Barclays Bank Statements

[nfoote]

I am a New Zealand citizen currently in the UK on a Tier 1 General visa issued 01/09/08 which is due to expire on 01/09/11. I am in process of preparing my extension application via the points based system. Under all of the categories I clearly pass all the requirements to gain well more than the needed 75 points.

The issue I am having at the moment is with both proving my recent income and proving my maintenance funds, both because I require bank statements showing the transactions/funds.

I believe my mistake was two-fold, firstly I am a customer of Barclays (to be rectified if I'm ever allowed to stay in the UK) and secondly I signed up for "Online Statements" in the Barclays Online Banking.
The issue is that I have requested paper statements from Barclays to cover the periods I need to show my earnings/maintenance but the "statements" Barclays sends out are simply transaction lists that are printed onto plain paper. They do include a cover letter stating these are official and exact but this is the only page bearing any Barclays logos.

As I understand it, The Home Office / UKBA will NOT accept these as official bank statements.

In the guidance notes it does say that if my account is an online account I can get each page of the transaction lists stamped by the bank.
The problem with this is again two-fold. Firstly the plain paper statements Barclays have sent me clearly state my account is a "current" account, not an online one, which I have noted has been used as a reason for application denial before (http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=64220).
The second issue is that when I went into Barclays Piccadilly to get the stamp I was informed that Barclays HQ has ordered all Barclays branches NOT to stamp these plain paper statements. I was told that they knew people were coming in with them for Visa purposes but saw that some people were bringomg in fraudulent ones, and because of this decided to stop the practice of officiating the statements with their stamp. I did ask that if they identified their customers need for official past statements and removed the stamping process because of fraud, what was the new process they put in place to help their customers? I was told there isn't one.

I have attempted to call Barclays and get them to send out "duplicate" statements to my accountants, as their website clearly says they can do this for online statements needed in paper format (http://ask.barclays.co.uk/help/online_b ... _duplicate). However I was informed these would be the same plain paper statements I have already received and would not appear in the official format or bear the bank logo as they appear in the PDFs.

So at the moment all I have are plain paper statements from Barclays with their covering letter and also the PDF versions of the proper (logo headed) statements from my online statements. Any advice as to what the Home Office will accept from the unfortunate customers of Barclays who can only produce plain paper statements and online banking pdfs would be greatly appreciated.

I have read and been suggested several options although all of them have been equally refuted as insufficient and subject to application denial.

A) The Barclays Personal Banker I spoke to said to submit the plain paper statements with the covering letter as they are (no logo and no stamp) and they will be accepted as the Home Office is aware that this is the best Barclays can do. This is directly insufficient according to the UKBA application guidance as the pages are not stamped, the account is not an "online" account and the pages do not hold the Barclays logo.
B) Print off the PDFs of the online statements myself and submit those as they will contain the Barclays logo as required. However apparently the PDFs are secured and would not allow themselves to be printed with the logo attached, thus "un-officiating" them (although I haven't tried this yet). Also clearly this printing would be onto standard blank printing paper and it would be obvious they were not printed by the bank itself which I imagine would be an issue to the Home Office as well.
C) Same as B but attempt to get Barclays to stamp them as official. I imagine Barclays would refuse to do this on the same grounds they refuse to stamp the plain paper statements they themselves printed out. Both these options again do not satisfy the requirement that the account be an online account for this stamping to be acceptable.
D) Continue to try different branches of Barclays, demanding to speak to office managers and demanding they stamp the plain paper statements. However even if this was successful, the issue would remain with the statements not being for an "online" account.
E) Ask Barclays to again print the "plain paper statements" but put a special request attached to the form that the printer be loaded with Barclays letter-headed paper, so that each page of the plain paper statements would in fact bear the Barclays logo. Assuming I could find a Barclays employee actually willing to help their customers would this option be acceptable to the Home Office?

In your opinion (and I'm hoping experience) are ANY of the above options acceptable to the Home Office / UKBA?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Celtic]

If you submit statements recieved in post, even if these are duplicate, you will be fine. Include a cover letter if you wish.

And if for some bizarre reason, UKBA do refuse your application due to bank statements, their refusal will not hold up in court.

[goldfish]

Duplicate statements sent by post are only acceptable if they meet all the requirements of original statements, which plain paper would not. (From your post, even Barclays acknowledges these are open to fraud - which is why they won't sign them - so why would they expect UKBA to consider them acceptable?).

Maybe you could ask them to print them in the branch, then stamp & sign. In this case their argument that the statements might have been altered wouldn't apply. I have seen the question about Barclays statements come up on the forum in the past so might result in some ideas.

Meanwhile, it might be worth changing to a different bank after your extension so you'll have the documents you need for your next extension or ILR.

Good luck, it's very stressful when banks, accountants, etc won't help with the documents you need.

[nfoote]

even if these are duplicate

Thats just it, they are NOT duplicate and do not bear any resemblance to the original statements in the PDFs, nor do they hold the Barclays logo. They are plain text print-outs on plain white paper.

Meanwhile, it might be worth changing to a different bank after your extension so you'll have the documents you need for your next extension or ILR.

No kidding, after this application is sorted (hopefully), I will be closing all 5 of my Barclays personal & business accounts, completely ignoring them when considering home-loans next year and informing every single New Zealander I know coming to the UK to open HSBC accounts as Barclays will not be of any use whatsoever.

[nionlight]

even if these are duplicate

Thats just it, they are NOT duplicate and do not bear any resemblance to the original statements in the PDFs, nor do they hold the Barclays logo. They are plain text print-outs on plain white paper.

Meanwhile, it might be worth changing to a different bank after your extension so you'll have the documents you need for your next extension or ILR.

No kidding, after this application is sorted (hopefully), I will be closing all 5 of my Barclays personal & business accounts, completely ignoring them when considering home-loans next year and informing every single New Zealander I know coming to the UK to open HSBC accounts as Barclays will not be of any use whatsoever.

Well I am a HSBC customer myself and I am not very happy with the fact that they mention 'duplicate' on their duplicate statement. They charge money for it and why on earth they have to mention 'duplicate' and make things complicated even though they are identical to the original. So far I heard duplicate statements sent by 'LLoyds TSB' do not bear any sign such as duplicate or copy etc and they are 100% identical to original. correct me if I am wrong. Homeoffice in side UK may be aware of this but what about entry clearance officers out side UK specially in asia where they are suspicious about every single documents and showing a 'duplicate' sign will raise their eye brow without a doubt!!! So I would say for visa purpose ( specially entry clearance outside UK) lloyds tsb will be better choice.

[nfoote]

Well I am a HSBC customer myself and I am not very happy

Sorry, my fault for starting it but this is getting slightly off the topic of "What are Barclays customers suppose to do?"

Anyone know FOR SURE where/how to get statements from Barclays that will be acceptable to UKBA?

[goldfish]

Well I am a HSBC customer myself and I am not very happy with the fact that they mention 'duplicate' on their duplicate statement. They charge money for it and why on earth they have to mention 'duplicate' and make things complicated even though they are identical to the original.

I'm with HSBC and they have provided statements when I need them, including mid-month (ie. between statements) so no complaints from me. Most banks, including my company bank, mark them as "duplicate" but they are identical to the originals in every other way and meet UKBA requirements. UKBA have never had any issues with them.

[nionlight]

Well I am a HSBC customer myself and I am not very happy with the fact that they mention 'duplicate' on their duplicate statement. They charge money for it and why on earth they have to mention 'duplicate' and make things complicated even though they are identical to the original.

I'm with HSBC and they have provided statements when I need them, including mid-month (ie. between statements) so no complaints from me. Most banks, including my company bank, mark them as "duplicate" but they are identical to the originals in every other way and meet UKBA requirements. UKBA have never had any issues with them.

Homeoffice in side UK may be aware of this but what about entry clearance officers out side UK specially in asia where they are suspicious about every single documents and showing a 'duplicate' sign will raise their eye brow without a doubt!!!

[Suzie Canuck]

Hi,

My understanding is that only certain branches of Barclays will not stamp those rubbish plain-paper things they charge you 5 pounds to send out.

When I went to my bank to get the thing stamped, they said they didn't do it because of issues with Fraud (they implied this had more to do with the particular area that the bank was in - ie Elephant and Castle - rather than a blanket Barclays policy). I went to a different branch in central london and the greeter woman at the door said it wound't be a problem dealing with the statement. The guy at the counter says " we don't stamp statements" to which I responded, "odd - that woman back there specifically said that you do". He stamped it - but said it was not their policy to sign. I have heard of people getting ad-hoc statements printed on proper letterhead, signed, and stamped - but only after visiting multiple branches armed with a copy of the UKBA guidance and essentially refusing to take no for an answer.

Needless to say I'll be looking for a new bank as soon as my visa is renewed. Good luck.

[esharah]

Hi,

My understanding is that only certain branches of Barclays will not stamp those rubbish plain-paper things they charge you 5 pounds to send out.

When I went to my bank to get the thing stamped, they said they didn't do it because of issues with Fraud (they implied this had more to do with the particular area that the bank was in - ie Elephant and Castle - rather than a blanket Barclays policy). I went to a different branch in central london and the greeter woman at the door said it wound't be a problem dealing with the statement. The guy at the counter says " we don't stamp statements" to which I responded, "odd - that woman back there specifically said that you do". He stamped it - but said it was not their policy to sign. I have heard of people getting ad-hoc statements printed on proper letterhead, signed, and stamped - but only after visiting multiple branches armed with a copy of the UKBA guidance and essentially refusing to take no for an answer.

Needless to say I'll be looking for a new bank as soon as my visa is renewed. Good luck.

I was in a similar situation the last time I applied, the idea would be to go to different branches of your bank and find a good samaritan sign and stamp it. You may find a person from your country more willing to do it.

[ft180]

Hey

I also have printed statement but not stamped. I have been to barclays branch and explained branch manager over there but she did not stamp after haggling for 30 minute. Now I am going for my appointment on 2nd August finger crossed. I would like to know if UKBA accepting printout from barclays machine(not ATM) as these looks genuine as printed on barclays stationary!!

Did anyone have gone to POE with this situation?

Thanks

[nfoote]

Hey

I also have printed statement but not stamped. I have been to barclays branch and explained branch manager over there but she did not stamp after haggling for 30 minute. Now I am going for my appointment on 2nd August finger crossed.

Let me know how you go mate. I rang UKBA and their phone rep said they are aware the banks won't sign statements and are also aware the Barclays statements are rubbish. She advised to get barclays to print out a letter explaining they do not re-print proper statements. Hopefully that will be enough. I'm sending mine away by post later this month.

[nfoote]

Watford High Street Barclays has NO issues or concerns when it comes to stamping and signing the statements Barclays sends out to you.

They won't stamp the pages that just look like website printouts but they will stamp every page that has "endostar" on it as this is their backoffice system.

Yay for someone doing their job!

[radical]

I faced the same problem when i was doing my fist extension, banging my head at the barclays branches to sign my statements. But fortunately at the last moment I found my missing bank statement at my house mate's room. He mistakenly took it to his room.

Since then I transferred my bank account to Halifax and until now I missed one or two statements during moving to new houses (missed the post) or some other reasons. Halifax bank branches are always happy to print and stamp my statements. Also I phoned to Halifax and got new same original statement on headed paper with cost of £5.

[mulderpf]

You only need stamped statements if you are submitting statements for an online account. If its a normal account - headed paper is sufficient. HSBC also don't stamp or sign statements.

[dilip_gem]

I had similar problem and was very much worried about it. I know Barclays bank are really difficult to deal with. I had a big argument with their staff and finally they agreed to put stamp & sign on the statements. I advice you to carry those statemts to their bank and ask them to attest them. If they say they can't do it on the statements you carry, tell them to print one for you and stamp & attest it. For your information, they (their branches) dont have access to statements older than 6 months, however they can make a phone call to one of their department and get it faxed to their branch. So its fine even if they stamp & sign on that faxed statements. Attach both postal copy (with has covering letter & transaction list on plain paper) & Faxed statments (stamped & signed by branch) to your visa application. Explain all the details in your Main covering letter. By now UKBA is well aware of Barclays statments issue, so you should be fine. chill

If branch staff don't co-operate, ask them to give it in writing that they can't provide you the statements. Tell them you will report the matter to 'Ombudsman'.

I hope this should help.


Cheers,
Gem

Watford High Street Barclays has NO issues or concerns when it comes to stamping and signing the statements Barclays sends out to you.

They won't stamp the pages that just look like website printouts but they will stamp every page that has "endostar" on it as this is their backoffice system.

Yay for someone doing their job!