# Ulster Bank - Not letting me get my money - Please Help!



## grahampaull (28 Sep 2009)

Hello,

Came accross this site after trawling the net desperate for help and advice..

I Will explain as best I can, Here goes:

I opened a bank account with Ulster Bank in April 09 as i started a new job and needed it to get my money.

All has been fine and dandy up until Friday 25th Sep 09,
I lodged a cheque into my account for £1022 which cleared straight away since my employer is with Ulster Bank too, this meant I could withdraw money straight away, so off I went to do my monthly spending spree which was fun, I spent £245 on bits and bobs which left me with £5 left on my daily limit.

Along comes saturday, Time to pay off my debts :-(, I go to the Ulster Bank ATM, put my card in, put in my pin heres what I see:

Your balance is : 777.86
You can withdraw : NIL

Ok, now im confused, whats going on ?. I got home to phone the bank and realised the bank dosnt open on Saturdays, so I just kept checking my balance and available balance online but still no change.

Today (Monday 28th)
I go into work and wait til 9:30 to ring Ulster Bank and got through to a fella at my local branch who did not have a clue what the problem was, so I just told him I would call in and speak to him directly, so i left work (loosing pay) to go to the bank.

I get to the bank and asked the girl at the counter if sahe could help me, she tried her best with me before moving me onto her colleague, He tried too with no avail as to what the problem was, again I was moved on to another girl who sat with me and looked over all my details, payments in and out and anything else that cud cause the problem until she decided to go and speak to the manager. She came back 5 minutes later and said he was baffled too, now Im really getting browned off, which you have to understand, I was meant to pay my debts on saturday :-(. I asked her could I lift anything at all to at least get me to work tomorrow, she said "No im sorry, you cant". She took my mobile number and said she would try to get to the bottom of the problem  and ring me back, after a few hours waiting I never got the call.

So i phoned my boss and asked him if I could come in late tomorrow as I want to get my money (loosing more pay) he said thats fine and even offered me more money until i get sorted, why should I ?

All i want to know is : Can I go to Ulster bank tomorrow ans take my money or is there some sort of law or somrthing stopping me from doing so ?

This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me as this has been the only bank I have ever been with ?

Also, My work buddy is with Ulster Bank too and lodged his cheque in at the same time as me and he is having no problems, so its not a bounced cheque or anything...

Please, any help on this would be excellent and I would appreciate it it sooooo much!

Many thanks

Graham


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## keithkarl200 (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

Advice? Stay clear of the Ulster Bank. My local branch disclosed my account details to a friend of mine and asked him if he wanted to make a withdrawal. He went in looking for money bags and apparently they thought he said money balance


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## grahampaull (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

I will definatly be closing my account after this, I wouldnt be annoyed witrh this happening again, I would rather just cash it in the money shop and pay the £70 charge every month!


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## keithkarl200 (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

On the other hand Ulster Bank offers transaction fee free banking, unlike others. Hope you get the problem resolved


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## grahampaull (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

If they let me lift my money without any problems (which I doubt) I will kepp the account, but if not I will transfer to another bank regardless of fees ! Their loss!

Cheers KeithKarl!


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## Romulan (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

Ring and arrange an appointment with the manager.

Get his/her email address before the meeting and email an outline of the problem.
Be calm but determined - you need the problem identified and resolved as a matter of urgency.

If the Manager is unavailable or cannot assist, ask for an escalation contact, most banks have a central dept. for addressing serious complaints.


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## grahampaull (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

@Romulan

Thats easier said than done, I have no money to get to work tomorrow and am loosing pay because of this so my only option is to go down tomorrow and get it resolved as I cant be sitting around waiting on appointments.

I Will take your advice and be calm and determined.

Thanks for the response.


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## chlipps (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

I think Ub have some issue on your account whereby the max withdrawal of 250 euro has not reset. Maybe it takes one full working day rather than calendar day to reset so i think you should be able to withdraw again tomorrow.. (btw.. not linked to the bank in any way).. Best of Luck


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## Romulan (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

Understood.

You need to borrow enough for a couple of days from a friend/relative/boss.
Go to work and use your mobile (if you have one) to make contact with the bank.

Your boss apprears understanding, request use of email/fax/phone to help you 
resolve the issue asap.  He/She also prefers you in work!


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## grahampaull (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

@Romulan

I cant borrow any money, I have already borrowed money and cant get any more, havnt got many people to ask, as for the phone, I cant use that as my balance has run out and cant get it topped up plus I cant get to work as its 15 miles away :-(, Its all just an inconveiniance (I cant spell too good)

@Chlipps
Thats what I thought happened, Hopefully that is the case!


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## MaryBe (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*



keithkarl200 said:


> On the other hand Ulster Bank offers transaction fee free banking, unlike others. Hope you get the problem resolved


 Not true - e.g. BOI offers free banking if you keep your account in credit to the tune of €500.00 or make something like 3 internet and/or phone transactions within a quarter.

Oh the dreaded Ulster Bank.......it just gets better and better!!!!


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## mathepac (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*



MaryBM said:


> Not true - e.g. BOI offers free banking if you keep your account in credit to the tune of €500.00 ....


May not be relevant as OP appears to be UK-based...


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## GreenQueen (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

It's very common (has happened to me and other friends and family members with UB accounts on more than one occasion) and I'm surprised they didn't tell you when you enquired.

They might have cleared the cheque but it's not free to be used for cash withdrawals or laser/cirrus transactions until the 3 working days have passed.  It's the same when I lodge cash to an Ulster Bank account on a Friday I can withdraw it straight away but can't use it for Laser transactions until Monday morning after open of business.

Hopefully you should be able to access your money tomorrow.


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## Kev (28 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

I lodged a cheque with UB in the UK and it showed up as being my account on my on-line account as bee cleared after 3 days after I lodged it with the bank, however, when I went to withdraw some of the money I was told that it would take 6 days for it to clear but I was also told that I could withdraw some of it from a cash machine. The person in bank said that he could not withdraw any of the money over the counter until the 6 days had expired.


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## Towger (29 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

GreenQueen and Kev are correct, UB are well lets say.......(I am still waiting for a reply to two complaint letters I sent to their NI and IRL HQs over 5 years ago) The problem in the branch is that the staff are badly trained, so don't know how their systems work. With other banks, and I assume UB is the samel you can get the 'time delay' for the cheques to fully clear lifted before you can make a withdrawal lifted. They just dont  know (about it) how to do it at branch level


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## Brussels (29 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*

Why dont you give your bank details to your employer who can then pay the money directly into your bank account. You will then always have access to these funds.


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## Bronte (29 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*



grahampaull said:


> , I would rather just cash it in the money shop and pay the £70 charge every month!


 
What is the money shop?


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## kimmage (29 Sep 2009)

*Re: Ulster Bank - Not letting my get my money - Please Help!*



Bronte said:


> What is the money shop?


 
I think thats like CashConverters here in Ireland.  They cash cheques for a fee.


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## grahampaull (26 Oct 2009)

Thanks for all the help..

I went down and they couldnt figure out what happened, next day when I checked, all was back to normal.. Now this months wages are in, its happened again.

I phoned them and they said they would call me back as it was lunch hour, 3 hours later I am still waiting.


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## bond-007 (26 Oct 2009)

Change bank asap.


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