Cover Letter / Bank Statements from Lloyds TSB...and others

[MITM2]

Hi All,

I know that much has been written about the different experiences encountered at the various banks with respect to obtaining bank statements and the HO required letter as per maintaining sufficient maintenance funds over a 3-month period.

I will like to share my experience thus far while I hope that fellow forum members who have obtained theirs (especially from Lloyds TSB) will share their experiences or provide some useful pointers.

I used to bank with HSBC but opened a current account with Lloyds TSB in January. I got my online banking going and specified statement delivery to be electronic.

Seeing as the HO will require printed bank statements however when applying for my extension, I went to my Lloyds branch a couple of weeks ago to ask if I could have my statement from January 09 to October 09 (as I intend to apply in November) printed out.

I was told that bank statements are not printed at that particular branch but would need to be ordered. And the maximum I'd get for now would be for about 7 months (end of July), estimated delivery at 5 working days.
The statement eventually came almost 2 weeks later!

When asked if they'd stamp the online statements if I print them out (as I'd want to include statements covering till the end of October in my application), I was informed that Lloyds does NOT stamp or authenticate online statements again as there was an issue some time ago that cost the Bank a lot of money...they stamped an online statement for an individual who later 'modified' the statement!

QUESTION: Given this background, has anyone here been able to have his/her printed online bank statements 'stamped' or authenticated at any Lloyds branch?

Secondly, I asked about the cover letter and was informed that they don't do this either and that any statement I have should serve to prove that the required funds were maintained.

QUESTION: Has anyone here been able to obtain a cover letter from a Lloyds branch with respect to proof of maintaining sufficient maintenance funds for the required 3-month period?

Thank you very much.

Regards,

MITM

[InUkOnHsmp]

Hi MITM2,

I am based in Cambridge and I was offered stamped and signed statements by Lloyds Cambridge, though to be safe I finally waited for the paper statement to arrive. Although it is unreasonable you might want to come here and get it stamped from one of these branches.

Or you can fight against your own branch and say some Lloyds banks do do it.

HTH

[MITM2]

Hi HTH,

Thanks for the feedback.

If this is the case and you actually did get yours from their Cambridge branch, then this lack of consistency on their path is rather worrying seeing as some applicants would readily get these (Bank statements and Cover letter) depending on what branch while some of us come up against a brickwall!

I imagine there should be a kind of walk-in service for Bank Statements, even if at a small fee.

That said, I will again go back to the branch and make a little fuss!

MITM2

[InUkOnHsmp]

Hi MITM2,

That was funny, HTH == Hope This Helps. .

Yeah in Cambridge they told me I could get a print online and they would stamp and sign it. Yeah make a fuss, these guys deserve it.

I finally waited for my routine monthly statement to come in by post, and then send my application 10 days late due to this. There are somethings we cant help!

Cheers

[Radtw78]

Hi MITM2,

That was funny, HTH == Hope This Helps. .

Yeah in Cambridge they told me I could get a print online and they would stamp and sign it. Yeah make a fuss, these guys deserve it.

I finally waited for my routine monthly statement to come in by post, and then send my application 10 days late due to this. There are somethings we cant help!

Cheers

I know Cambridge city centre branch does stamp on-line bank statement print-outs.
However, the guidance after 31 March 2009 added a new sentence:

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).

Judging by the wording, my impression is an on-line account is those such as "Tesco Internet saver" "e-saver".
I fear that if the caseworker wants to be mean, he could argue current account doesn't operates solely on internet, you can withdrawl with ATM, write a cheque, etc, and use that as excuse to reject my application.

Eventually I decided not to risk with £820.
So I waited two more weeks for official paper bank statements to arrive before I sent application.

[tcpip_helper]

i suggest you ask your branch to print off your statements and get them signed instead of you printing it at your home, i did the same with natwest and it all went fine couple of years ago for my student extension. i submitted paper and printed statement both.

[MITM2]

Hi InUkOnHsmp,

Nice one...'thought the 'HTH' was your name!

Does the Cambridge branch also provide cover letters as per the 3-month availability of the maintenance fund?

Cambridge is some way to go...I live in London!

Anyone else here with Lloyds TSB experience?

Thanks.

MITM2

[InUkOnHsmp]

Never mind MITM2 it could happen to anyone.

About the cover letter, I have a strong suspicion they would try to shy away from it, but you should be able to twist their arms and get it.

However, if you provide bank statements covering a 3 months period not earlier than 1 month when you apply, you should be OK. You do not necessarily need to provide a cover letter for the same.

[MITM2]

Hi All,

Has anyone had a walk-in/same-day experience with obtaining one's bank statements from any Lloyds TSB branch?
And what branch if in yes?
Thank you all.

MIM2

[MITM2]

Hi All,

By way of an update, I went back to my Lloyds TSB branch again this morning and 'calmly' explained the HO's requirement as per prooving the availability of my Maintenance Fund...they were not having any of it.
And you'd be amazed at the number of 'immigrants' on the queue whose requests for the same thing were being turned down...that the bank does not authenticate online bank statements or provide letters.

Customer Service Personnel supposedly went to see the Branch Manager and came back with the same answer I was previously given...they DON'T

i. print statements at the branch nor
ii. authenticate online statements nor
iii. provide cover letters

But I have my Maintenance Fund in my eSavings account for which paper statements are not sent!

At the end of the day, I was given a funny looking print-out which does not even reflect the date since the Maintenance Fund had been available. However, the personnel did stamp the print-out, signed it and attached a business card with the parting shot that that was all they could do and that the HO could call them. The print-out is just on a plain A4 paper, no Lloyds letterhead or logo!

In answer to my question about what my options are, I was told that I could try another branch but would most likely be referred back to this branch.

I have now printed out my eSavings bank statement online which, at least, has the Lloyds TSB logo and will be returning to the branch with this to see if it can be authenticated.

Maybe they will or not, I can't say but, one thing is for sure, I am jettisoning that bank account when I'm done with all this and going back to using my HSBC account.

Looking to hear from anyone's that's had a better experience with Lloyds.

Thank you.

MITM2

[seanjoe]

i have had no problems in getting print outs of my current account stamped by the bank. i get paper copies, but because of the postal strike, i took a printout of 4 sheets worth of my latest current account.

have been to both milton keynes branch and in west bridgeford. they have happily stamped them.

[sanjacs]

Sorry you're having this problem with LLoyds.

My branch is in Croydon, London and when i approached customer service i was told i couldnt get a letter, but i went in to see one of the managers (who, fortunately wa sthe one who opened my account in the first place as the customer service pple were too busy for me dat day).

He just asked me to dictate what i wanted and he printed it on a letterhead and that was it! I didnt even submit bank statements as proof of maintenance funds, as my funds were all over the place.

I hope you're able to sort this out.

[innocentdevil]

the best thing to do is it opt out of online statements and get them to post it every month.

It annoys me. we try to help them by reducing their carbon foot prints and when we ask for a printout they even charge us bloody money and be an arse.

Let them post the statements to you monthly is what I have learned and what I do.

[MITM2]

Hi InnocentDevil (interesting moniker ),

I think you're right there.

I'd stopped my paper statements to
i. do my bit for the environment and
ii. implement a line of protection from identity fraud (I reckon my statements will not fall into the wrong hands if they are not printed in the first instance. Alright, maybe that's just me being a bit paranoid!)

Anyway, I was back at the branch again this morning with a printed copy of the Guidance Notes in which I had clearly highlighted HO's requirement with respect to prooving the availability of the Maintenance Funds.
I also took along with a print-out of my eSavings account statement.

Thankfully, this was now stamped and I believe I'm in the clear now with respect to prooving the availability of the Maintenance Fund in line with the excerpt from paragraph 2, page 36 of 44 of the Tier 1 (General) Policy Guidance which states that 'Alternatively an electronic bank statement bearing the official stamp of the bank in question will be accepted. This stamp should appear on every page of the statement.'
Mine is just a page.

Thank you to all who have contributed while my advise to anyone still battling to get the same from their banks is that...a little persistence pays!

Cheers.

MITM2

[innocentdevil]

yet again, we all can talk about environment malarki all day long but the problem here is the bank.

I think you should be fine with the stamp on first page as I believe you will have several pages of bank estatements and they are all stapled together but again I believe the case workers work on guidelines and they can easily tell if something is legit/genuine or not or if its fake.


on the other note ( a debatable topic) .... while I was in bank to get my statements, I asked the bank rep if HO could verify anything from them about anyone and the answer was " NO " because it comes under data protection act and they cannot in any circumstance provide any information about anyone's account or identity to anyone whosoever until unless it is to do with TERRORISM or very very very serious activity hence I think that is another reason HO asks for proper stamped bank statements or originals as they cannot get that information out from the building society.