A week ago I made an online transfer from my Bank of Scotland account into a betting account. This is not something I’ve done before and the bank blocked my account while it checked this was not a fraudulent transaction. I confirmed, by phone, that it was not and the money was duly transferred. The problem is that the account is still blocked and there is apparently no way of unblocking it without me going into a Bank of Scotland branch – the nearest of which is more than 63 miles away.
The bank has an automated system to verify identities, which sends a security code to the phone numbers it holds for me. The problem is I am staying in Northumberland and the numbers are for my home and work in Leicestershire, as well as for my mobile. I was told that the code was sent to all three but there is no record of it on my mobile. So my account will remain blocked until I go into a branch with photo ID.
I am not prepared to undertake a round trip of almost 130 miles (even though the bank has offered to pay my taxi fare) when, by allowing the transaction to the betting company, it has accepted there was nothing wrong. PH, Loughborough
Full points to your bank for flagging up an unusual transaction, but it’s odd that it continued to block your account having satisfied itself the transaction was genuine. Bank of Scotland claims this is because you failed to answer security questions, by which it presumably means the activation code you missed.
Hours after receiving three calls from customer services insisting you present yourself if you want to access your money, after intervention from the press office it now says: “We have gone through additional security checks and the block has been lifted. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
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