ISA fund never reached account

mrs_moneyspinner

My husband opened an A&L ISA in 2006 and paid a cheque into it then went to redeem it last month to find no funds in it. Our bank were able to send us a copy of the cheque and the back of cheque shows where the money was transferred to. A&L advised the a/c that benefitted was not ours but then refused to discuss with us or transfer us to the department who deal with this who don't apparently talk to the public. Have written in with cheque copies 2 weeks ago now and not even an acknowledgement. We need access to the money right now to fund a holiday and as a result may be missing out on best prices. Do we have any recourse for demanding a deadline to give it back to us and also any compensation? we are talking £3000.

brewerdave

Did you never receive any initial paperwork or statements for 3 years ??? Can't believe you had nothing to show for the deposit, not even an account number??
If you have no evidence of the deposit other than the copy cheque I'm afraid its going to be a long process to get A & L to do anything.

opinions4u

mrs_moneyspinner wrote: »

My husband opened an A&L ISA in 2006 and paid a cheque into it then went to redeem it last month to find no funds in it. Our bank were able to send us a copy of the cheque and the back of cheque shows where the money was transferred to. A&L advised the a/c that benefitted was not ours but then refused to discuss with us or transfer us to the department who deal with this who don't apparently talk to the public. Have written in with cheque copies 2 weeks ago now and not even an acknowledgement. We need access to the money right now to fund a holiday and as a result may be missing out on best prices.

The key lesson for others is that if you don't retain your paperwork or get a receipt then you are leaving yourself open to problems.

Did it not cross your mind that you hadn't received an annual statement?

Do we have any recourse for demanding a deadline to give it back to us and also any compensation? we are talking £3000.

From the point of view of the Ombudsman there are 8 weeks until you are able to take a complaint to them. Invariably it would take months to get a ruling from them too.

You need to start talking to somebody senior in the A&L complaints department to get things speeded up.

The clear problem they have is that if the funds have gone in to a different account, they need the recipient to confirm that the money isn't theirs. If the recipient doesn't play ball and says the money was rightly credited to the account that it has gone in to, then you may find yourself having to go through solicitors and courts to resolve this.

You are relying on A&L to get in touch with the recipient and the recipient to be honest - A&L need them to confirm in writing that money isn't theirs. Even this could take a fair few days through a postal strike.

noh

Who was the cheque made out to?
If, as I think it should, it was crossed ac payee and said pay "Mr Moneyspinner" Then it is entirely the fault of A+L in crediting it to the wrong account and they should reimburse you immediately with interest to date plus a small amount of compensation.

mrs_moneyspinner

the cheque was payable to mr Moneyspinner/my newly opened account and I have a receipt and also the original slip showing the isa account had been opened on the day the funds should have gone in. On theback of the cheque the new isa a/c number has been printed by A&L as the destination. They have poor customer service and will not talk by phone (this dept does not speak with the public), am writing today requesting a response within 7 days and will then have to wait until 8 wks us up for the ombudsman. Thanks for your responses above.