SambaDeAmigo

I'm not sure if this only happened to me but I thought I'd warn people who have Barclays bank accounts in the UK.

A couple of weeks before I moved to Canada, I went into my local Barclays branch to get my address changed to my new Canadian address. I filled in their form, showed ID/passport etc.. and gave it to the lady at the counter. I made it clear that I was moving to Canada and wanted the address changed to there. Being unsure, she called her supervisor who came over and said that it should all be fine.

After I've moved to Canada, I noticed that I wasn't getting any monthly statements from Barclays. I called them (thank God for Skype's cheap rate) and they said that they hadn't received any request to get my address changed. They wouldn't change it by phone nor email. The only way is to go to a BRANCH!

To make matters worse, they sent that electronic device for online banking to my old address, so I couldn't do any online banking at all.

I sent them two letters together with their form for address changes that I got on their website and only got a reply 3 months later saying that current accounts (I don't know about savings) cannot have a foreign address.

For online banking, I was lucky enough to get a friend to post one of those devices to me but as for changing of address, I can't see any solution. So make sure that you close your accounts or convert them to an offshore account before you leave the country.

/rant over

Silverdragon102

I had a few problems changing address from Canada and ended up writing a letter authorising my dad to act on my behalf giving previous and present address details and they changed it. Annoying thing when I wrote to Barclay's after 3rd letter I even enclosed a copy of passport etc and still nothing. Changed Barclaycard with no problems so can't understand why the bank was being a pain. I think annoying thing for you is you actually went into a branch and did the changes

AndyBCbound

The best thing to do BEFORE you go is to make an appointment to see the branch manager, sit down and tell him your finacial woes, and that you are moving to Canada, tell them you will be moving a large sums of money through your account and would appreciate it if you could have his direct line so if there are any problems you can call him, also that you will need to change your address, once in canada. We did this (we are with lloyds) and they were given his direct line which was an 01242 number so no hefty charges and fiiled in a form for change of address there and then, just omitting the actual new address, he said once we are settled give him a ring and he would enter the address for me (which he did) easy peasy

TrishP

I was with the Woolwich when I left the UK (owned by Barclays) and had no problems with them for the years I was a customer. HOwever, when Barcalys, in their wisdom, decided to merge the Woolwich brand under the Barclays brand, that's when the problems started .... ended up they decided they didn't recognise my signature on cheques, returning them unpaid.
After many hours spent talking to complete dweebs on the phone (during which time I suffered a lot of financial hardship due to not being able to to get my hands on MY MONEY!!) on going back to the UK in August on holiday, I marched into the first Barclays branch I found and withdrew ALL my money and closed the account on the spot. Barclays is so big now, the staff don't give a toss about the customers at all and have forgotten who they work for! If the gen public didn't bank with them, all the tossers would be out of a job .. but they don't seem to recognise that fact!
Well, they don't have my $$ now!

G77

I went onto HSBC online banking, followed the link for an overseas address, changed it - done in 5 mins

SambaDeAmigo

HSBC are good at making things easy for all their customers regardless of where they are in the world.

woodmanbg

No problems with Nationwide changing to a Canadian address. The only problem we had was that they just seemed incapable of getting it right when changing our details; address all round the wrong way, then it contained half the UK address and half the Canadian address They eventually sorted it out.

Bank of Scotland, well. OH got his addressed changed only trouble is that after the Canadian address they then put a UK postal code in, and guess what that got forwarded to us by our redirection service! BOS wrote back to me and said they needed all sorts of identification before they would change my address! I told them to stuff it I wasnt going to send sensitive documents by post to them. I contacted a very efficient young lady we had dealt with before in our local office and she managed to change the address for me with no problems whatsoever.

sas-lou

That's what happens when you start thinking about money and not your customers .. Barclay's like everyone else have been streamlining everything for the past few years .. one of the problems is your postal code out here .. that has caused a few problems and increased my workload in the past.. not to mention the customer service call centre .. say no more ... they were at one point looking at bringing everything back to England, not likely now with everything that is going on ..

I should start a new thread about TISCALI .. WARNING ... stealing buggers .. :curse:

nikki dreaming

Hi

I think I have seen something about the above before. Could somebody please confirm what it is and if/why/how we get it

Many Thanks

debbiem

Barclays told me I could apply for a Career Development Loan with them on the phone as I was an existing customer. I asked the personal banker in the branch, and the woman on the application phone line, if it mattered that I did not routinely use my account. They both said no. At the end of the 30 minute phone application, I was turned down because my account was inactive. Er, yeah, I know, I told you that... The branch manager was mystified, Head Office were mystified. All agreed it made no sense whatsoever, as the mere fact that I had a card and a current account and could use my account whenever I wanted (and in fact if I had got the darn loan would have been using the account anyway) apparently escaped the 'rules'. No-one knew (in 3 branches or at head office) how to turn the auto-fail off, and everyone agreed that it was lunacy - they had taken all my first direct bank details and run credit checks as part of the application...
So I closed my account, and all three of my childrens. I'd only had the account since I was 10. 28 years. Barclays? No thanks.
And we already have a canadian account lol.

R I C H

After months of grief trying to convince them that I'd already closed my account, I reported Barclays to the Banking Ombudsman.

They apparently 'lost track' of my account status and kept applying a 25 quid p/mth account fee to an account I'd closed. Phone calls in the middle of the night and threatening letters about being overdrawn didn't indicate a great deal of competence in handling my affairs.

debbiem

oo. something to look forward to then...

SambaDeAmigo

It's in the form of a calculator where you can insert your debit card. When you login online, it gives you an activation code and asks you for an access number. You can only get this number after you've inserted your card into the device and entered the code.
The device is free and is dispatched to all current account holders. Natwest also has their own.

nikki dreaming

So all UK banks issue these if you are going abroad and want to access your UK account? I assume I can just contact my bank and ask for one? Sorry If I am being a bit thick

Will your normal account logon stop working? I assumed it would still work?

SambaDeAmigo

No, this is for all account holders regardless of location. It's the new safety measure for accessing online banking. I know natwest and barclays use these, not sure who else. The normal logon for Barclays stopped working a few months ago. For Natwest, it's only required if you want to edit your payees address book.
If your bank use one of these devices, they normally send you one by post.