an external bank account?

Has anyone had issues with this please?

pafpcg

I've had no problems with making a payment from my saver account direct to an external bank account.  The UB payments system displays the list of payees just as it does for the current account.  It worked for me yesterday!

friolento

martinisfab said:

I understand the only route to withdraw/transfer externally is to transfer from the Ulster Bank Savings Account to a Ulster Bank Current Account and then to an external bank account?

Has anyone had issues with this please?

No issues for me with doing that on numerous occasions

martinisfab

pafpcg said:

I've had no problems with making a payment from my saver account direct to an external bank account.  The UB payments system displays the list of payees just as it does for the current account.  It worked for me yesterday!

I'm glad it's worked for you.

It's strange, because I've rang Ulster Bank's telephone customer support twice and both times different support staff members have stated the only way to transfer money from a UB savings account to an external bank account is by transferring from an UB savings account to a UB current account and then from there to an external account?

phillw

martinisfab said:
It's strange, because I've rang Ulster Bank's telephone customer support twice and both times different support staff members have stated the only way to transfer money from a UB savings account to an external bank account is by transferring from an UB savings account to a UB current account and then from there to an external account?

It's not strange at all.

Whether you are supposed to be able to do it, whether you can do it and whether customer services know either of those things are completely different things.

There are many times when customer services will just fob you off. I don't know if it is intentional.

pafpcg

phillw said:

martinisfab said:
It's strange, because I've rang Ulster Bank's telephone customer support twice and both times different support staff members have stated the only way to transfer money from a UB savings account to an external bank account is by transferring from an UB savings account to a UB current account and then from there to an external account?

.....
There are many times when customer services will just fob you off. I don't know if it is intentional.

Support for Ulster Bank customers is inevitably bound to be "patchy" - I'm convinced that the staff manning the CORA messaging system cover all three NatWest, RBS and Ulster banks.  When I tried to query why my application for a joint Ulster Bank Loyalty Saver had got stuck, the operator responded that the only joint savings account available was the Digital (regular) saver - only available from NatWest or RBS!  It follows that (non-branch) customer support staff are likely to have much less familiarity with the Ulster Bank products and their requirements. 

JacFish

I appreciate this is an old thread but just adding my recent experience with Ulster Bank.  It was easy enough to open the account and the interest rate was good, withdrawing money to my NatWest current account was easy too.  The problem started when I wanted to close the account, I had to withdraw all the funds first and then complete an online form to request closure.  Funds withdrawn without any issues, however the online form didn't submit properly as I had no UB current a/c details to add for closure. I had to contact them through the chat on the mobile app, I then completed the form again using my NatWest details although it seemed incorrect the form was submitted. Again heard nothing until I contacted them through the chat on the mobile app which was very frustrating and going round in circles so I raised a complaint.  That was last Friday and they informed me today that I can visit a branch or send a letter by post to close the account, neither is convenient as I live in England so no local branch and I expect the post may be delayed being so near to Christmas.  I saw the information on here and asked the chat person if I could open a UB current account and close it that way! Well, yes I can so fingers crossed it should be open soon and I can get my interest and the £50 compensation.  I have had various online savings accounts and it's usually very easy to close an account and receive any accrued interest and it seems odd that I have transferred thousands of pounds to my NatWest account, it's the only payee I have used but I can't have a few hundred pounds of interest sent there! Thank you forumites for sharing your experiences   

flaneurs_lobster

@JacFish Well done for scoring £50 compo, I've taken the view that I can wait until Jan 2 for my interest so have left the Ulster current and savings accounts with a couple of quid in both, when the interest is paid it's the work of 2 minutes to transfer elsewhere.

Far less stress.

WisteriaCottage

Unfortunately I read this thread too late, and I too am tangled in the web of trying to close a savings account with UB. I'm trying the 'open UB current account to transfer the savings account into...' Apparently it'll take a couple of days to set this up, so those who are saying just a few minutes, that's not my experience.
More concerning was the dreadful customer phone support. The guy on the other end was more or less accusing me of lying when I recounted my failed online experience, then tried to suggest that I make several withdrawals up to the daily limit until I brought it down to zero, before finally suggesting the UB current account route.
As others have said, I'll definitely not use them again and will generally be more cautious when being enticed by above average interest rates. I have another account in another bank and I'm about to go and check if they have a similar problem!

Tommaso46

Sorry to hear that. I am the OP. When I started this thread I had no idea so many other people would have responded. I should have been more cautious than I was because a few years previously I had already had a bad experience with the NatWest who tricked me into opening a savings account with a very good rate of interest but after the account opening process was completed, turned out to be paying a much lower rate of interest. This seems to be policy with the NatWest banking group and for that reason I am not going to have anything more to do them.

Good luck with getting your money back. You will ----- eventually.