Question Regarding Bank Statements

[Ducky11]

Hi All,

I just have a quick question regarding my bank statements which I will be submitting during my upcoming same-day service appointment at Croydon for a Tier 1 (General) Extension on the 1st of February.

Apologies if this question has been asked before on the boards, but I tend to be quite paranoid when it comes to anything passport / visa related.

I need to show 1-year of bank statements (1st Feb 11 - 1st Feb 12) as I am using it as proof of employment as well (showing that my salary is paid). I dont have any issues with balance or anythign like that. All the amounts are more than substantial.

However, I only have "official" statements which were received by me by post from the 21st of June 2011 till 20th Jan 2012. I dont have official statement from 1st Feb 11 - 20th June 11. I printed some statements online on which my name & bank account number is specified, but my bank (NatWest) has informed me that they no longer stamp printed statements, even if they are printed at the branch itself & they no longer provide a letter stating that printed statements are valid. Will this be a problem? Will my printed statements with the bank account number & my name (matching the originals) suffice? If not then what do I need to do?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers,
Ducky

[alimohmand]

I am afriad its very less likely they will accept online printed statements.
I guess the best option would be to pop around to your local Natwest and ask them to print statement on bank stationary.

HSBC does that so does Barcklays

Good Luck

[theroyale]

Search on this forum for 'Natwest' - lots of people face this issue, the solution generally is to go to a branch and kick up a fuss until they sign and stamp it for you. Eventually they will. Or go to another branch.

[tier_2_applicant]

I got my Natwest internet statements signed and stamped at their Fleet Street branch.
In one of the earlier posts someone mentioned that the Netwest branch near LSE can issue letter besides stamping and signing the internet statements.

[Ducky11]

Thank you for your responses! My branch is the one near St Pauls Cathedral. I will try the Fleet Street one tomorrow.

Any idea what I should say to convince them to stamp it?

[thebionicredneck2003]

Ducky,

Just make your point clearly and firmly that you need your statements stamped for a visa application and the bank should do it.

If they do not, ask to see the manager and explain clearly again. At the very least they would stamp the statements and that would suffice.

Contrary to what many people think, the statement only needs a stamp on every page and not a signature. I have had a successful application with just the stamp alone. Refer to this excerpt on Page 20 of the guidance policy:

If the applicant wishes to submit electronic bank statements from an online account he/ she should also provide a supporting letter from the bank on company headed paper confirming that the documents are authentic. Alternatively an electronic bank statement bearing the official stamp of the bank issuing the statements will be accepted. This stamp must appear on every page of the statement. For the purposes of this guidance an online bank account is one that operates solely over the internet and sends their bank statements to their customers electronically
(for example over the internet or via email).

If you can get both a stamp and a signature, that's perfect, but if not, a stamp alone is enough.

Kind Regards

[Ducky11]

Thank you for that!! I'll create a bit of a scene at the fleet street office tomorrow if they don't oblige!

[thebionicredneck2003]

Hopefully, you won't need to make a scene and everything works out as expected.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.


Kind Regards

[Ducky11]

So I went down to the St Pauls branch this afternoon & explained the urgency of the matter to them. I even took a print out of the page on the UKBA website where it states that the statements have to be stamped. Regardless, they were adamant & ZERO help. I stayed polite & composed the whole time, but decided not to persist because there was a long line behind me.

Realising that I wasn't getting anywhere with them, I walked down to the fleet street office where they were so much more helpful! I didn't even have to argue once. I just explained my situation after which they cross-checked my statements with what they had on their system & stamped them right there itself without any hassle or argument.

For anyone in the same situation with NatWest, I would highly recommend this branch. Definitely NOT the St Pauls one.

I wish I could go back down there & tell them how useless they are compared to the Fleet Street branch.

Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who posted. It's really appreciated. I will post the outcome of my appointment later next week & let you know of any information besides the obvious.

Take care & have a great weekend!

[Ducky11]

Sorry for the second post, but I was just wondering if I should be concerned that they did not issue me with a letter or sign alongside the stamps. Would that be a problem? I have original statements for most of the time period & internet stamped ones for the gaps. The most recent ones are all originals & the historical ones (pre-June 2011) are printed & stamped without a signature or letter.

Cheers,
Ducky

[thebionicredneck2003]

Good to hear you finally got it sorted.

You can read the excerpt I posted yesterday to prove that the requirement is only for a stamp for online statements, or better yet, refer to
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... idance.pdf

You want to read page 20 of the document and item (ii)

I have had success using just stamped statements alone.

Kind Regards

[Ducky11]

Thank you so much! Your help has been invaluable!