Nightmare! Oak North & Coventry BS funds transfer issues - now neither will give me my money

35har1old

subjecttocontract said:

How awful. What a ridiculous, frustrating and annoying position to be in. Hope you get it resolved asap. In the meantime I'll add Oak North to my growing list of those to 'Avoid' if that's how they treat customers.

Then you better add any bank or building society that require you send money from a nominated which are usally a current account and not a savings account any bank would struggle to send a payment back to a closed account

TheWoodler

OakNorth do appear to have placed you in a Kafkaesque position, but their General Terms, linked to on a banner as soon as you press the application button, do say that deposits can only be accepted from your nominated account. (They’re not unique in that approach, either.)



In following up @AmityNeon’s advice, would you be able to cut the Gordian knot by requesting the funds be sent to your nominated account, for which they should already have details from your application and existing accounts. In conjunction with the closing statement and the other Coventry paperwork you’ve provided, this might just unblock things and provide an acceptable resolution. 

It might also be worth checking if your Coventry paperwork tallies address-wise with your nominated account. I’ve found that address discrepancies can throw spanners in works (my own address can be post town vs local authority which is a completely different entity from the post town!) 

Hope that helps. 

35har1old

velocipede said:

OK this will take some explaining!

A few days ago, I opened a new Easy Access Savings account at OakNorth and funded it by transferring funds from a Cov BS 12 month fixed term bond that was maturing at the end of December. 

The money was sent from the Cov - and received by Oak North. However, Oak North are saying the funds didn't come from my nominated account and they are refusing to accept them and want to send them back to eCov. But Cov are saying my account is closed and they can't accept the funds.

Right now, Oak North have my money but won't pay it into my new account and I am stuck.

Oak North have requested a copy of a statement from Coventry, but as my account is closed, I can't get one and the only thing Cov can provide is a closing statement, which they have provided and I have passed on. Oak North say that they won't accept closing statements!

What on earth can I do - this is very very stressful as it's a large sum of money involved.

Can you provide them with the Coventry details and any ID that they require and perhaps they could send you a cheque 

subjecttocontract

35har1old said:

subjecttocontract said:

How awful. What a ridiculous, frustrating and annoying position to be in. Hope you get it resolved asap. In the meantime I'll add Oak North to my growing list of those to 'Avoid' if that's how they treat customers.

Then you better add any bank or building society that require you send money from a nominated which are usally a current account and not a savings account any bank would struggle to send a payment back to a closed account

I agree the OP has not acted within the rules but that doesn't condone the behaviour of Oak North in obstructing the OPs access to the funds. I think most people would have expected them to provide some help and assistance rather than none at all.

TheWoodler

I agree - OakNorth can’t keep doing the same thing over and over again to no effect. The funds are not theirs to retain in limbo - if they’re rejecting the funds then they cannot retain them through intransigence and lack of common sense. 

I would ask to escalate to a manager and start this as a formal complaint. 

velocipede

We had an email to say they would consider the closing statement as enough to all the funds to clear - but when we submitted the statement they rejected it again on the same basis as before (ie not the nominated account) - this was via a “standard” email yesterday so I’m hoping we can get this resolved when we actually speak with them today - let’s see

velocipede

Thanks very much to everyone for your comments. 

Thankfully this has now been resolved and I have to say that, in the end, the team at OakNorth have been very helpful after we escalated this over the last 24 hours, and the resolution, after providing as much info as we could regarding the Cov account, was that the new OakNorth account has been opened and the transferred sum now recognised in the account.

It was our mistake in the first place to transfer the money from a non-nominated account and I have to hold my hand up for that. The horrible situation that came on the back of that, with neither OakNorth nor the Coventry seemingly able to give us access to our own money, was however very stressful indeed (the full amount was over £50k, so you can imagine how stressful this was!).  A lesson learned!

Thanks again for the help and advice.

Kim_13

Glad this is now sorted. 

The stipulations are obviously there to help prevent money laundering, but when evidence can be provided CS should know that this meets legal and regulatory requirements without the matter needing to be escalated. 

With sums in this region, it’s likely that there would have been issues even if the money had been transferred from a nominated account - because the current account provider would have flagged when £50K landed shortly followed by a request to transfer the lot out again. At least this way there’s no risk of your current account provider taking even longer to allow access to the funds and then deciding they no longer want your custom, viewing the whole thing as high risk.

It’s a shame there isn’t a transfer system for normal savings accounts, given that it can be a case of a rock or a hard place when moving larger sums.

jaybeetoo

subjecttocontract said:

How awful. What a ridiculous, frustrating and annoying position to be in. Hope you get it resolved asap. In the meantime I'll add Oak North to my growing list of those to 'Avoid' if that's how they treat customers.

I think you are being harsh on Oak North.  This problem is entirely of the OPs making.  Oak North will only receive funds from and send funds to a nominated account.  The OP has sent funds from a different account to the one the OP nominated.  Oak North are quite rightly not allowing those funds to be accepted and want to send them back to Coventry.

subjecttocontract

jaybeetoo said:

subjecttocontract said:

How awful. What a ridiculous, frustrating and annoying position to be in. Hope you get it resolved asap. In the meantime I'll add Oak North to my growing list of those to 'Avoid' if that's how they treat customers.

I think you are being harsh on Oak North.  This problem is entirely of the OPs making.  Oak North will only receive funds from and send funds to a nominated account.  The OP has sent funds from a different account to the one the OP nominated.  Oak North are quite rightly not allowing those funds to be accepted and want to send them back to Coventry.

Quite right but, nobody is disputing the fact that the OP has not acted within the rules. The OP made a genuine mistake. What I think is awful is that Oak North offered no help & assistance although, if you read the thread, the matter has now been resolved.

People make mistakes and we expect banks and other institutions to provide help if possible. Oak North did eventually provide help, it's a shame it wasn't forthcoming initially.