Royal Bank of Scotland - 'lost' our savings!

therabbitt

Ok here's the skinny,

Around 20 years ago, my mum received money for me and my sister from a great uncle of ours, £500 each.

My mum wanted to save it for us, so she opened a Royal Bank of Scotland account (her own branch at the time) in Glasgow and put the money into it, it was called something like the Rainbow Saving Account. We never touched it. My mum has the bank book, and it was only ever stamped once to pay the money into the account.

Cut to last year, my mum finds the book and wants to get the money to give to me and my sister, naturally exited about giving us this gift, probably with some nice interest!

However the RBS branch she opened the account with is now a business only branch, therefore all of the records from when it was moved (presumably paper based) are somewhere else.

My mum has been given the run around for a year, being told that they are running checks and tracing the account using trackers and things. I think they are giving her the brush off.

Last week she lost the head and went into her own branch in her town and lit on the people there, who made her feel that she had done something wrong, making sure the stamp was real and not forged etc.

So they are now apparently ok that there was such an account and it seems like it is acutally moving somewhere after a year of delaying tactics on the behalf of RBS.

Has anyone else ever had anything like this before?? Can anyone help at all? Any advice??

If I were a cynical person Id almost think that they are not wanting to payout 20 odd years worth of interest on the cash :mad:

BenL

If I were running RBS I would be getting you a cheque out of a write off account and that being the end of it.

The account will most likely have had interest rate decreases to 0.1% or something since then and be archived off in a legacy system somewhere if it has made it on to a computer system since it was open.

Its not really economically viable for them to look for the exact account and should just pay up to get rid of the query.

I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope for a large payout but we'll see (hopefully)

therabbitt

Thats what I dont get, its not our fault that they have lost the account when moving to computer based records etc. As far as Im concerned is that accounts such as this are supposed to be forgotten about until many years later where interest has accumulated. Whats the point of opening an account such as this then if the banks can then shift the goalposts at somepoint down the line without notification??

It would not have been fair of the bank to change the interest on the account or anything without nofification, my mum has lived at the same address since the account was opened.

It just seems that they have lost the accounts details etc and instead of putting their hands up and admitting such and paying out, they have been using delaying tactics in the hope that my mum will lose interest in trying to get the money back.

Does anyone know if this kind of thing is commonplace??

Rafter

Banks have £ billions in these kind of dormant accounts that are opened and then forgotten about.

The treasury are trying to get their hands on the money.

Just make sure you get your money back with a decent rate of interest!

R.

*MF*

RBS web site for those who are unhappy with their service is here:

http://www.rbs.co.uk/global/h/contact-us/personal-banking/complain.ashx#tabs=section3

Were it me, I would use the 0800 phone number on that link - hope this helps.

therabbitt

How can I make sure that I get a good rate of interest?? Shouting?? Strongly worded emails?? Also, they have not been doing anything for the last year when they were supposed to be tracing the money

dunstonh

Almost certainly the accounts have gone dormant and the bank would have closed it off. As long as account numbers can be given and they can verify identity of the beneficial owner then there is no problem. Its a bit of work for the staff member involved and that may explain the putting off but its fairly easy to sort.

How can I make sure that I get a good rate of interest??

You will get the interest you are entitled to. That will be the rate that the account in question has been paying (or if the account was changed to something else, you will get that rate). 20 years ago banks werent allowed to compete with building societies on savings and could only offer a deposit account so the rate of interest will be tiny.

anandp

Did the original query for the dormant account go through the BBA website:

http://www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=144

They have an official procedure to handle these things so may work better than going into a branch, etc.

chesky369

If I were you I'd write to Margaret Dibben, consumer rights person of the money section at the Observer - she loves this sort of problem and solves stuff like this every week.

Meltdown_2

Actually, this thread is a bit more puzzling than the expected 'closed account-lousy interest' one.

According to the RBS website, this "Rainbow Savings Account" is still an open account, if that is the correct term (i.e. not closed) - which seems pretty remarkable itself for a 20-year old account - and the current rate of interest is 4.35% AER / Gross (paid annually).

Since it is still ongoing, I had a look at the T&Cs. These indicate it is a 'trust' account for children i.e. opened by a parent (etc) on their behalf. It does say that the account should be transferred over to the child's name when they reach 16, but this is essentially so that the tax position can be regularised.

It also says, though, that money can be extracted (sorry withdrawn ) at any branch providing you have the passbook and ID. Downside is that it limits this to £50 per day! (Still you could get it back that way in just over a fortnight.)

One other trick you might consider is online banking. Not around (obviously) when the account was opened, but it might well be an account that could be viewed (at least) that way now. Is your mum registered for RBS online banking? Could she do this? You would seem to have the necessary info to view the account if the computers know about it - though the OP's litany of problems with RBS perhaps makes this unlikely.

therabbitt doesn't say (directly) whether his mum still lives at the same address as when she opened the account - though the indications are that she no longer does (i.e. "her own branch at the time"). That could explain why she is not receiving annual statements of interest from the bank, and could imply that the account has been classed as dormant - not necessarily because of 'no transactions', but because perhaps someone has returned mail as 'not known at this address'.

One thing that still puzzles me, though, therabbitt.
You say that the amounts were £500 each for two children, but only mention one passbook. I would have expected two books, one for each child. Can you throw any further light on this?

Rafter

therabbitt wrote: »

How can I make sure that I get a good rate of interest?? Shouting?? Strongly worded emails?? Also, they have not been doing anything for the last year when they were supposed to be tracing the money

Unfortunately Dunston is right. Just because you haven't switched accounts in 20 years, doesn't mean you are entitled to earn a decent rate of return on the savings.

£500, 20 years ago should be worth £950 now if it has kept up with inflation.

Unfortunately you will be lucky if your account earned 5% for 5 years and then 0.1% since - so about £650.

Just make sure if you decide not to spend it you put it in an ISA or index linked certificate and check the rate you are earning every 12 months to ensure your account hasn't been 'downgraded'

R.