HAP change bank account fiasco

gidxl03

Hi folks,

Just curious if anyone else is being put through the ringer trying to move HAP payments from Ulster/KBC bank. Here's a timeline of 11 emails and still payments are going to my soon-to-be closed account.

You'll notice that at the end when I gave up in frustration below that their own requirements excempt Welcome letters from needing to be stamped by the bank but state the opposite the next day.

A first world problem I know .. but after spending a wad drilling 5 holes into external walls that the tenants didn't want am feeling like its time to get out of the market.

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July Receive letter from HAP advising that I need to contact my Local Authority HAP Unit to ensure payments to go the correct account/ You will need to submit evidence of new account such as a bank statement header showing BIC, IBAN and your name or a welcome letter outlining these details

Sept 23 Send email accountspayable@limerick.ie with above details + their most recent payment to me

Sept 23 Receive reply saying that I need to contact my county council to amend bank details

Sept 23 Send all details to county council

Sept 23 Receive reply saying "To amend you bank details, you have to complete the attached form and return it along with your bank statement"

Sept 25 Send the (lengthy) completed form to county council and statement from Permanent TSB.

Sept 26 Receive call from council looking for more docs and send them same day

Sept 26 Receive email "We need to see the account type, BIC, Iban your name and address all clearly visible on the Bank header before we can apply the change."

Sept 27 Send reply

I checked again on the Permanent TSB website and that's the only type of statement that they offer.

I attached a picture of the only letter that I have from PTSB, it has my name, address, account-type=CurrentAccount and last 4 digits of the IBAN.

Can you check to see if anyone else has managed to switch to a Permanent TSB account for HAP payments?

Sept 27 Receive reply detailing requirements including

If using a bank letter, the bank letter is only accepted if it is on the banks headed paper. All letters from banks giving the Name on the Account, IBAN, BIC etc. must be signed and stamped by the bank.

The only exception to this is the “Welcome letters”, where a letter is sent when the person opens a new account. These are valid for up to six months.

Sept 27 Send reply stating that I had complied with all of the requests in the July letter from HAP

Sept 27 Receive reply "HAP Limerick have advised that the welcome letter must be stamped by your Bank. If you have any queries you can contact them on 061-556600."

Gumbo

You should have been advised about the stamped bank letter at the start. I done this recently going UB to PTDB also.

Couple of emails around the house but once the correct form and stamped bank letter it was all sorted.

But I started the process months ago just in case it was dragged out

gidxl03

Thanks Gumbo, finally got it sorted without having to take a morning off work to get something stamped in PTSB. The solution was to provide a PTSB eStatement after a convoluted process;

• from PTSB portal click on the account
• select the Statements tab
• view eStatements but if as in my case none are available then register for eSatements, then click Postal Statements and then Order Postal Statement. They say to wait for 3 days, and some time later an eStatement became available to view/download.

I guess that had the account been older, PTSB would have automatically generated a statement after a month or two.

Only at this point did HAP ring to confirm the bank account switch. Painful !