Santander ISA - Cannot pay money in!

David_of_York

I recently set up a Santander Direct ISA account and successfully transferred my money in from my old provider.

When it came to paying in some more money, I went to the "Pay Money In" section of their online banking system. Here I filled in the details of where the money was coming from (my HSBC C/A) and submitted it. I received an on-screen confirmation and thought nothing more of it.

I did this a week on Thursday (6 working days?) however, the money hasn't transferred across yet. It hasn't even left my bank account.I rang Santander to enquire and they said they could only view the same information as me, they couldn't view pending payments.

Has anyone else had any problems with this? Do you think the original payment will come through? I'm quite happy to try again (this time, perhaps sending it direct from my bank account) but I don't want to end up overpaying my ISA.

KingL

It usually takes 10 working days to set up the inittial direct debit, plus 3 to do the actual transfer (unless it has Faster Payments).

David_of_York

Why don't they say this then? I have no idea whether my payment is pending or whether it has not gone through at all.

KingL

Welcome to the club!

You should at least find out before the end of the tax year and still have time to do something about it. A "push" transaction from the HSBC end is generally pretty fast, but, as you say, you don't want to blow your allowance by doing it twice. Just sit tight for now!

David_of_York

So is this common practice? Are you waiting as well?

KingL

Previous experience with A&L.

David_of_York

What happens if I do overpay? Do they just send the money back?

Lokolo_2

David_of_York wrote: »

What happens if I do overpay? Do they just send the money back?

You get arrested and go to prison on a life sentence...:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Nah, seriously though they will just not accept it, at worst your ISA could be closed down and all your money returned as you broke one of the account terms.

David_of_York

Well I gave Santander another call, and discovered that there is nothing pending on my account. Apparently the "Pay Money In" section of e-banking shouldn't even work with ISA accounts and they are confused how I would have got a confirmation!

So, I'm going to try a "push" transaction from my HSBC account and see what happens.

David_of_York

Well, that worked! "Faster Payments" kicked in and my money was transferred instantly! So that's that sorted. Thanks for the advice!

ceejam

I have just had it confirmed that although you can "manage your account online" you can't actually tranbsfer money fomr the Direct ISA to a non Santander account online. You need to phone up to transfer money to an external account!

You should be able to request money from an external account if you have adirect debit setup. The first time I tried to pay money in from RBS to Santander they sent me a direct debit form, which I have filled in, but not tried to use - I just "push" money from RBS now.

If the rate wasn't so good for transferring in, I would have closed the account, and gone somewhere else! I did that a few years ago with my currrent and savings accounts, and was only tempted back by the interest rate on transfers. I should have known better I suppose!!