NatWest bank

[mallen]

If you have an account with NatWest Offshore, or any other UK bank, that is giving you grief by unreasonable demands for identity confirmation please contact me at <email removed per forum rules please use PM system>

NatWest bank is refusing to accept the certified true copy of my passport which was certified as a true copy by a licensed Thai Notary Public.

As we in Pattaya no longer have an Honorary Consul to certify true copies they are demanding that I go to the British consulate in Bangkok to get a certified true copy of my passport or they will freeze my account.

So much for the customer disservice department of the bank that profess to "listern to our customers to give them a better customer experience."

Edited October 28, 2016 by Crossy
Removed email address.

[Kwasaki]

Never liked that bank in my time but there right in this occasion only a British Embassy can certify your UK passport.

[Crossy]

Sorry Mel, I had to remove your email address per forum rules.

 

Not had an issue with my UK accounts but my Luxembourg bank wouldn't accept the usual address confirmation stuff when we moved within Thailand. In the end I got a letter from the puyaibaan, had it translated and certified then had to post it (they wouldn't accept an emailed scan) in order to gain access to my funds.

 

Six months later they told me I could no longer transfer money to Thailand, shortly after that they said they would no longer accept my salary transfers from Hong Kong.

 

And this is supposedly an international bank, they have been kicked into touch.

 

Unfortunately I can only see things getting worse as more and more banks jump on the money-laundering bandwagon

 

[KittenKong]

Just now, Kwasaki said:

Never liked that bank in my time but there right in this occasion only a British Embassy can certify your UK passport.

 

I've had many certified copies of passports etc done over the years for offshore and onshore banks, but never by a consulate. Here I've had it done by Thai banks and notaries, and elsewhere by doctors, accountants, banks and solicitors.

 

As far as I can see the only real requirement is that the certifier should be some sort of professional person who can be traced.

 

In this case it does sound as though NatWest is being unreasonable as no offshore bank has ever asked me to certify a copy like that.

[Crossy]

I opened my Lloyds Offshore Premier accounts (Isle of Man) with a scanned and emailed copy of my passport and a phone call from them telling me not to bother filling in the other form they emailed to me, I had been positively identified somehow.

 

Would have been about 2010. Things are probably different now

 

 

[Kwasaki]

5 minutes ago, Crossy said:

I opened my Lloyds Offshore Premier accounts (Isle of Man) with a scanned and emailed copy of my passport and a phone call from them telling me not to bother filling in the other form they emailed to me, I had been positively identified somehow.

 

Would have been about 2010. Things are probably different now

 

 

 

Yeah l ain't got a problem my UK bank taking care of my money,  my guess is OP ain't taking into account what a UK bank would think of a licensed Thai Notary Public, perfectly honest of course. 

[dick dasterdly]

I received the pages of documents from NatWest the same day as that on which they were due to have been returned.

 

Anyway, I read through the accompanying notes which (IIRC) said that a Thai Notary certifying the passport copy would be sufficient.

 

I then 'phoned NatWest to explain that the papers were obviously going to be late, and we also discussed the certification of passport/proof of address requirements.  I was assured that a Thai Notary certifying those documents would be fine.

 

I haven't heard from them yet saying that they've changed their mind and the Thai Notary certification is not acceptable - but its possible they haven't received them yet, bearing in mind the postal system is very slow.

 

Fingers crossed, there won't be a problem - but if there is, does the OP mind if we contact him by PM as the email address was not allowed?

 

[tutsiwarrior]

Nat West summarily closed my account some years ago when they learned that I no longer resided in the UK...after being a customer for over 10 years...

 

they are a bunch of a***holes, and the passport business is the least of yer worries...

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, tutsiwarrior said:

Nat West summarily closed my account some years ago when they learned that I no longer resided in the UK...after being a customer for over 10 years...

 

they are a bunch of a***holes, and the passport business is the least of yer worries...

 

Barclays did the same to me, closed my current account and demanded immediate repayment of my Barclaycard balance.

 

Shame, the Barclaycard had a half-decent limit (which I wasn't using).

 

 

[Naam]

5 hours ago, Crossy said:

I opened my Lloyds Offshore Premier accounts (Isle of Man) with a scanned and emailed copy of my passport and a phone call from them telling me not to bother filling in the other form they emailed to me, I had been positively identified somehow.

 

Would have been about 2010. Things are probably different now

 

 

obviously the chap in charge reads Thaivisa electrical section 

[mallen]

Hi gents.  Thanks for the replies.

Crossy. No problem with you deleting my e-address. I'm new to the forum and like most men had not read the instructions.

 

tutsiwarrior. Agree with your considered opinion of NatWest.

 

Dick Dastardly. Welcome you to contact me by PM. Not sure how that works but will figure it out.

 

Kitten Kong. After I had sent a certified true copy of my passport by a local Licensed Thai Notary ( He is also a Thai registered Lawyer and Barrister to the Pattaya provincial court since 1982) the bank rejected it as it was from a "high risk jurisdiction."

In the forms the bank sent to me demanding this information they had put (in the very small print) that a Notary Public is acceptable except from a high risk jurisdiction. They do not give any list of countries or guidelines as to what is a high risk jurisdiction. In my naivety after working in 20 countries my opinion of a high risk jurisdiction would be countries like Syria,Iraq, Pakistan/Afghanistan,Columbia,Venezuela etc. 

 

All this hassle is from the Isle of Man office. I requested them to contact the Jersey branch where my account is.

In 2010 I had the same hoops to jump through to please them and finally received confirmation that they accepted the certified true copy of my passport from the British Honorary Consul in Jomtein (which is closed now).

My passport which Jersey confirmed as acceptable is valid until 2020. The Isle of Man office did contact and received the previous confirmation from Jersey but still rejected as it was a "poor copy" (it was in pristine condition when I sent it to Jersey) and the certified true copy (to please them) had to be within a year of their demand for identity confirmation.

 

After sending the above (politely) to the Isle of Man office they responded by saying they have forwarded it to the complaints department.

 

All this pedantic bureaucratic nonsense from the bank that advertises itself as the "bank that listens to it's customers."

Listens, maybe. Takes any notice ?  NO. 

 

 

[NanLaew]

On 11/1/2016 at 4:06 PM, mallen said:

Hi gents.  Thanks for the replies.

Crossy. No problem with you deleting my e-address. I'm new to the forum and like most men had not read the instructions.

 

tutsiwarrior. Agree with your considered opinion of NatWest.

 

Dick Dastardly. Welcome you to contact me by PM. Not sure how that works but will figure it out.

 

Kitten Kong. After I had sent a certified true copy of my passport by a local Licensed Thai Notary ( He is also a Thai registered Lawyer and Barrister to the Pattaya provincial court since 1982) the bank rejected it as it was from a "high risk jurisdiction."

In the forms the bank sent to me demanding this information they had put (in the very small print) that a Notary Public is acceptable except from a high risk jurisdiction. They do not give any list of countries or guidelines as to what is a high risk jurisdiction. In my naivety after working in 20 countries my opinion of a high risk jurisdiction would be countries like Syria,Iraq, Pakistan/Afghanistan,Columbia,Venezuela etc. 

 

All this hassle is from the Isle of Man office. I requested them to contact the Jersey branch where my account is.

In 2010 I had the same hoops to jump through to please them and finally received confirmation that they accepted the certified true copy of my passport from the British Honorary Consul in Jomtein (which is closed now).

My passport which Jersey confirmed as acceptable is valid until 2020. The Isle of Man office did contact and received the previous confirmation from Jersey but still rejected as it was a "poor copy" (it was in pristine condition when I sent it to Jersey) and the certified true copy (to please them) had to be within a year of their demand for identity confirmation.

 

After sending the above (politely) to the Isle of Man office they responded by saying they have forwarded it to the complaints department.

 

All this pedantic bureaucratic nonsense from the bank that advertises itself as the "bank that listens to it's customers."

Listens, maybe. Takes any notice ?  NO. 

 

 

I also received NWO's CIP (Customer Identification Pack) request for personal identification and proof of residential address very close to the 30-day due date since it was sent to my UK address first and forwarded. I emailed them and received a 30-day extension. I first had to do this about 18 months ago when RBS International transferred all their personal offshore account holders to their NWO subsidiary. That information package that included the British Embassy passport letter was received but apparently nothing was ever done with it, hence NWO's more recent request for the same information. Having replaced passports in the interim, I had to do the same paper chase again. This time not only did I confirm receipt by the courier website, I had them agree to email me that the CIP had been actually looked at. They acknowledged that with the proviso that they would be in touch if it was unsatisfactory. I assume they will send a letter (to my UK address) in that instance! Bizarrely, my account is in IoM but the CIP paperwork requires me to acknowledge being either a resident of Jersey or otherwise. The mailing address for the completed CIP was also in Jersey.

 

If you check the last page of the NWO's personal identification package (page 9 and 10), it's a formal request to close the account. I think that is their preferred option. It certainly will be mine if they ultimately do not accept letters from the British Proconsul in Bangkok verifying my passport and their affirmation of my Thai address.

[dick dasterdly]

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

I also received NWO's CIP (Customer Identification Pack) request for personal identification and proof of residential address very close to the 30-day due date since it was sent to my UK address first and forwarded. I emailed them and received a 30-day extension. I first had to do this about 18 months ago when RBS International transferred all their personal offshore account holders to their NWO subsidiary. That information package that included the British Embassy passport letter was received but apparently nothing was ever done with it, hence NWO's more recent request for the same information. Having replaced passports in the interim, I had to do the same paper chase again. This time not only did I confirm receipt by the courier website, I had them agree to email me that the CIP had been actually looked at. They acknowledged that with the proviso that they would be in touch if it was unsatisfactory. I assume they will send a letter (to my UK address) in that instance! Bizarrely, my account is in IoM but the CIP paperwork requires me to acknowledge being either a resident of Jersey or otherwise. The mailing address for the completed CIP was also in Jersey.

 

If you check the last page of the NWO's personal identification package (page 9 and 10), it's a formal request to close the account. I think that is their preferred option. It certainly will be mine if they ultimately do not accept letters from the British Proconsul in Bangkok verifying my passport and their affirmation of my Thai address.

Re. the last para.- I too was suprised by the 'close the account' page in the package of forms and assumed that they were hoping I'd close the account as there is not enough money in it to engage their interest.

[mallen]

Nan Laew.    Strange. In the CIP I received there are only 8 pages.  No pages 9 and 10 and no where on the other 8 is there any mention of closing the account. The only mention of closing the account is in their e-mail threat to close the account if I do not send all the relevant docs.

Also I did not receive any "Guide to completing the CIP" that they refer to in the CIP.

I have also received letters from the bank demanding various documentation by a certain date, which due to the slow mail system has already passed. I have advised the bank numerous times that standard post to Thailand is at least a month, (if it gets here at all) and any important mail should be sent registered. They have never taken any notice and continue to send mail by standard post. Seems from my experience that the NMO/RBS personal accounts management is totally incompetent and have a very arrogant attitude with absolutely no conception or care for customer service.

It makes a mockery of the platitudes they express to customer service in their booklet "Our commitment to you."

(Can be downloaded from their website). I have attached it so you can have a laugh.

I suspect that they actually do not want personal accounts unless they have large amounts going in, and instead of simply being honest they just hassle their customers until the customer closes the account. 

 

 

Our Commitment to You.pdf

[al007]

On 10/28/2016 at 1:07 PM, Crossy said:

I opened my Lloyds Offshore Premier accounts (Isle of Man) with a scanned and emailed copy of my passport and a phone call from them telling me not to bother filling in the other form they emailed to me, I had been positively identified somehow.

 

Would have been about 2010. Things are probably different now

 

 

 

I too have lloyds IOM premier account, it also gives free international transfers, it has my Thai address on it and I have a visa debit card on it, so long as I maintain min bal 2500 there are no charges, and lost int at todays rates is minimal, also gives free travel ins to age 75

 

A couple of years ago I made the account joint with the Thai wife, took awhile but achieved without too much difficulty, no certified copies originals of some Thai bills they translated internally, being joint it will avoid IOM probate

 

I complained 2/3 times and was probably given around 200 pounds back to compensate for their mistakes

 

One of the more reasonable banks in todays environment

 

Remember banks do not like to lend the money in the beginning, they do not like if you repay early, and do not like if you repay late

 

I just do not like banks