Alliance & Leicester Fixed Rate Bond Maturity "meeting"

GCH888

Hey all

Received a call yesterday evening from my local Alliance & Leicester branch reminding me that my Fixed Rate bond is due to mature in April. Now straight away I knew that this call had something to do with me coming in to "discuss my options" with the money after it matures, and indeed I was proved right. So to stop the sales patter dead I simply said "No thanks - I'd rather speak to an IFA instead of an A&L representative".

And the reply was .. "Well you have to come in to sign off your bond before it can be released back to you so why don't I make an appointment to see blah blah blah anyway?"

:eek:

Is this true? Do I really need to travel down to the Santander branch which is to put it delicately .. a hellhole .. to physically sign a piece of paper to release my funds at maturity?

I know that it'll entail the representative trying to entice me into their crappy products and I'm not at all worried about that. But surely this can't be true? I've held so many bonds and never once have I had to physically travel to the bank with ID and original certificate to sign off and get my own money back at maturity.

Is this simly a falsehood to get me to see their advisor? Surely not because that would be grounds for me to complain. They can't be that desperate??

I would appreciate your thoughts and experiences in this matter.

Thank you.

ses6jwg

Hello. I would like to shed some light on this matter for you.

I work for Santander as one of the advisers you seem to be quick to ridicule (we are human beings with feelings you know).

Now that we are Santander the process for bond maturities has now changed. Under A&L, we waited for the bond to mature, then phsyically opened another bond and moved the funds into that.

With Santander, you visit the branch PRIOR to the maturity date (so anytime before the 1st of the month NOT ON THE 1ST) and discuss what you would like to do with your money. You can choose to either:

A) Re-invest into another Santander bond. The option is then set and automatically on the 2nd the bond is renewed by the systems and a new savings certificate issued.
Arrange for some, or all, of the funds to be paid to an internal account.
C) Arrange for some, or all, of the funds to be paid to an external account. If you want this to be done be sure to take ID and a copy of your recent bank statement to prove that it is your account you want it transferred to. Then on the 2nd the funds are transffered via BACS to your designated account.

If you do not act, your bond will automatically roll into a "Fixed Rate Reward Bond" which pays 1% + 1.75% if you do not draw on the funds for another 12 months (which is quite nice for the oldies as many forget and with other banks it just defaults to 0.1%).

If you choose not to visit the branch to set an option, you are just making life difficult for yourself as you will then need to either:
A) Write to head office requesting account closure and a cheque.
OR
Visit the branch anyway to close your FRRB which takes about 15 minutes.

Hope this clears things up for you.

P.S. If you do not wish to have any "sales patter" just mention to the adviser that you do use your own IFA and will seek advice from them. There is no requirement to be rude or snotty we are just doing our jobs and not everyone has the luxury of being able to use an IFA so for some people who do not understand the ISA rules and have 20k sat in an old ISA earning 0.1%, or have 8k on a credit card paying 24.9% APR we do actually do them a service.

oldfella

ridiculous - tell them to send a piece of paper you can sign

ses6jwg

I'm just trying to help you out here if you don't want to take my advice that is fine but the simplest and easiest way is to visit the branch, spend 10 minutes sorting out your option and then it's done and dusted.

If you don't want advice just make it clear and state that you do not wish to tie the money up more than 1 year and then they will not book you in to the FPA.

We are blasted if we do and blasted if we don't.

Blasted if we just let the bond default into 0.1% as most other banks do and blasted if we "automatically" set it to a Fixed Rate Reward Bond.

You haven't actually stated what you wanted to do with your bond?

le_loup

All ... most other providers send a piece of paper listing options including one to get the money back. Others ask you to telephone or write. I am not aware of any who INSIST you come into the branch.
OP, don't do it. Stand your ground.

ses6jwg

le_loup wrote: »

All ... most other providers send a piece of paper listing options including one to get the money back. Others ask you to telephone or write. I am not aware of any who INSIST you come into the branch.
OP, don't do it. Stand your ground.

"Stand your ground ", as you put it, and do nothing and the bond will be rolled into a FRRB.

You will then need to make an appointment or write off to Head Office to get it closed.

Visit the branch, go the counter with some ID and a bank statement if you want it "paid away", tell them youve got a bond maturing and you want to roll it over/ pay it away, sign the form, done. leave.

StevieJ

ses6jwg wrote: »

"Stand your ground ", as you put it, and do nothing and the bond will be rolled into a FRRB.

You will then need to make an appointment or write off to Head Office to get it closed.

Visit the branch, go the counter with some ID and a bank statement if you want it "paid away", tell them youve got a bond maturing and you want to roll it over/ pay it away, sign the form, done. leave.

What if your account is with A&L can they not just pay it into your current account, I have an ISA maturing shortly am I going to have to go through hoops to transfer to another provider?

ses6jwg

StevieJ wrote: »

What if your account is with A&L can they not just pay it into your current account, I have an ISA maturing shortly am I going to have to go through hoops to transfer to another provider?

Yes you can arrange for internal payment if you like.

ISA transfers are handled by the other bank.

StevieJ

ses6jwg wrote: »

Yes you can arrange for internal payment if you like.

ISA transfers are handled by the other bank.

I agree with you that it is a bit naughty to have a go at bank staff when in reality they are only trying to earn a crust.

IrishGypsy

GCH888 wrote: »

Hey all

Received a call yesterday evening from my local Alliance & Leicester branch reminding me that my Fixed Rate bond is due to mature in April. Now straight away I knew that this call had something to do with me coming in to "discuss my options" with the money after it matures, and indeed I was proved right. So to stop the sales patter dead I simply said "No thanks - I'd rather speak to an IFA instead of an A&L representative".

And the reply was .. "Well you have to come in to sign off your bond before it can be released back to you so why don't I make an appointment to see blah blah blah anyway?"

:eek:

Is this true? Do I really need to travel down to the Santander branch which is to put it delicately .. a hellhole .. to physically sign a piece of paper to release my funds at maturity?

I know that it'll entail the representative trying to entice me into their crappy products and I'm not at all worried about that. But surely this can't be true? I've held so many bonds and never once have I had to physically travel to the bank with ID and original certificate to sign off and get my own money back at maturity.

Is this simly a falsehood to get me to see their advisor? Surely not because that would be grounds for me to complain. They can't be that desperate??

I would appreciate your thoughts and experiences in this matter.

Thank you.

My colleague ses6jwg is spot on with what she says. Santander bonds are now designed to roll over to Fixed Rate Reward Bond on maturity if you don't get into a branch before hand and sign the bond maturity option form before the 1st of the month (so in your case before the 1st April). It's also MUCH more difficult to close a bond down after it's matured (if you don't have any instant access accounts with Santander).

Simply take in your ID, your savings bond certificate, bank statement, advise where you want your Bond funds transferred to, sign the form and then leave and chat with your IFA.

If you don't want the services my fellow Santander colleagues offer, then that's hardly an issue. Just say no thanks and leave.

You can always try and get the same result done via the post, but I certainly couldn't say how reliable it'd be compared to having it all done and dusted before you left your nearest Santander branch.

oldfella

so to sum up, you are recommending that he should go to a branch in order to ensure the bond doesnt rollover, rather than run the risk of a simple paper exchange which is what all the other banks and N$&I do, with no problems whatever ?

and you wonder why people get frustrated at the quality of bank service ?