functionaltoaster

Hi all,

First time poster, long time lurker...

I've just received my ITA and am in the process of gathering documents. I bank primarily with NatWest and went to visit a branch the other day to describe what I need from them in terms of a proof of funds letter (showing them the relevant page on the IRCC's website.) The advisor with whom I spoke told me that he'd never ("... in his five years working here...") had such a request before, and that the best he could do would be to point me to the branch manager if I were to come in another day with a "template letter" for what I need.

I was just wondering whether anyone here has had any experience getting a proof of funds letter from NatWest. If so, how did the process go for you? And - if it's not too much trouble to ask - might I be able to see a redacted copy of the letter you were eventually issued (and that - hopefully - was accepted by IRCC)?

Also - on a related note - what exactly do IRCC mean when they ask for "the average balance for the past six months"? Am I right in thinking this is a straightforward mean average over statement balances for the last six months? (Nothing more complicated like a monthly average balance based on daily closing balances for each month, or similar?)

Thanks so much in advance for your help

G0ldie

I think that you will be hard pressed getting the letter from an UK banks. A lot of the other members have had issues over the years.

Generally if you include 6 months worth of bank statements and a letter of explanation outlining that the banks in the UK do not give the letter that IRCC ask for, it should suffice. The bank statements will show the closing balances per month and the officer should be able to see quite easily the required information.

Former Lancastrian

Oh goody I can now have a bit of a rant on this subject

So many years ago policy makers within the Federal Government and the then known Department of Citizenship And Immigration came up with this idea of requiring proof of funds in the form of a letter for certain Immigrants who wished to apply to emigrate to Canada. In their eyes it would be simply asking the applicant to go to a financial institution they kept money in to provide them with a letter which would consist of the following

Letter(s) must:

• be printed on the financial institution’s letterhead
• include their contact information (address, telephone number and email address)
• include your name
• list outstanding debts such as credit card debts and loans
• include, for each current bank and investment account:
  • account numbers
  • the date each account was opened
  • the current balance of each account
  • the average balance for the past six months

What could be more simpler than that.

Well apparently its not as simple as that as they have now started to run into a problem area as we have seen many times on here that UK banks are not willing to give these letters out. So now the applicant faces a dilemma. IRCC do not really tell you on their website what to do if you can't get one of these letters and the bureaucrats within the UK financial sector have lost their ability to use common sense or somebody at IRCC needs to look at ways of resolving this or amend these requirements. I have a suggestion but because I work for the Canadian Government we all know that we cant use common sense or its employees don't have any common sense.

As you are a customer of the bank who value you as a customer I would simply print off the letter requirements and take them to your financial institution. Ask to speak to the branch manager and show them the requirements and ask politely to have such a letter produced by their fine establishment in order to comply with these requirements. He/she in the good spirit of customer relations and providing customer excellence in service would task this to another employee and have it ready for pick up in a couple of days/hours.
There again you might end up coming up against a total jobsworth who will state "We dont do that and we dont care what IRCC wants as we are not bound by law to provide you with such a letter"

So you now have a problem. Either try my suggestion or contact IRCC and inform them that the financial institution won't provide you such a letter and your crappy website doesn't tell you what to do in these circumstances.

G0ldie

I've attached a sample copy of a letter from TD Bank in Edmonton.

functionaltoaster

Thank you G0ldie - that'd be extremely useful. Unless I'm being an idiot (quite possible), did you forget to attach it to your post? (I can't seem to find it.)

You rant was both helpful and entertaining! I am very much ready to play the, "I'm a long-time paying customer..." card if I have to, but I'm hopeful it won't come to that.

From what I'm reading of both your replies, it's good to hear that IRCC seem to be more interested in the "spirit" of the letter rather than keeping the the exact form prescribed. Statements are not a problem, and NatWest have already told me they have a standard letter for landlords that includes all accounts with closing balances, so taken together I hope that'll be enough to convince whomever's looking over my case!

In truth, I think it's just this "six month average" thing that could be tricky. I suppose I could just calculate it myself...

EngCan

Siouxie

As I understand it (I could be wrong, hopefully Snowy or Christmasoompa will be along to let you know the correct answer) The 'average' thing is mainly to ensure you didn't get a loan from Aunt Aggie out of the blue, which suddenly gave you the money to meet your 'proof of funds' - but then you paid her back at the end of that month.. and repeated it 5 months later.. you get the idea

Billen

I am banking with Halifax, Barclays and NatWest and NatWest was the only bank that stressed me out. I visited two branches and called their customer services and they all made me feel like an alien who was asking for the most absurd piece of paper. Eventually, I filed a formal complaint with the bank, closed my Savings and Credit Card accounts and within 10 days I was issued with a formal letter of apology as well as the required document. :-)

The document they sent me was exactly what IRCC wanted (printed on a NatWest letterhead, had my full details, was addressed to the "Canadian Immigration Office", had details of all accounts held with dates they've been opened/balance/type of account/etc.).

In regards to the average balance, I uploaded the bank statements of the last six months, which showed closing balance every month.

The application was processed successfully so I assume my paperwork was in order :-)

Hope that helps, good luck with the application!

G0ldie