Ridiculous NatWest E-ISA Transfer Time

melb888

:mad:

I just wanted to post about my experiences so far with NatWest, to find out whether anyone else has been in a similar situation and if so how you tackled the issue?

At the end of the tax year I decided to transfer my ISA savings from my Barclays account due to poor interest rates and move to an E-ISA with NatWest, earning a healthier 3.5% interest. In order to open as E-ISA also has to be opened so both forms were sent off.

I duly completed all of the necessary forms and handed my transfer form in to my local NatWest branch in order for NatWest to get my money transferred to themselves from Barclays. On all of the NatWest literature they advertise this will take no more than 30 days. As a new NatWest customer I took this as gospel.

Nearing the 30 day period I was starting to get a little anxious and rang the helpline to find out what stage the transfer was at, the call centre operator was not very helpful and did not make me feel any less worried. The 30 day period came and went and after numerous, fruitless phone calls to NatWest I ended up going to my local branch to find out what was happening. In the mean time Barclays had closed my Barclays ISA, so my money was ‘floating’ in between accounts. Given NatWest had no idea where my money was and Barclays were saying they had sent it on, I was extremely worried.

During my visit to the branch I was told the funds had been received and were due to be credited to my E-ISA with NatWest in the next couple of days. I questioned whether the interest would be back dated to the 30 day cut off and was told ‘no’ because ‘NatWest cannot control what Barclays do’ (basically they told me it was all Barclays fault). I then brought up the fact NatWest are the ones advertising a 30 day transfer period not Barclays and was told the same thing again. By this point I was left feeling extremely annoyed at the poor level of customer service I had received and as I was getting nowhere over the phone/in the branch I wrote a complaint letter asking for the interest to be back dated.
My first letter was responded to with NatWest re-iterating they had done nothing wrong, but not being able to back this up with facts/dates as to why this was the case. They told me I handed my forms in to the branch on a certain day and this meant the transfer was done within 30 days, however I was at work that day and physically unable to get to my local branch some 15-20 miles away! I wrote again, that letter was ignored. I wrote again advising since I had not received a response I had wrote to FOS to investigate. A response from NatWest advised my second letter had not been handed over and had only just been found on the system and that is why I hadn’t received a response (yet another great example of the level of customer service) and as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ they would refund my back dated interest to stop me taking my complaint further, but accepted no responsibility whatsoever and basically the tone of the letter insinuated I was lying, however I can provide evidence I was at work when they said I was in the branch.

I have now noticed that the back dated interest has been applied to my savings account, not my ISA and after speaking with the complaint handler today was told this is because if it is credited to my ISA it will affect my overall yearly allowance of £3,600. When I questioned why when it should have been in the ISA in the first place he told me it was because it was a ‘gesture of goodwill’ only as NatWest have not made any mistakes whatsoever.

As it stands I have two letters going through with NatWest asking for an explanation as to why they feel they have done no wrong, an apology and the interest to go on to my E-ISA without affecting my yearly allowance. He also said that my most recent letters have been sent to another team to review but he thinks the decision will remain the same i.e. NatWest not giving me any apology and the interest sitting in a different account! I feel disgusted with the way I have been treat and am going to take my business elsewhere. I have been pushed to this level and have been very respectful in all of my letters and in return have been treat like dirt and basically accused of lying to swindle them out of some money.
Sorry for long post and rant over, but wanted to get all information in. As mentioned at the top of this post I am now left wondering where to go with this if anywhere? Has anyone else had this happen to them? How did you deal with the situation?

Many thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully respond with any advice. Mel x

Reaper

Nat West ISA department have a dire reputation. Search on this forum and the ISA sub-forum and you will see what I mean. They lost my ISA application then claimed I hadn't included a cheque even though I could tell them the cheque number. I didn't get it back dated either.

However with the regards to the 30 day rule people tend to get confused over this. Under ISA regulations the people you are moving your ISA from are obliged to send the money within 30 days of it being requsted. However there is no set time for how long it is until the new provider gets round to asking for the money in the first place, nor adding it to your account once they recieve it, though of course they ought to do both promptly.

melb888

Reaper - Thank you for your response and for explaining the 30 day period to me. I wish NatWest could be as clear in their correspondence.

mark1234567890

I must admit that I didn't have a problem when transfering into Natwest.

However I am currently in the process of transferring out of the e-ISA so hopefully things will be just as smooth.

hens00

I have a Natwest eISA and the interest rates are appalling. Ive got about £7000 in total and make about £5 per month from it.

Reaper

hens00 wrote: »

I have a Natwest eISA and the interest rates are appalling. Ive got about £7000 in total and make about £5 per month from it.

You should get just over twice that based on my back-of-an-envelope calculation. The exact amount depends on when you took it out.

hens00

Reaper wrote: »

You should get just over twice that based on my back-of-an-envelope calculation. The exact amount depends on when you took it out.

I just checked my account to see.I get lower interest than what I said. My last 3 interest payments were £3.68, £3.52, £3.80!

Reaper

Are you sure you have an eISA not a regular ISA or a S&S ISA? And is your balance correct?

According to this page a £7000 ISA would earn either 2.23% or 3.2% gross.

Taking the lower figure that's about £13pm.

financial_illiterate

E-ISA rates are either 3.2 or 3.5 if you opened it before May 15th or 2.25 or 2.5 if you opened it after.

If you've genuinely got an E-ISA (and not a Cash ISA or a E-Savings account) and you're not getting those rates, I'd pick up the phone.

castle96

same dire experience with mine.
sorted after 3 mths and a bottle of wine as an apology

melb888

castle96 - Do you mean same experience as mine, or where you getting a lower rate than expected? If the same as what I am currently dealing with can you tell me how you went about getting it sorted?

I don't seem to be getting anywhere and my complaint handler talks to me like dirt over the phone, interrupting my questions when I begin to ask etc. I think he thinks I am going to be awkward but I have been nothing but respectful when writing/speaking on the phone. He basically told me yesterday that my complaint has been referred up the line but he thinks the original decision will stand.

FOS got back to me and said they are dealing with high volumes so will investigate asap, am I better off leaving it to them?

Cheers