Birmingham Midshires - withdrawals from 2 Yr Fixed Rate Bond

IsaCream_Man

There has been some confusion about whether or not you can withdraw from a BM 2 Yr Fixed Rate Bond (with 90 days loss of interest on any amount withdrawn).

Has anyone actually done this? I ask because a member of my family has recently opened one such account, and tells me that on the website, having logged into this account, there is no facility for making a payment out (using an option on the left hand side of the page). Also there is a statement saying "There are no available funds on your account as funds can only be withdrawn on the maturity date".

Admittedly the account has not yet been active for 90 days, but even if such withdrawals were not being permitted within the first 90 days (because 90 days' interest would not yet have been earned), there does seem to be some discrepancy between what's being said on the account and what's in the T&Cs and the FAQs.

So how can a withdrawal be made?

agsnu

I imagine you'd have to ring them to do it.

IsaCream_Man

agsnu wrote: »

I imagine you'd have to ring them to do it.

I reckon you're right as I can't see any other way. It's an academic question, but BM need to be clearer on this than they seem to be, unless I've missed something on their website.

KingL

It's probably for the best. The ISA forum is full of people saying 'oops, I accidently withdrew money from my ISA account, instead of my current account'.

A bit of helptext wouldn't hurt, though....

agsnu

I don't know, for accounts where you have to provide notice etc it's rare for the option to be offered in the web interface. I've never seen that option before - you always have to contact them and provide explicit notice.

Stompa

FWIW I've just had a BM bond mature. They sent a snail mail letter (with a snail mail form to be returned) asking what I wanted to do with the money. If I don't want it to stay with them, they send me a cheque. It all seems a bit primitive to me.

KingL

Eew. Was it a postal or telephone one. I have just opened an online 2 year with them which explicitly said it would trip over into my BM instant access online account in lieu of maturity instructions. Suits me fine.

Stompa

KingL wrote: »

Was it a postal or telephone one.

It's an Internet Fixed Rate Bond. Oops, I should have read the letter more closely, I see that if I do nothing, the funds will be re-invested in a Direct Internet Savings Account (1.4% AER), and that I can withdraw by BACS once it has matured.

I am surprised at the need for a paper form though, it seems like the sort of thing that could be easily handled online.

dougz_2

IsaCream_Man wrote: »

So how can a withdrawal be made?

If its like their similar accounts, you have to request an early withdrawal by letter and they will send it by cheque.

IsaCream_Man

dougz wrote: »

If its like their similar accounts, you have to request an early withdrawal by letter and they will send it by cheque.

Thanks for that suggestion.

I tried phoning but as I don't have an account with BM, I can't speak to anyone as I can't get past a recorded voice asking for my account number to be tapped into the phone keyboard.

Nor can I find any phone number which allows a non-customer to talk to someone to ask, simply, about how one would withdraw from a Fixed Rate Bond before its maturity. There is an internal non-secure email option that may be worth trying, just to get an authoritative answer.

In the meantime, thanks everyone for your input.

rb10

IsaCream_Man wrote: »

I tried phoning but as I don't have an account with BM, I can't speak to anyone as I can't get past a recorded voice asking for my account number to be tapped into the phone keyboard.

Nor can I find any phone number which allows a non-customer to talk to someone to ask, simply, about how one would withdraw from a Fixed Rate Bond before its maturity. There is an internal non-secure email option that may be worth trying, just to get an authoritative answer.

I haven't used it myself, but there's a number listed on their website (0845 602 2828) that claims to be for queries about accounts (for new customers) (or the cheaper switchboard number further down the page - 029 2078 1145).

If they still insist on you entering an account number, just try entering a random combination of *s, #s and 0s - that sometimes works to get past the system and to actually speak to someone.