Post Office Savings Withdrawal Issues!

hmsfrog

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My Wife has a On-line Post Office Savings account and she is having problems getting any money transferred out from her account.
Having successfully logged on to their system and attempted a withdrawal the site simply states 'Transfer cannot be applied at this time.'

This problem has been ongoing since the weekend and at the moment I need a few suggestions on what we can do next. Post Office savings claim that as its an on-line account they can't do any transactions over the phone, but at some point I can't believe they can't get permission to break their own rules.
Does any one know who I should contact next? The staff on the phone seem unable to resolve this problem? Are there any regulations on how long they can refuse access to our funds.

According to the Customer Services Representatives they have a known issue but they don't have any idea when the problem will be resolved.

Has any one else successfully transferred any funds out of a Post Office Savings account since the weekend?
At this point I don't think we will stay customers of Post Office savings for any longer than necessary and I would not recommend their products to anyone looking for a Savings product. In all the years (over 10) since I have been internet banking with a whole host of different providers I have seen many technical problems but Banks have never let them last more than a few hours before fixing the problems.

This is my first post on MSE so please go easy on me!

bandana999

I transferred all but the odd pence from mine yesterday, and so did my parents. My bank (LTSB) rang me to say money will be in my account tomorrow (Wens).

Surely the PO are obliged to do something for you - insist on speaking to someone higher up.

Loughton_Monkey

In view of your post, I went to my own account and pressed the transfer button. It looked OK, automatically bringing up the linked accout. I didn't proceed further, because I don't want to transfer anything.

But just as a thought, it could be because the linked account has not been set up, or no longer exists?

nielsc

I have tried withdrawing money from my Post Office online saver account to my nominated account.
I get the error
"Transfer can not be applied at this time."

I have phoned and been informed that this must be a technical issue of some kind. Someone will phone me back today or tomorrow.

Has anyone else had this problem and how long did it take to get resolved?

Cheers,
Niels

Jake'sGran

nielsc wrote: »

I have tried withdrawing money from my Post Office online saver account to my nominated account.
I get the error
"Transfer can not be applied at this time."

I have phoned and been informed that this must be a technical issue of some kind. Someone will phone me back today or tomorrow.

Has anyone else had this problem and how long did it take to get resolved?

Cheers,
Niels

I have invested in three of their on line 2 year bonds paying 3.96%
and I am really sorry I did. Their web site is awful and when speaking to the staff I get the feeling they are not well trained in the POs systems - with the exception of one young lady I spoke to on Monday. Before speaking to her I searched the site to confirm the details of the product but it seems to have disappeared.

Tomorrow I will send a letter to the CEO in the UK - Richard Norman in Welwyn Garden City. PO is an appointed representative of Bank of Ireland in London.

They sent at least 12 pieces of paper supposedly relating to the two year bond but 2-3 of them are about a different product. I have a horrible feeling this will turn out to be one for the Ombudsman.

joyfull

I tried to open their 2 yr bond a few weeks ago but was so put off by their identity check procedure on me, I opened one with tesco instead where I already had money invested & could therefore avoid the dreaded identity check.

The PO said I had to get certified documents to them (standard procedure, but still a hassle) BUT they only accepted certification done by a bank, solicitor or accountant. My bank stopped doing this over a year ago so I would have to pay a solicitor or accountant to do it. Taking into account this cost I gave up on the PO. After reading some the sorry tales on this thread I glad I did.

Good luck to you all.

Cabernet

I'm having the same problem with online saver - 'transfer cannot be applied at this time'. I tried last night a few times and again today. I contacted customer support this afternoon who said there appears to be a technical problem on the account. The person I spoke to said he would pass on information to his manager who would ring me back today (Wed) or tomorrow. I await the phone call. They should really have posted a message on the site by now, in light of hmsfrog's comment 'According to the Customer Services Representatives they have a known issue but they don't have any idea when the problem will be resolved'. This is quite disappointing. I've not had any problems with PO Savings up to now (from Nov 2010) but I expect them to get this sorted out pretty sharply, as it's clearly fundamental to any account servicing.

Loughton Monkey: try and withdraw a nominal amount to your linked account - if you're experiencing this problem then you'll find that you'll get the error message at the point you try to confirm the transaction after inputting required digits from your 6 digit PIN, not any earlier in the process.

ses6jwg

Whispers on the vine are Bank of Ireland has massive exposure to Italian debt, can't meet obligations, errors and problems on withdrawals are deliberate.

downshifter98

Oh thanks very much - like we needed more nightmares about the mess we all appear to be in - I should imagine many banks have exposure to Italy but strange it's only the post office with withdrawal probs - I'm guessing it's just the usual post office ineptitude - night all and pleasent dreams; we are probably going to need them....

oldvicar

Why worry about BoI's exposure to Italy when yields on Irish bonds have risen even higher?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/contagion-now-eurozone-debt-virus-starts-to-overwhelm-italy-6259678.html

Bond yields: Why 7 per cent spells danger
Yields on 10-year debt:
Greece 33.1 per cent
Portugal 11.8 per cent
Ireland 8.24 per cent
Italy 7.4 per cent
Spain 5.84 per cent
France 3.17 per cent
UK 2.17 per cent

Ifts

ses6jwg wrote: »

Whispers on the vine are Bank of Ireland has massive exposure to Italian debt, can't meet obligations, errors and problems on withdrawals are deliberate.

I know you said it was only a whisper on the vine..... but in that case Id have thought they would have slightly increased their rates on their Issue 16 Growth Bonds instead of reducing them from the Issue 15 rates this Monday, that would be one way to tempt any of their existing customers to renew any fixed rate bonds that are currently maturing, also it would help them attract new funds.

Italy, being the third largest economy in the euro zone, I would have thought most banks would have a hefty exposure to Italian debt.