Are there really no regulations for ISA transfers?

jennifernil

Transferred from Principality to Clydesdale. Account opened with Clydesdale 06/04, Principality account not closed until 04/05, money not in Clydesdale till 11/05, so very little interest being earned for about 5 weeks. Just does not seem right.

Interest rates are low enough without losing interest like this. Makes the value of having an ISA almost non-existant.

juicyjude

Totally agree, still waiting for mine to be transferred from Cheshire B S and Bradford and Bingley to the Nationwide. Transfer form completed 7th April!!! Given up really pathetic, the government should clamp down on all these building societies with their delaying practices.

Goldenyears

The 30 calendar days is actually written in the Statutory Instrument but it's not enforced by HMRC. They only seem to audit the annual subscription limits.:(

Quiet_Life

the '30 days' is guideline only

Inactive

juicyjude wrote: »

Totally agree, still waiting for mine to be transferred from Cheshire B S and Bradford and Bingley to the Nationwide. Transfer form completed 7th April!!! Given up really pathetic, the government should clamp down on all these building societies with their delaying practices.

Nationwide are just as slow moving money from their internal ISA's, I am sure that it is deliberate and intentional.

Goldenyears

Quiet_Life wrote: »

the '30 days' is guideline only

Yes that's the way it's being treated - as a guide, but you will also see in the relevant SI (I can't find it any more !) the phrase "30 calendar days".

Jonbvn

The whole ISA transfer thing is clearly a case of deliberate obfuscation and foot dragging by the providers, done in an attempt to discourage transfers.

Personally, I find it shocking that in this day and age that transfers are done using cheques sent by post.

Maybe something for MSE Martin to chew on?

juicyjude

Oh yes Martin I wish you would take these building societies on with regard to unfair practices in connection with ISA transfers. Btw on the HMRC website bulletin 2 states that there is no reason why the transfer cannot be done electronically instead of by cheque, indeed it also states that the transfer form itself can be sent electronically!!! Investigation urgently needs to be done as the public (who are struggling chasing poor interest rates anyway) are being done out of ££££££ of interest by these providers! Perhaps Martin you could have a quiet word eh thank you

gowgowuk

Hi,

Banks seem to apply this 30 days rule a bit strangely anyway:
I am transferring (or trying to) my cash ISA from First Direct to Newcastle BS.
I've just called Newcastle and they said the have send FD a "reject letter" (?) because they haven't received the funds within 30 days from the opening of my ISA BUT they themselves didn't send the fund request to FS before 15 days after my application! Anyway, money seems to be lost somewhere in the post.... Here is the timeline:

13th April: applied to Newcastle and request ISA transfer
27th April: FD receive the transfer request
7th May: ISA account closed by FD
13th May: cheque send by FD to Newcastle
20th May: cheque not received, reject letter send by Newcastle
20th May: I ask FD to confirm to Newcastle that they sent the money so that "reject letter" is void

Now their advice is to "wait and see" until next week to see if the cheque arrive. If not, they have to send another letter to FD to make another transfer request and presumably it's going to take another 3-4 weeks! In the meantime, I get either very little interest on my FD account (it's been down to their basic interest after 1 year fixed rate), or worse, no interest at all since none of the bank have the money.

Any advice of additional things that I should do to help things go faster? I'm obviously not very happy with either of the 2 banks who have been slow on both ends...

Thanks

juicyjude

Same thing has happend to me gowgowuk!!!Please see all my posts re Santander and Nationwide (oh and Cheshire just for short measure)!!! They all seem to be the same, application completed with Nationwide 7th April, Cheshire say they didnt receive it till 29th April, Bradford and Bingle (Santander) say they didnt receive theirs till 11th May! Absolute nightmare, cant tell you how stressed I have been over the total inefficiency of these B Soc. Now the rates have gone down, but if I dont get the rate I applied for I will complain and LOUDLY. After all if they send the forms off so late what do they expect. Its just all delaying tactics!!!! Hm got that off my chest, I am just really upset by all of this. After official complaints have gone in I think the Financial Ombudsman will be hearing from me. Its just now right that they can get away with this.:(:(:mad::mad::mad::mad:

JohalaReewi

Looks like I am in the same boat as you guys. New ISA provider sent forms to old provider and got a letter from old provider on 6th May saying they had closed the ISA and sent cheque to new provider. Still waiting for new provider to receive the cheque and open my account. I also vote for Martin to investigate...