ISA money in limbo - not sure how to proceed. Help appreciated :(

gelato_cat · 12 August 2008 at 9:43PM

Hi all

To cut a long story short, I initiated an ISA transfer from Egg to Lloyds in April this year which has failed not once, but twice.

For a change, Lloyds isn't (too much) at fault (they have merely not kept me informed...) but it's Egg. They sent Lloyds a cheque in May, which Lloyds tried to cash, but couldn't. Lloyds didn't tell me until I contacted them and kept chasing for an explanation. I had to then contact Egg who finally told me that the reason the cheque had been returned was because they hadn't signed it properly!!!

I stayed patient and sent a new transfer form to Lloyds to forward to Egg (on the advice of Egg, as Lloyds didn't bother to respond to me). All was well - or so I thought. Today I came home to another letter and another !!!!!!! cheque which hasn't been signed properly.

I am incensed that my money is in limbo earning interest for Egg because two of their monkeys can't even sign their own names properly.

I am going to make a written complaint to Egg - their website says I need to do this via secure message or by phoning them. I have also made a complaint to Lloyds (some weeks ago) about their lack of contact with me, and they say they are going to give the relevant staff some training and they trust that's enough. It's not, so I'm going to pursue it further.

My question is, do I really have to wait another eight weeks (after submitting the complaint to Egg tonight) before I can escalate this to someone who may actually care (the Financial Ombudsman Service)?

And is there anything I can do to make sure Egg signs the next cheque properly?! I am really worried and upset that I'll never get my money from Egg. What makes it worse is that it's no longer in my Egg ISA, it's in a holding account with them. So there's no record of that money belonging to me :mad:

TIA

Suze

turbobob · 13 August 2008 at 12:16AM

I find it hard to believe they sign transfer cheques by hand. In my experience cheques from a large company are signed by an authorised company signatory, which will be someone senior like a director. Its not very likely that they will pass thousands of cheques to a director every day to sign, so they are usually printed. So their explaination sounds a bit strange..

Anyway, if you submit a formal complaint they have to look into it properly. You should request they put you in the position you'd be in if they hadn't ballsed it up. So perhaps they could increase the transfer value by the amount of interest Lloyds would have paid in the meantime?

YorkshireBoy · 13 August 2008 at 12:31AM

Suzey, up until a few weeks ago I'd have said you had to wait the 8 weeks before going to the FOS. However, when one of my transfers wasn't happening I rang the FOS for advice and they immediately wrote (first class!) to the old provider saying, simply, "ISA transfer taking too long, customer seeking redress". I got a phone call the very next day from the letter's recipient.

I got my transfer done quicksticks after that.

As it turned out though it wasn't the old provider that was to blame, but the new one...but the FOS letter certainly got them talking to each other! Perhaps something for you to look forward to...the new (at fault) provider gave me goodwill to the value of £325 (but it was rather a large transfer).

Turbobob, financial institutions have many authorised signatories (and not necessarily director, or even senior manager, level). Indeed, I withdrew a significant amount from Skipton only last week and the branch cashier signed the cheque.

Speaking of signatures on cheques, I once transferred away from Abbey (who were running my Safeway ISA) a few years ago and they actually forgot to sign the cheque!!

gelato_cat · 13 August 2008 at 9:40PM

I found it hard to believe too - until I saw the cheques with my own eyes. They look as if they've been written by a 12-year-old. On this latest one, they !!!!ed up writing "Lloyds" so scribbled it out and initialled it, which was another reason it was rejected...

I will defo ask for at least as much compensation as you suggest. Thanks for the reply

Suze

turbobob wrote: »

I find it hard to believe they sign transfer cheques by hand. In my experience cheques from a large company are signed by an authorised company signatory, which will be someone senior like a director. Its not very likely that they will pass thousands of cheques to a director every day to sign, so they are usually printed. So their explaination sounds a bit strange..

Anyway, if you submit a formal complaint they have to look into it properly. You should request they put you in the position you'd be in if they hadn't ballsed it up. So perhaps they could increase the transfer value by the amount of interest Lloyds would have paid in the meantime?

gelato_cat · 13 August 2008 at 9:44PM

Thanks YB - I knew I'd seen a post from you to that effect and searched for it last night, but couldn't find it. Glad you replied on this thread

I might ring the FOS and explain the situation, surely it can't make it any worse!!! I'm only transferring £7k but I'd like it where I can see it (and it's earning me interest), the fact it's sitting in a holding account unnerves me a bit!

How did you find out the FOS has written to the provider (and first class, at that)? Did the FOS write to you?

I've written a complaint to Egg so that's covered, but I want this sorted sooner rather than later as you might imagine.

Suze

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Suzey, up until a few weeks ago I'd have said you had to wait the 8 weeks before going to the FOS. However, when one of my transfers wasn't happening I rang the FOS for advice and they immediately wrote (first class!) to the old provider saying, simply, "ISA transfer taking too long, customer seeking redress". I got a phone call the very next day from the letter's recipient.

I got my transfer done quicksticks after that.

As it turned out though it wasn't the old provider that was to blame, but the new one...but the FOS letter certainly got them talking to each other! Perhaps something for you to look forward to...the new (at fault) provider gave me goodwill to the value of £325 (but it was rather a large transfer).

Turbobob, financial institutions have many authorised signatories (and not necessarily director, or even senior manager, level). Indeed, I withdrew a significant amount from Skipton only last week and the branch cashier signed the cheque.

Speaking of signatures on cheques, I once transferred away from Abbey (who were running my Safeway ISA) a few years ago and they actually forgot to sign the cheque!!

YorkshireBoy · 13 August 2008 at 9:52PM

Suzey wrote: »

How did you find out the FOS has written to the provider (and first class, at that)? Did the FOS write to you?

Hello Suzey,

I took a call from the old provider on my mobile the following morning, and when I got home from work my copy of the letter sent by the FOS to the old provider was on the doormat!

goodsyard · 15 August 2008 at 2:25PM

I opened an Isa with a big 5 bank in April & asked them to transfer funds from B&B.
So far big 5 say they've asked for the money 3 times. B&B say they've never been asked at all! It's hard to believe that big 5 doesn't know the procedure, but if a bank wants to hang on to funds, being slow on releasing Isa funds to another bank is an easy way. The impression given is that thare are many people, well into the thousands, in the same position. I've complained to the big 5 bank, but I think I'll follow up with a contact to the ombudsman. I wonder who might pay the lost interest - £325 sounds a reasonable starting point.??!

goodsyard · 16 August 2008 at 11:58AM

Have a look in 16th Aug Saturday Times money section. They have both an article exposing what is going on, and a letter on the back page where their 'Troubleshooter' has had success with Lloyds.
Thanks for the FOS advice, I phoned them (not 0845 --) yesterday and have now got complaints lodged with both the banks involved. Really helpful people on the FOS helpline, and a copy of what they've done in the post this morning

Jonbvn · 18 August 2008 at 10:47AM

Given the numbers of threads on ISA transfer problems, it is clear that the whole system requires a complete overhaul. This idea of institutions sending cheques to one another is quite laughable, in this age of almost instant transfers, almost as if it is designed to discourage transfers?

gelato_cat · 21 August 2008 at 8:13PM

Just realised I received a secure message from Egg on the 15th offering me a measly £30. I haven't had time to ring the FOS yet.

Message also says they are very sorry and are busy writing yet another cheque.

I am inclined to tell them I want more (for the time I've spent chasing them, worry etc), however am worried that I will end up with nothing if I do so.

What should I do?

Suze

ISA money in limbo - not sure how to proceed. Help appreciated :(

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free