How can I get my money out of my account?

digitig

A few years ago I opened a current account with SBI UK (this  site said it was the best at that time for interest on a current account). But they never gave me any way to access my money - no card, and the identifiers they gave me for the banking app never worked. This coming January I'll have been trying for three years to close the account and get my money out, with no success - they don't respond to emails or correspondence. Yesterday I even made a trip into London specifically to visit a branch to close my account, taking a statement, my passport, and my driving licence as proof of identity and address, and they still would not close the account or give me my money - they just gave me another personal identifier for  their mobile app, which again did not work.

Does anyone have any idea where I can go from here? It's a substantial sum of money, and I need it.

flaneurs_lobster

Did you try the new  "personal identifier" (whatever that is) in the bank branch in the presence of a member of SBI's staff?

What reason did they give for not giving you your money?

You need to start a formal complaint using their procedure (use the term FORMAL COMPLAINT in anything submitted)

https://sbiuk.statebank/complaint

if this doesn't lead to a satisfactory outcome then the next stage is a complaint to the Ombudsman, again this is detailed on their complaints page.

MEM62

flaneurs_lobster said:

What reason did they give for not giving you your money?

You need to start a formal complaint using their procedure (use the term FORMAL COMPLAINT in anything submitted)

Absolutely this.  

Eyeful

Do as flaneurs_lobster (above) suggests.

digitig

flaneurs_lobster said:

Did you try the new  "personal identifier" (whatever that is) in the bank branch in the presence of a member of SBI's staff?

What reason did they give for not giving you your money?

You need to start a formal complaint using their procedure (use the term FORMAL COMPLAINT in anything submitted)

https://sbiuk.statebank/complaint

if this doesn't lead to a satisfactory outcome then the next stage is a complaint to the Ombudsman, again this is detailed on their complaints page.

I didn't try to sign in in-branch because they had made my account dormant and said that it would take a few hours to reactivate.

They say that to access my money I need to use the mobile app (which I have never been able to sign in to), and to close the account I need to
use the app or send notarised proof of address and identity to the head office.

flaneurs_lobster

digitig said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Did you try the new  "personal identifier" (whatever that is) in the bank branch in the presence of a member of SBI's staff?

What reason did they give for not giving you your money?

You need to start a formal complaint using their procedure (use the term FORMAL COMPLAINT in anything submitted)

https://sbiuk.statebank/complaint

if this doesn't lead to a satisfactory outcome then the next stage is a complaint to the Ombudsman, again this is detailed on their complaints page.

I didn't try to sign in in-branch because they had made my account dormant and said that it would take a few hours to reactivate.

They say that to access my money I need to use the mobile app (which I have never been able to sign in to), and to close the account I need to
use the app or send notarised proof of address and identity to the head office.

Sounds like !!!!!!.

You were in a branch with Government-issued ID, and they want you to pay for notarised copies and send them, at your expense, to their head office? 

You shouldn't need to but could you not have waited the "few hours" to try that app access in-branch?

PRAISETHESUN

Agree that a formal complaint is needed.

I've never had issues with bank staff certifying ID for me in branch when it's been for use at that particular bank. They should have been able to certify the ID documents you brought with you and sent them off to their head office internally on your behalf, or at the very least certified them for you so you could then send them off yourself.