Hello

We held a meeting with all the main banks in Oxford a few years ago and persuaded them to accept our enrolment certificate printed from our student self-service site and stamped by the Oxford college where the student is studying. The colleges aren’t required to sign the certificate and it can be used for any bank, except HSBC who also require the original offer letter, which works well for the colleges who can stamp certificates at enrolment/registration time.

It does take some initial persuasion (we used the barometer results as evidence) and we liaise with the banks each year to renew the arrangement but it has been working very well. We also invite all the banks to International Orientation (over 2.5 days) to help students open accounts which they are always very keen to attend and we act as a central point to disseminate information about student bank accounts to all the Oxford colleges which makes it easier for the banks.

James

James Tibbert
Head of Student Information and Immigration

Begin forwarded message:

From: Martin Loftus <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 26 January 2016 at 17:13:35 GMT
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Status letters
Reply-To: Admin-student <[log in to unmask]>

Hello

We pulled back from going fully electronic & self-service for this reason. And it's not just that banks require hard copies of the letter; even individual branches of the same bank require different types of letter.

This year, apart from branch addresses, we allowed no other alterations. And we've said to students that we will not alter letters - ie - try a different bank if they don't like the letter. We haven't had many issues.

One problem is the stamp. We can fully automate letter printing if they didn't need to be stamped. And, I don't know what a stamp proves anyway. You can by a stamp from the office supplies companies.

So, if anyone has had success managing banks' expectations, I'd like to hear too...

Martin

Assistant Registrar (Records & Fees)
University of Brighton
Cockcroft Building
Lewes Road
Brighton
BN2 4GJ
Tel: + 44 (0)1273 642811


-----Original Message-----
From: Admin-student [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sharon Miles
Sent: 26 January 2016 15:44
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Status letters

Hi,

We are trying to improve our service to students, particularly at the beginning of the Academic year, and we are looking at how we provide status letters to the students. I can't see anything recent on this.  I wondered whether this provision is causing anyone else problems. We wanted to provide them electronically but the message from the banks is that electronic copies are not acceptable. In fact, the banks seem to be demanding more e.g. letter must be addressed to a specific branch.  Any comments would be gratefully accepted.

Regards

Sharon

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