Post Office Savings NOT Protected anymore

jack_spratt_2

Its very clever being wise after the event but in truth nobody really knew !! the Icelandic banks were still being promoted until shortly before they crashed !!
Whether the Irish situation is different is unknown but if you take the facts that the Irish economy is in the euro zone it may help it .
I have a friend who works for the FSA and we were discussing the Irish situation and I said many people had taken savings accounts with the Post Office thinking that it had the backing of the financial services compensation scheme ( it was promoted in there advertising as such)to fall back on if things went wrong and it had now been removed !!
He said it was a commercial decision to do so as it was covered by the Irish government.
His main point was that Ireland is one of our 10th biggest trading partners and if the Irish economy was in that much in trouble it would also be very bad news for our banking system.
I am not saying that the post office accounts are safe or unsafe that's for everyone to make there own decision but look at the facts not newspaper speculation and make your decisions on that

zaksmum

I had 25k in a Post Office Instant saver and decided to move it after I got their letter last week about the compensation protection coming from the Irish government now.

I went to my main city centre Post Office (now tucked away inside WHSmith) and asked how I close the account. The clerk said he had no idea, so I asked him to check with someone who had. A manager came out and said I'd have to WRITE to Post Office Savings in Wigan. I asked why I should need to do this, as it's an instant access account. Shrugs all round, "You just do."

I got home and rang customer services, they confirmed I would have to give written notice of my intention to close the account and also if I wished to do a BACS transfer over 15K. I wrote the letter which seems to me to be a security risk, as you have to include not only the full Post office account details, but also full account details of your nominated bank account you want the money transferred to. Any unauthorised person could access those details, and when I opened the account they asked for those same nominated bank account details, so do already have them.

I was told on the phone that the whole thing will take 10 working days.

Hardly instant access!

I was given a 6 digit security number to activate when I opened the account, but when I rang to ask if I needed to activate it, they said only if I intended to do online or postal transactions, which I didn't. Just shred it then, they said, so I did.

I explained this today and all they could offer was to send me another 6 digit number, which again will take 10 working days. How mad is that, for an Instant access account?

I do think people need to be aware of this hassle with Post office Instant saver accounts.

redpin_2

holy sh*t, i thought the post office was covered by the FSCS ;/! if i knew it was the bank of ireland under adifferent name, i would never set up an ISA account with them

amistupid

gozomark wrote: »

a discussion about whether the Irish or the UK economy is in better shape is like a debate on who has more hair - Duncan Goodhew or Matt Lucas - one probably has more hair, but its barely measurable (and its not where its visible).....

But if Ireland sinks Goodhew is the better swimmer.

gozomark

but who has more green shoots ??

Mikeyorks

amistupid wrote: »

But if Ireland sinks Goodhew is the better swimmer.

Ah .... but only for short distances. Lucas will undoubtedly be in partnership with Walliams ...... a proven long distance swimmer.

Andrew64

My father is furious! He doesn't want to take any risk at all with his savings. He thought his money was being controlled by the Post Office, not by an Irish bank. So he's getting his money out as fast as possible. Anyone know if it might be possible to sue for misrepresentation?

BruceyBonus

Andrew64 wrote: »

My father is furious! He doesn't want to take any risk at all with his savings. He thought his money was being controlled by the Post Office, not by an Irish bank. So he's getting his money out as fast as possible. Anyone know if it might be possible to sue for misrepresentation?

They haven't misrepresented anyone. I've always known it was provided by BoI.

Very first paragraph in the account terms:

These Terms and Conditions set out the agreement about your Post Office® Instant Saver Account between us, Bank of Ireland (which is providing the Account), and you, the investor

Then under Definitions

‘us, we, our’ means the Governor and Company
of Bank of Ireland, who provide the Account.

RayWolfe

Andrew64 wrote: »

Anyone know if it might be possible to sue for misrepresentation?

Some people have the strangest notions!
You sue for loss ... what loss has he incurred?
Daytime television should not be allowed.

Andrew64

My dad asked me if was possible to sue. I told him I didn't think so, but he asked me to look into it. I can now say that I have!

More importantly, should everyone now take their money out?