Smile cash Isa transfer

FridaysVictim

Hi ,
I was wondering if anyone has ever transferred their cash ISA from Smile to another provider and , if so , how long did it take for Smile to make the transfer . I know they have 30 days in which to comply with the request , just wondering how long they normally delay the transfer .
Thanks in advance if anyone has any info .

SparciaM

transfer including the interest is doing within 4 days usually. Unless there is a back log.

FridaysVictim

SparciaM wrote:

transfer including the interest is doing within 4 days usually. Unless there is a back log.

Thank you for your reply .

I'm more interested in how long they took to process the "application to transfer" rather than the time the funds took to transfer via the "cheque clearing system" .

If you asked to close your account with Smile , did they hold onto your money for a while before making the transfer or did they do it immediately on receipt of the request .

Thank you .

labp04

Hi they (Smile) took me right up to 30 days, failed to transfer the year's interest and only when challenged and pushed hard did they admit the error and came out with all sorts of b......t including "oh, we'll just send you a check". It took the involvement of some sort of manager to agree how much was owed to me, the implications of "just sending me a cheque" and to arrange the transfer of the missing monies to my new provider.

Phew, I feel better for that! Anyways, I guess the moral is to work out how much interest your money has earned and to check that it all goes with the transfer.

Good luck!

FridaysVictim

labp04 wrote:

Hi they (Smile) took me right up to 30 days, failed to transfer the year's interest and only when challenged and pushed hard did they admit the error and came out with all sorts of b......t including "oh, we'll just send you a check". It took the involvement of some sort of manager to agree how much was owed to me, the implications of "just sending me a cheque" and to arrange the transfer of the missing monies to my new provider.

Phew, I feel better for that! Anyways, I guess the moral is to work out how much interest your money has earned and to check that it all goes with the transfer.

Good luck!

Thank you :-)
I guessed their standard operating procedure would be to keep the customers money for as long as possible and you've confirmed it .

I don't suppose anyone else has had a problem as I think I'll need more than one example of Smile shafting a customer to show it's their standard MO .

Thanks again .

CopperPlate_2

Oh dear. Why did I stumble across this thread. I am having problems with smile which I've documented in another thread. My own fault to a certain extent but I'm not going to duplicate the eulogy here. Have a look for yourself if you like.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=339637

Suffice it to say that the shine has certainly come off smile and I ain't smiling any more. Have been putting up with their less than competitive rates for a while, stopping cashback on their gold credit card and getting-poor customer service for a while so off to pastures new.

CopperPlate_2

Oh, and yes when I transferred from smile to another provider it took weeks for the funds to get sent over so it's not a one off. Suppose it depends on how busy they are at the time though.

Jake'sGran

FridaysVictim wrote:

Hi ,
I was wondering if anyone has ever transferred their cash ISA from Smile to another provider and , if so , how long did it take for Smile to make the transfer . I know they have 30 days in which to comply with the request , just wondering how long they normally delay the transfer .
Thanks in advance if anyone has any info .

I transferred two last year, both around £20K and they seemed to do it efficiently. Can't remember them taking a long time (could have looked it up but getting tired). It really is a pity that SMILE don't have more competitive rates on savings and ISAs. I'd never go anywhere else if they did.

Hazzanet

Took about 21 days to transfer mine from Smile to Kent Reliance.

FridaysVictim

Jake'sGran wrote:

I transferred two last year, both around £20K and they seemed to do it efficiently. Can't remember them taking a long time (could have looked it up but getting tired). It really is a pity that SMILE don't have more competitive rates on savings and ISAs. I'd never go anywhere else if they did.

Well I managed to have my cheque written and posted by Smile on 20/12/06 so I lost 13 days interest over the Christmas period (cleared funds arrived 02.01.07) £24k @ 5.40% tax free with YBS .

They claim to have written the cheque on the same day they received the request which would appear to be unheard of .

Normally banks delay any transfer to keep hold of the funds (usually trying to send cheques on Fridays to get those extra days interest free) . But in this instance they just appear to have gone out of their way to purposely shaft me .

They're Smiling .

I know December was a bad time for me to transfer so I don't need telling :-) but they obviously didn't have my best interest's (pun intended) to the fore .

In other words , if you have anything invested with Smile , they appear to be as unethical as every other bank , yet claim differently .

ie they're liars .

This was the second cockup by a British financial institution during December .

I wrote to the West Bromwich BS to get a transfer done on a Monday , they confirmed the previous Friday for security reasons . When I phoned on the following Tuesday to make sure they had done it they said they hadn't , as they thought I wanted it done on Wednesday . !!!!!!s . The transfer then took 4 days instead of the normal BGC 3 days .

They all seem to be incompetent liars (though I hear foreign banks are even worse) .

Oh , thanks Copperplate for your reply it is appreciated .

frivolous_fay

Strong words! I think you misunderstand their ethical policies.