When is an account opened?

In the middle of an arguement with Bank of Scotland direct over a reward account they were offering up to 7th January,which I would be iterested to hear opinions on.

Terms were a fixed interest rate of 6.2 percent for one year if account was opened by 7 th of January, and funds could be deposited up to 30 th Jan.

The application paperwork was completed in December, letter arrived late December giving the account number and sort code, and requesting id documents and opening deposit, which was posted off on the 2nd of January.

Checked my account online yesterday and discovered that the account had been opened as a variable rate account paying 5.37 percent!

From discussing this with them on the telephone it appears that they are taking the opening date as being 9th Jan, when the first checque reached the account, not the date in December when they issued an account number. There appears to have been no intention to tell me that they had opened a different account paying a lower and variable interest rate from the fixed one I had applied for.

I'm a bit annoyed with this: As far as I as aware the account was open in December when I got the account number, and I had until the 30th Jan to put funds in. If the bank disagreed with this, they should not have cashed the checque (posted on 2nd) on the 9th Jan.

What's the best option here? Walk away from Bank of Scotland and take the loss of interest while my funds are shuttling between accounts, or continue insisting I should be getting the reward account with fixed interest that I apllied for, and got the account number for well before the final cutoff date?

This is my first experience with Bank of Scotland, and i am not impressed so far...

Reply to
Iain-M
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Reply to
Iain-M

I'd argue the toss with them. I think they should honour the original arrangement. The new FSA initiative Treating Customers Fairly seems to be breached by what you say BoS has done. If the terms that they are now stating should be effective, they should be written down somewhere.

The problem they face is that they open an account on a certain date and then don't receive any money for a long period and are expected to honour the original rate. However, in your case they apparently said the money could be put in up to 30th Jan. So they should accept it.

Rob Graham

Reply to
Rob graham

Ask them for a copy of their official complaints procedure - and then follow it to the letter. You'll then be able to take the case to the Banking Ombudsman if you exhaust the procedure without getting a satisfactory outcome.

Reply to
Roger Mills

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