Getting Your Bank Statements Stamped At Natwest (the bank us tax payers own)

Went to my local NatWest Bank today to get my online bank statements stamped in preparation of the Fiancée Visa.
The bank would not stamp them for me and they would not give me a letter stating how long I have held accounts there and so on. After a bit of an American rant, "I've banked with you for thirty years and asked you for nothing" kind of thing I decided I would go to a main branch of NatWest. On doing so I was met with much the same response as my local branch, but this time I got a little bit more information. After bitching again I spoke with the Manager and explained to him why I wanted the statements stamping and so on and he assured me short of writing me a letter that the UKBA accepts NatWest online bank statements without them being certified, something I will be putting to the test in the next week or two. He said he gets this kind of request quite often, so watch this space. I will be extremely annoyed to say the least if its not true what he told me.
At the end of the day if the bank we own will not for fill my request then there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

I would like your thoughts on the subject please, many thanks.

I was advised not to use online statements, even if stamped by the branch. It's best to order proper paper statements.

The agency I used said it was a risk sending printed off online statements as they are easy to fake. You don't want to give any reason for them to fail you, particularly as they may well be working to quotas.

Don't go on what a bank manager says. He won't be up on UKBA rules.

I used online statements in our first application. It was unsuccessful and they put lack of financial proof as one of the reasons - although they weren't more specific than that.

Well I have 5 months original current account statements and 6 months of savings account original, think I will bang those in with the online ones, I don't have anymore time left, if I proceed with haste I can always repent at leisure. The savings account originals show I meet the financial requirement without taking into consideration my salary so I will count on that.

What banks have against stamping statements is beyond me, unbelievable!

I

I had no problem getting Lloyds to stamp mine. They did it without even checking them!

RBS were a bit tricky but did it in the end.

Nationwide stamped mine. I had a bit of a faff finding a solution but once sorted I just called in and they satmped and signed them. Mine were printed from online except 2 cos I had lost the ones sent through the post. So I only got the printed ones from online stamped. Not the originals that I hadnt managged to lose.

I knew I'd have a bit of bother with this one, just had that gut feeling it would be a hurdle, I've just checked a couple of immigration sites and it says that online statements are now acceptable by the UKBA without being stamped, that rule came in sometime last year. The statements we submit are crossed referenced with so much of the other stuff we submit that the UKBA should be able to put 1 + 1 together surely. The financial stuff we have to submit for these visas is way beyond what should be sensibly required.

I agree.

Its taken a little bit of my confidence away not having stamped bank statements but I'm at the stage now where I need to submit, next week I start six weeks of 12 hour shifts and I wont have time to go chasing around for stuff, its now or never.

Anyway, I'll be able to moan like uck if the visa isn't granted then kick myself for being so impetuous, lets see.

Its now DHL time, four days of worry wondering if the parcel will arrive then another two months worry wondering if the visa is accepted.

I will probably hear on BF that someone has had their statements stamped at NatWest without any bother, why does one bank do it and not another?

Just reminded me. What a carry on we had as ours sent by TNT and we had the luxury of Track and Trace. All looked good until I noticed it was bound for Maragondon and not Cavite! (Next province). I made enquiries as to why but made no headway with them until I realised the Zip code was wrong. It was right for Maragondon but not Cavite. Found out the Mrs had always used the wrong zip code. LOL. However, TNT had taken it literally and the driver was actually out tootling around the wrong province with our effing papers. Not funny. Alls well that ends well as TNT called the driver and he brought the parcel back and delivered it to the correct address the following day.

You know what. When I explained to my wife she didnt believe me when I told her that she had been using the wrong Zip Code

Women for you LOL, I just noticed a slip up at the DHL office, they forgot to put the street and number on the address label, when I mentioned it they just penned it in because the transaction was finished on the pc, just thought though on the way home that ok the actually package has the correct address but the address details will be wrong on the pc, and I bet everything is electronic even in the Phils. Fingers crossed it gets there, like you said about the tracking, that can only be a good thing.

NatWest : "Probably the best Anker-Bankers" in the World.

I have held an acoount since 1976 with them. Counts for nought in the fee grabbing modern banking world.

Tom

Put a cover letter with it explaining the situation. Can't go wrong with a cover letter.

Saw this posted on a forum. (There was no link)

Annex 1.7 FM - 3.3.4 - FINANCIAL REQUIREMENT DOCUMENT STRICTLY STATES THAT BANK STATEMENTS AND ONLINE STATEMENTS CAN BE ACCEPTED IF:

Bank statements must be on official bank stationery. Alternatively electronic bank statements can also be accepted for all bank accounts (the account itself does not have to be exclusively online) as long as they are either accompanied by a letter from the bank on its headed stationery confirming that the documents are authentic or which bear the official stamp of the issuing bank on every page.

I was thinking that too, its given me a bit of an headache I could well do without. As it is I have sent the package off with electronic statements and an incomplete set of originals.

I'm going to have to try and get some clarification on this, you know, how the hell can I get my statements stamped or a letter if they wont bloody do it for me, damn banks. Such a simple task and they have let me down.

Order paper statements and send them on later maybe.

I've already ordered them, 14 days delivery would you believe it. Just been doing a little research on the bank statement scenario and its a really grey area, people are saying yes we sent in online statements to UKBA with success and others not. Apparently HSBC will not stamp statements either, why they stopped doing it I don't know. It seems quite an issue in the immigration arena, surely the UKBA are aware that some banks will not cooperate with their requirements.

It was this that delayed me a few weeks. I thought at one point I would have to catch the ferry to Liverpool to get them stamped.