We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
ISA transfer went horribly wrong
6am
Posts: 194 Forumite
On 18th of April I went into my local Barclays branch and requested to transfer my ISA from Natwest to Barclays and offset it against my mortgage. Branch manager wrote a free form letter where it said that I would like to transfer ISA. I signed it. I was sligthly surprised that she did not use a standart transfer application form. Anyway she said that I will receive further information several days latter. I did not hear from them for more then 4 weeks. Then on 18th of May I received a letter from Barclays which said that to proceed my transfer request I need to fill an application form. They also enclosed an incorrect application form. They enclosed an application form for new ISA accounts, there was no option to indicate that I want a transfer and it was not possible to give details of my current ISA. At that point I was very dissappointed in the level of service (and they also enclosed incorrect form), so I decided not to sign this application form and leave my ISA in Natwest. Two weeks latter I received a letter from Natwest informing me that my account has been closed. I waited for several days for my money to appear at Barclay and then called them. Barclay told me that they did not open an ISA for me and do not see any money coming to me! What should I do now?
Why did Natwest transfer money and closed my account? I did not give them authorisation to do that. Had they contacted me before closure I would refuse to transfer. They acted on instruction from Barclay, not my instruction to Natwest.
Why Barclay went ahead and requested transfer if they acknowledged in the letter that I need to sign application form to proceed with transfer?
Why did Natwest transfer money and closed my account? I did not give them authorisation to do that. Had they contacted me before closure I would refuse to transfer. They acted on instruction from Barclay, not my instruction to Natwest.
Why Barclay went ahead and requested transfer if they acknowledged in the letter that I need to sign application form to proceed with transfer?
0
Comments
-
One assumes they got a transfer request from Barclays signed by you telling them.Why did Natwest transfer money and closed my account?I did not give them authorisation to do that.
If you didnt, how did they know to transfer it?Had they contacted me before closure I would refuse to transfer. They acted on instruction from Barclay, not my instruction to Natwest.
That instruction contains your signature.Why Barclay went ahead and requested transfer if they acknowledged in the letter that I need to sign application form to proceed with transfer?
Perhaps the letter was sufficient when someone else looked at it. The actual form is not always required with some providers.
Your questions would be best placed to Barclays and Natwest. Natwest should be able to supply a copy of the info they got from Barclays. Barclays should be able to trace the money as they would have told Natwest to quote an account/reference number.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
The banks appear to have acted on your instructions via your signed letter to Barclays instructing them and Natwest to act.
You appear to have misinterpreted the form Barclays sent you, which was probably intended to do no more than get you to sign agreement to their account terms and conditions. Current year subscription wording on a new application can be ignored or struck through on an initial application form per HMRC guidance. You wouldn't be counted as subscribed for the current year unless you actually paid in money this tax year.
You haven't yet signed the application form to accept Barclays ISA terms and conditions so you should do so as soon as possible in case they decide that they are unwilling to let you continue to operate the ISA without clearly accepting the conditions.
That they would request the transfer from Natwest before getting your signed agreement is an interesting feature in their procedures that may be in place to help transfers complete more quickly. That should imply that they are willing to fix the problem by returning the money in cases where the customer doesn't accept the conditions and tells them so. So, alternatively, ask them to do that.
The money is presumably sitting in a temporary account waiting for you to complete opening of the ISA account.0 -
Thank you for your answers. They have some valid points. I am pretty frustrated at the moment. Instead of very simple routine bank operation I have got a problem and have to spend my time sorting it out.
How exactly should this letter be worded to allow Natwest act on instruction? As far as I remember it did not have "I authorise Natwest", it had something "I would like to transfer ...". It is an instruction to Barclay to initiate a transfer. From my point of view Natwest should have contacted me and get explicit authorisation to release funds to Barclay.The banks appear to have acted on your instructions via your signed letter to Barclays instructing them and Natwest to act.
How long these instructions valid for? In my opinion Barclay failed to act in reasonable time.
I recently moved my mortgage from One Account to Barclay and had a similar situation. I asked Barclay to remortgage and gave them my One Account details. However One Account did not blindly believe Barclay and requsted a written confirmation from me.
This is a quote from letter.You appear to have misinterpreted the form Barclays sent you, which was probably intended to do no more than get you to sign agreement to their account terms and conditions.
As I understand it, until I complete and sign it, they cannot proceed.To proceed with your ISA transfer in, please find enclosed an application form, which will need to be completed and signed.
The enclosed form contains the following
As I understand this is not a "transfer ISA" form. There is no option to indicate that I would like a transfer and since this is a required field I cannot complete this form. The letter also does not indicate that I need to ignore this point.To open a Mini Cash ISA we require an initial deposit of at least £1 paid either by funds transfer from a Barclays account or by a cheque0 -
I think you have misinterpreted the purpose of the form. The instruction is forwarded by Barclays to Natwest, so it is an instruction from you to Natwest. Transfers are supposed to be completed within 4 weeks, but I think that would start from the time the request is received by Natwest. If Natwest actually took 4 weeks, which is reasonable to suppose at that time of year, then Barclays seem to have taken about 2 weeks to get that instruction to Natwest, which is pretty slow.How exactly should this letter be worded to allow Natwest act on instruction? As far as I remember it did not have "I authorise Natwest", it had something "I would like to transfer ...". It is an instruction to Barclay to initiate a transfer. From my point of view Natwest should have contacted me and get explicit authorisation to release funds to Barclay.
How long these instructions valid for? In my opinion Barclay failed to act in reasonable time.
Natwest didn't blindly believe Barclays either though. They will have received the form you signed at the Barclays branch instructing them to do the transfer.I recently moved my mortgage from One Account to Barclay and had a similar situation. I asked Barclay to remortgage and gave them my One Account details. However One Account did not blindly believe Barclay and requsted a written confirmation from me.
Unless you complete it and sign it, they cannot credit the money sent to them by Natwest. If you don't sign it, they have to send the money back and Natwest have to reinstate your old account with the funds.This is a quote from letter.To proceed with your ISA transfer in, please find enclosed an application form, which will need to be completed and signed.
As I understand it, until I complete and sign it, they cannot proceed.
This is a common confusion and it really should be made clearer. Pretty much every account I have transferred into has stated something similar and it has never applied to transfers.The enclosed form contains the following
As I understand this is not a "transfer ISA" form. There is no option to indicate that I would like a transfer and since this is a required field I cannot complete this form. The letter also does not indicate that I need to ignore this point.To open a Mini Cash ISA we require an initial deposit of at least £1 paid either by funds transfer from a Barclays account or by a cheque0 -
Thank you. It make sense now after you described how transfer process works.Unless you complete it and sign it, they cannot credit the money sent to them by Natwest. If you don't sign it, they have to send the money back and Natwest have to reinstate your old account with the funds.
Am I right thinking that the best way forward is to sign this application form? If I don't sign how long will Barclay wait before they send money back?
I went to Barclay branch today and after they were unable to find any traces of money I said that I do not want to do transfer anymore, they advised to go to Natwest and ask them if they can somehow cancel transfer and reinstate account. So I did. I am not sure what the outcome of my actions will be. I am afraid if I sign application form now it will complicate matter further. Or perhaps I should wait for a week to see what happens.
It seems that I will loose more interest than gain from offseting my ISA.
What I do not understand is why Barclay did not send me an application form straight away. I would have signed it and they would have all paper work necessary to open account after transfer took place.0 -
What you did today sounds sensible. Hopefully it'll do the trick.0
-
If would probably take several weeks, and then probably a couple more for Natwest to sort things out. You don't want to be stuck in limbo all that timeThank you. It make sense now after you described how transfer process works.
Am I right thinking that the best way forward is to sign this application form? If I don't sign how long will Barclay wait before they send money back?
If Natwest reinstate the account, you may not lose any interest though attempting the transfer. I'm not sure about that, but you may not lose out in terms of interest.I went to Barclay branch today and after they were unable to find any traces of money I said that I do not want to do transfer anymore, they advised to go to Natwest and ask them if they can somehow cancel transfer and reinstate account. So I did. I am not sure what the outcome of my actions will be. I am afraid if I sign application form now it will complicate matter further. Or perhaps I should wait for a week to see what happens.
It seems that I will loose more interest than gain from offseting my ISA.
I suspect they are trying to make things as quick as possible for their branch staff to get through more customers. I expect centralisation is also partly to blame - they probably send applications electronically, with the individual branches having nothing to do with the process after the initial application stage. As it turns out, it probably would have made more sense for them to hand you an application form and a transfer form and get you to fill them out and send them off yourself. :rolleyes:What I do not understand is why Barclay did not send me an application form straight away. I would have signed it and they would have all paper work necessary to open account after transfer took place.0 -
I transferred an ISA to Kent Reliance BS and it was a complete doddle.
(The boss of that organisation was on Radio 4 "Moneybox" complaining that "Moneyfacts" charge the bank/building society a "fortune" to be in its tables and then put all the accounts with short term initial offers at the top of the tables.)0 -
It is 15 days since Natwest closed my account and send money to Barclay. Barclay still did not open an account. I made a formal complain to Barclay, they promised to deal with my complain before 2nd of July. So it will be 5 weeks without access to my money and without knowing where they are. Is there any way to speed up this process?
Their ISA account should provide an instant access to the money (in theory). Because they did not open an account and therefore I am unable to access money should I demand a compensation for this inconvience?0 -
Finally Barclay managed to open ISA account, but for some reason balance is zero and it is not part of open plan. I called their useless helpline and was told that they did not receive a cheque for 12000 from Natwest. I have a copy of letter send by Barclay to Natwest where they requested money. I guess I now need a proof from Natwest that Barclay cashed the cheque. They also asked some stupid questions like did the cheque had a reference? How do I know if it was Natwest who sent the cheque, moreover Barclay in his own letter to Natwest asked to put cheque into enclosed envelope and send it, they did not mention that reference should be put on cheque.
They also mentioned that I did not enclose funds with my application form. I told them on numerious occations that application form does not allow to request a transfer, and was told to leave "payment details" empty. And now they are telling me that I did not fill this section. How stupid is that?
Anyway they should answer to my complain before 2nd of July. From numerious conversation with complain department I have got a feeling that they do not bother. Should I go to Ombudsman after 2nd of July or wait another 4 weeks.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.7K Spending & Discounts
- 244.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.5K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.1K Life & Family
- 257.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards