Problems with Santander taking over Alliance & Leicester bank accounts

[PayPal_john]

Hello everyone,

There's been quite an issue over the past few days with anyone who has an Alliance & Leicester bank account registered on PayPal. Now that Santander have taken them over and the grace period where both details worked simultaneously has ended a large number of Direct Debit instructions with PayPal have automatically been cancelled.

In some cases the sort code has changed, in some it has not. Either way, as these instructions are all automated the moment the bank name changed the systems determined that the mandate was cancelled and removed the bank from your PayPal account.

Our automatic security prompts you to fax us proof of ID and a bank statement, ** please note this is not necessary ** . All you have to do is send an e-mail to customer service who should be able to re-enable the bank on our system. You will then be able to re-add it and set up a new Direct Debit.

I've copy and pasted the template for adding a bank below, once it is re-enabled you can follow the steps:

Here’s how to re-add your bank account:

1. Log in to your PayPal account at www.paypal.co.uk
2. Click 'Profile' near the top of the page.
3. Click ‘Bank Accounts’ under ‘Financial Information’.
4. Click ‘Add’.
5. Enter your bank’s information.
6. Review the account information and click ‘Add Bank Account’.

For security purposes you may be asked to confirm ownership of this bank account. You can confirm your bank account by following these steps: You can do this by following these steps:

1. Log in to your PayPal account at www.paypal.co.uk
2. Click 'Profile' near the top of the page.
3. Click the 'Bank Accounts' link in the 'Financial Information' column.
4. Select the bank account you wish to confirm and click 'Confirm'.
5. Click the 'Set up Direct Debit' button.
6. The next page will display your bank details. Enter the full address of your bank account then click 'Submit'.

We’ll then send two random deposits, between 1p and 99p, to your bank account. These deposits are at our expense and you'll find them on your online bank statement within two to three working days, or on your next paper statement

Note:

• It is not possible to confirm a savings account
• If the bank account is a business account or more than one person is required to authorise debits, you must print and sign a paper Direct Debit Instruction and post it to the address provided

When you know the amounts of the deposits, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your PayPal account at www.paypal.co.uk
2. Click 'Profile' near the top of the page.
3. Click the 'Bank Accounts' link in the 'Financial Information' column.
4. Select the bank account you wish to confirm and click 'Confirm'.
5. Enter the two amounts.
6. Click 'Submit'. If the amounts are correct, your bank account will be confirmed.

Completing this process enables you to add funds to your PayPal account balance from your bank account, make Instant Transfer payments and eCheque funded payments.

[Rich100]

This really **bleep**!  I empathise with you all as I am having the same problems.

I think Santander (or are they still A&L?) are the main cause of this problem, no email, no letter, no nothing, the first I knew was a letter from BT saying my account had been changed and that was the only way I knew I had a new sort code.

Then all the paypal stuff, expensive phone calls, wasted time I do not have, i'm still waiting.

We should all complain to the FSA as surely A&L/Santander have broken the rules here.

[WolfyUK]

I totally agree, Rich. I have already worked up around £10 in PayPal fees because of this and I am going to have to call A+L's 0845 and PayPal's 0870 numbers tomorrow to attempt to get to the bottom of this.

I too have just tried for the second time to verify the deposited amounts using the new sort code but PayPal will still not accept them.

Oh, and I have a question for the moderators: I take it that you don't actually work for PayPal and so cannot advise what it is that we should be doing to resolve this?

[PayPal_john]

Hey everyone,

just to clarify, we do actually work for PayPal but we can't discuss any specifics on the forum due to data protection, bank secrecy etc.

One thing about verifying your bank that people should remember is that it generally takes a minimum  of 3 working days for these deposits to be put in your bank account. If you, for example, remove the bank and restart the process only the most recent deposits will work. Please keep track of how many times you start the process and don't get fooled into entering old deposits. Enter the wrong ones 3 times and you will have to start the process all over again. We've had people with as many as 5 different deposits being sent at the same time and they themselves are 2 sets behind the system....

[WolfyUK]

I received another two deposits into the bank account from PayPal today (that is six in total, from two requests) and this time when I entered them into the confirmation screen they were accepted. It must be some kind of miracle. It would be even more miraculous if the amounts I have now requested to be transferred out of PayPal actually reach Santander. 

[Dee108]

ah ,but just because the two pence amounts were accepted OK does not automatically mean everything is now ok, as on two of my attempts over last couple weeks the pence amounts were accepted fine, yet on the next occasion I bought an item on ebay it led to me getting the emails again that bank account removed etc. So I reckon there is more going on, you have to get the branch location or full bank address correct for Santander or something.......

Am still awaiting my new pence deposits to try again, they never arrive in 2-3 days, always takes 4-5 days for me.....

[adamski]

hi, im having the same laurel and hardy problems. im on my 2nd attempt at fixing it. i recon you change the alliance and leicester bank name to santander and change the old sort code to the new one, which you'l find out if you login to your bank account. i think, keep the same address and obviously bank account no. im hoping this works and am at present, waiting for the direct debits to come through. the weird thing is, that on my 1st attempt, just changins the A and L to Santander and leaving the old sort code and other details the same, the direct debits went through. was disabled again when i made another ebay purchase, which actually was completed. the other weird thing is that i can only access my bank account through the alliance and leicester web site and not the santander website. blind leading the blind im afraid. no offence to the blind or partially sighted out there,

adamski

[Dee108]

At last it now seeems to be working again OK for me. Recent purchases are now going through my bank again OK. As I was a former A & L customer who had previously been with Girobank the 'Branch Location' entered in as Bridle Road, Bootle appears to have worked for me. On the page that asked for full bank address I had used: Santander Bridle Road Bootle Merseyside GIR 0AA (think that's zeroAA in postcode). Note: This seems to have worked for me as a former Girobank customer but this Branch Location and bank address may not work for others who have never used Girobank.....

[PayPal_david]

Hi Boozer31,

I have moved your query here as I think that this is the issue that you are experiencing.

The threat at the start should answer your questions .

David.

[WolfyUK]

A number of other people are also struggling with this changeover, me included:

https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Bank-accounts-and-credit-cards/Bank-Account-removed-now-unable-t...

I have also just put in a request to PayPal for a refund of fees as I had to refund an eBay buyer and the only way I could do so was to transfer using my debit card. I am not very confident that this will be honoured, but I am going to take this as far as I can as the service has been completely unacceptable.

[PayPal_david]

Hey Bearsa and Jayteebee,

I have moved your questions here as this has already been answered previously on this thread.

I hope this helps ,

David.