I’ll keep this brief…has anyone in a professional capacity actually managed to successfully register? If so, please share how you managed it as, to me, it seems unfit for purpose.
Karl Taylor
Parker Rhodes Hickmotts
I had my first attempt yesterday in response to a letter from NatWest refusing to respond to my written enquiries by mail.
Setting up the account worked fairly smoothly. I then uploaded my letter of enquiry but I couldn’t proceed to the final ‘submit’ page without uploading the Grant which is not yet available.
I ended up using the Webchat to ask them how I should proceed and was told that they had already received the letter as soon as I uploaded it and were processing my requests even though there was nothing to indicate this on the web page. I will wait to see how long it takes for them to respond.
Tobias Gleed-Owen
Hewitsons LLP
Agreed - useless.
We have registered a number of cases and receive repeated requests for the same information. Current strategy is we now register, upload ‘original’ documents (?) as required, then submit complaint and request costs and progress.
John Cartlidge
Campion Solicitors
I agree with all the above.
The initial letter stage has worked OK for me, but it seems to go downhill from there. I had one case where the funeral invoice went unpaid and I am still not clear what I did wrong, and on more than one occasion, the system has locked at a certain point, and I have had to call to get it unblocked.
I also find it frustrating to upload documents only then to be asked for the originals by post. If they need the originals, doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of going online?
I had given up on it, and had reverted to sending my initial letters by post, but I understand as someone has mentioned above, that they are now declining to do anything other than freeze accounts in response to an ordinary letter.
Ben Leach
Molesworths Bright Clegg
Is anyone else still experiencing problems with NatWest’s online bereavement service? I had hoped the issues would be ironed out over time but I seem to encounter a problem at virtually every stage. For example:
Death certificate verification forms are routinely rejected. This is so even though I often upload a letter from NatWest which confirms they are acceptable (provided in response to my request for confirmation that the Crown had permitted such use of their copyrighted documents).
The e-sign closure instruction form is auto-filled with my details. In cases where I am not one of the executors, and so cannot give the declarations/indemnities stated on the form, I have to get the executors to sign a paper form and ask NatWest to create a new button on the portal to enable this to be uploaded.
The latest issue is the rejection of scanned copies of Grants. I have been informed that the computer will only accept photographs, not scans. We do not have a camera or business smartphones and I am will not use my personal phone for GDPR reasons. We have been told the only way around this is to submit everything online via the portal, but to then send the Grant by post.
I find I am wasting so much time and cost in trying to resolve these problems. I cannot recall a single instance when the process has run smoothly and I have submitted complaints on every estate I have with them at present. The system may work for lay executors but, if the experience of myself and my colleagues is anything to go by, it is not fit for purpose for use by estate practitioners. That being the case, why do they continue to make it mandatory for us?
For the various reasons stated by Nathan Bowles, I always communicate with NatWest’s Bereavement Service by letter, with an office copy Grant and a signed account closure form, and I find that they close the account(s) very quickly.
Cliona O’Tuama
Solicitor
Resurrecting this old thread but is anyone else having issues with Natwest closing accounts?
Firstly the system removed the closure form when I uploaded the Grant so when I chased the closure they claimed to be waiting on the form I could no longer access.
Now they are refusing the close the account without seeing the administrators ID, I have never supplied ID to Natwest for administrators or executors (and again the system didn’t even provide the spaces to do so until I chased and they added another hurdle).
It seems the goalposts keep being shifted so they can’t be blamed for the delay.
Is it just me butting heads with them?
Lyndzey Smissen
Paytons Solicitors LLP
I agree this has got to be one of the worst systems to deal with resulting in it taking a much longer time to report the death of their customer and getting them to pay out. Someone needs to stand up at their next AGM and let them have both barrels!
Patrick Moroney
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I have been complaining about exactly the same issues today. You are not alone, although I am not sure that really helps. I still try to deal with them by post if I can, but they are so slow processing post it is hard to say which is worse.
Another issue I’ve encountered is Nat West/RBS remove the notification so you can see it but can’t access it. They do this because ‘it’s been a while’ when it’s only been a few weeks since informing them of the death. In recent correspondence to them I have pointed out that it can take months to apply for a Grant. Another example of banks having zero clue about the process.
I also correspond with them by letter wherever possible. The portal makes little or no sense.
This is what triggered me to enquire today, they are holding six figures but closed the notification and we’d received no funds. Absolute madness.
I too have been having difficulty with NatWest’s Bereavement Portal. In the estate in question the funds held there are c£650,000. The estate is £1.5 million and there is a large IHT liability. Having sent a PDF of the death certificate to the portal, I received details of the date of death balance. I then sent form IHT423 and an original death certificate to NatWest by post, as I did not think that it was appropriate to send this online. I asked NW to let me know when they had paid the IHT to HMRC.
The death certificate was returned with the usual kind of letter saying that it had been forwarded to the relevant department who would be in contact with me but I have heard nothing further. I tried to see about it on the portal but could not find anything. I tried to ask a simple question about the payment of the IHT through their “chat” facility but my question was not recognised. In the meantime interest has started to run on the IHT while NatWest do nothing. The whole process is a disgrace.
It seems to me that this portal is designed for lay people to assist them in dealing with small estates but it has no place in a larger estate. It also must be wide open to fraud.
Cliona O’Tuama
Solicitor
Aye Cliona, its designed by people who don’t know what they’re doing for people who don’t know what they’re doing.
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Cliona that is awful, I assume you have complained and have advised they will be resposible for the interest incurred? I am waiting on a call back for my complaints but going to post the paperwork off today in the hope someone competent picks it up in the meantime.
It really is disgraceful. I am about to make a formal complaint to NatWest and will ask that they pay the interest that will have been incurred due to their delay in making the transfer to HMRC.
Cliona O’Tuama
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