Post Office Incompetence - will our savings be safe?

ksm

My husband and I applied for a Reward Saver account by phone on 14th Aug and were told we would hear from them within a few days. 2 weeks later we had still not received any communications so I phoned the helpline. I was told that we would hear within a week. 1 week later I received a letter and form asking me to take my passport and driving licence to a post office to get my address and name verified. I phoned the helpline to ask if this was just me, or my husband aswell, and was told it was just me. I took my passport and driving licence to a post office and sent off the form. A week later I had another letter telling me that the Post Office employee had missed out a box on the form and that I would have to take my passport back there again and get another form filled in. I did this. Yesterday - 6 weeks after first applying- my husband had a letter and form telling him to take his passport and driving licence to a post office to get his address and name verified. The letter also stated that it confirmed that it had received our initial deposit - news to me! Is the post Office completely incompetent? It doesn't exactly inspire us to trust it with any savings. Any other experiences of shocking customer service at the Post Office? Any advice?

adecor

This will probably not be the Post Office but the Bank of Ireland as they do nearly all their financial products.

ERICS_MUM

If you are asking whether your money will be safe if the PO or Bank of Ireland go bust, then yes is the short answer. First it's unlikely that this would be "allowed" by the powers-that-be, but also deposits up to £50,000 are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

But in view of the pahlaver (?) you've already had, I personally would take my hard-earned savings elsewhere, so I could be sure that the account is set up correctly and that I could actually get to my money easily !

Alan_Cross

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

If you are asking whether your money will be safe if the PO or Bank of Ireland go bust, then yes is the short answer. First it's unlikely that this would be "allowed" by the powers-that-be, but also deposits up to £50,000 are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

But in view of the pahlaver (?) you've already had, I personally would take my hard-earned savings elsewhere, so I could be sure that the account is set up correctly and that I could actually get to my money easily !

I thought, precisely, that the Bank of Ireland was NOT covered by this scheme..?

shepwood

its under the irish protection scheme at present but plans to become UK protected dont kick in until november TBC

alanq

Post Office Savings with BoI are not currently covered by FSCS but are expected to be from November.
http://www.which.co.uk/news/2010/09/post-office-savings-set-to-enjoy-fscs-cover--227301/

Good news for those wanting FSCS cover but bad news for those wanting cover for the equivalent of 100,000 euros which they won't get again until January 2011.

Alan_Cross

Right, but would this cover anyone making an investment before the scheme starts..?