First Active becomes Ulster Bank.

[SlurrySlump]

It would appear that if you have an account in First Active that will shortly be merged with Ulster Bank you have to open a new Ulster Bank account and bring all the usual I.D. with you in order for your money to be transferred across. Is it not possible for these people to simply give you a new account number or use your existing one rather than have to go through this ordeal? It is the same company afterall!

 

[jaykayphd]

It would appear that if you have an account in First Active that will shortly be merged with Ulster Bank you have to open a new Ulster Bank account and bring all the usual I.D. with you in order for your money to be transferred across.

Not according to all the letters I have received from First Active it doesn't, nor from their website

 

[Mpsox]

It would appear that if you have an account in First Active that will shortly be merged with Ulster Bank you have to open a new Ulster Bank account and bring all the usual I.D. with you in order for your money to be transferred across. Is it not possible for these people to simply give you a new account number or use your existing one rather than have to go through this ordeal? It is the same company afterall!

My understanding is that in Feb 2010 they will automatically migrate your account accross from FA to a new UB one. i suggest you push back on whoever told you this as it sounds as if they are mis-informed

 

[SlurrySlump]

This is copied from the letter I received today.

The Welcome Desk will be staffed with a dedicated First Active representative who will be there to help make the change as smooth as possible. Your First Active representative will work alongside me, XXXX and we're both looking forward to welcoming you.
Ulster Bank services will become available once your account moves to Ulster Bank early next year. To avail of these services now you will need to open an Ulster Bank account. My Ulster Bank colleagues will be happy to help you.
To protect you, your accounts and to carry out the necessary security checks please remember to bring suitable proof of identity such as a driving licence or passport with you to your branch to carry out a transaction or open a new account.

Not very clear. Glad to know though that I don't have to open a new account.

 

[Starbuck]

If you have a FA Account and an existing UB account, and if the total amount in the two accounts exceeds 100K, are you covered by the bank guarentee for the excess?

 

[TheJackal]

This is copied from the letter I received today.

The Welcome Desk will be staffed with a dedicated First Active representative who will be there to help make the change as smooth as possible. Your First Active representative will work alongside me, XXXX and we're both looking forward to welcoming you.
Ulster Bank services will become available once your account moves to Ulster Bank early next year. To avail of these services now you will need to open an Ulster Bank account. My Ulster Bank colleagues will be happy to help you.
To protect you, your accounts and to carry out the necessary security checks please remember to bring suitable proof of identity such as a driving licence or passport with you to your branch to carry out a transaction or open a new account.

Not very clear. Glad to know though that I don't have to open a new account.

I received the same letter this week. Thought we just left everything alone & a/c would be subsumed into UB hassle free but not the case according to this letter.

 

[MysticX]

Thats the lastest letter i got on the matter though I interpreted it as meaning that your FA account(s) will automatically be transfered to UB early next year and then you can avail of UB services if so desired. However if you can't wait for that then you open an unspecified UB account (to get on their system... customer ID etc) to preempt the wait to immediately avail of UB services (since the FA stores have closed shop now).

Ulster Bank services will become available once your account moves to Ulster Bank early next year. To avail of these services now you will need to open an Ulster Bank account.

From the FA website [broken link removed]:

During the changeover, First Active customers do not need to do anything as we will be taking all the necessary steps to make the process as smooth as possible.

So this is keeping in line with the "do not need to anything" letters / notifications people have gotten in the previous months. The recent letter is merely letting you know theres going to be a down time of some months during the transfer (yeah I know one would think it would make sense to only close the stores only when the transfers are done but I have no idea how the banking system works in such cases) so if you need banking services in the interim they're saying you can go to them directly. Said "services" may have nothing to do with your old FA accounts at all.

That's just my take on it so don't assume it's infallible.