Nationwide Flexclusive ISA - 4.25%, instant access

Hooloovoo

Hooloovoo wrote: »

I'm hesitant to click "yes" on the "are you sure?" prompt.

Well, I risked it.

I now have £13500 in my Flexclusive ISA.

And it still says "Total payments to Nationwide Cash ISAs this Tax year £5,640.00".

If it gets rejected it wont be the end of the world, because I'm gradually drip-feeding this into a S&S ISA anyway and I'm nowhere near the current subscription limit on the S&S side.

I reckon with the lost interest on £16k due to transferring to the Post Office fixed at 3.6% rather than into the Flexclusive ISA at 4.25% variable, I am down over £200 over two years. More if interest rates rise.

Do I have a legitimate complaint here? Or are we just exploiting a bug in the system? As I said above I already queried it with Nationwide - but if the staff are doing it wrong then the answer to that query was invalid.

Will it be worth me putting in a claim for the lost interest? After all, it is their error not mine.

Paul_Varjak

No, we are not exploiting a 'bug' in the system. You are just moving monies in line with Nationwide's T&Cs and own instructions.

I don't know if you have a legitimate complaint or not. I was told when I opened my Flexclusive ISA that I could transfer in my e-ISA from a previous year; when I tried to do so I was refused by staff. I got paid £25 compensation for that and then moved the monies from the e-ISA to an on-line ISA and then into the Flexclusive ISA anyway.

Since then I have been paid another £150 compensation by Nationwide because they sent my loyalty saver passbook to another customer and I got that other customer's passbook sent to me. Nationwide attempted to cover up their error so I asked for £150 compensation and got it!

Hooloovoo

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

No, we are not exploiting a 'bug' in the system. You are just moving monies in line with Nationwide's T&Cs and own instructions.

I don't know if you have a legitimate complaint or not. I was told when I opened my Flexclusive ISA that I could transfer in my e-ISA from a previous year; when I tried to do so I was refused by staff. I got paid £25 compensation for that and then moved the monies from the e-ISA to an on-line ISA and then into the Flexclusive ISA anyway.

Since then I have been paid another £150 compensation by Nationwide because they sent my loyalty saver passbook to another customer and I got that other customer's passbook sent to me. Nationwide attempted to cover up their error so I asked for £150 compensation and got it!

Yes, I agree it's in the T&Cs I just wondered if they would try to fob me off saying it was a "bug". I guess it might end up going to the ombudsman.

I think I will try my luck and write a complaint letter. As I said I think I am down over £200 because of this.

I know on here we all say "you should have read the terms and conditions". Well I didn't, I just believed what I was told by the advertising that transfers in were not allowed ... they certainly didn't say only "external transfers in" were not allowed.

sara_bande

Have just transferred from online isa directly to flexclusive isa too, couldn't find anything in the T&C to prohibit it.

Thanks to Paul Varjack for your clarity.

xylophone

Whatever it says in any press release or advertising is pretty irrelevant, except if we, as customers, relied on it and it was to our benefit.

And if the customers relied on it and it wasn't to their benefit?

That is, if they could have transferred their other Nationwide cash ISAs on line to the Flexclusive in April, didn't because of the apparent prohibition, and have thereby missed out on additional interest for six months?

And if the customers relied on inaccurate information from counter/call centre staff?

Do I see lots of claims for "compo" looming on Nationwide's horizon?;)

Banana_Man_2

Last Saturday:

Banana_Man wrote: »

Anyway, called NW today to query their refusal to consolidate into Flexclusive ISA. Spoke to a number of people at various levels who all immediately said 'transferring in is not allowed', then referred me to supervisor/manager when I asked them to name the clause in T&Cs which specifically states that restriction.

I was pretty persistent in asking for that - and they did seem to be a lot of long delays on the line when I asked them to read the legal/ISA/Flexclusive T&C (referenced earlier in this thread) to find something relevant, patently they couldn't over the duration of the phone call.

The final manager was adamant that there is a clause in the T&C preventing transfers, but again couldn't reference it. He has raised an internal document request the result of which is that I should be sent the specific clause by end of next
week


. I wait with interest!

...Still waiting, may be the ink hasn't dried on the T&C rewrite yet

Hooloovoo

xylophone wrote: »

And if the customers relied on it and it wasn't to their benefit?

That is, if they could have transferred their other Nationwide cash ISAs on line to the Flexclusive in April, didn't because of the apparent prohibition, and have thereby missed out on additional interest for six months?

And if the customers relied on inaccurate information from counter/call centre staff?

As you'll have seen from my posts, this is my position. Only I haven't lost six months interest, I've lost a lot more than that because the majority of my cash ISA is now in a two-year fix at a lower rate than the Flexclusive ISA. So I can't transfer it back - or at least the penalties would make it not worth doing.

Do I see lots of claims for "compo" looming on Nationwide's horizon?;)

Well I'm certainly going to be putting in a complaint.

Not sure why you put "compo" in quotes. I feel I have legitimately lost money here - at least £200.

Paul_Varjak

xylophone wrote: »

And if the customers relied on it and it wasn't to their benefit?

The onus may be on you to prove that the advert/press release or whatever existed in the first place. The advertising has disappeared of course but the press release is still there so save a copy now!

xylophone wrote: »

That is, if they could have transferred their other Nationwide cash ISAs on line to the Flexclusive in April, didn't because of the apparent prohibition, and have thereby missed out on additional interest for six months?

Most of us are guilty (me included) of not reading the T&Cs before opening the account; maybe if we had, then, collectively, we would all have known earlier.

And if the customers relied on inaccurate information from counter/call centre staff?

Do what I did and insist that the recording is listened to and seek compensation.

someone

The reply back was

I apologise, however it is not possible to transfer an existing ISA in to the Flexclusive ISA account.
Although this information is not in our terms and conditions, the information was available on our website upon advertisement of the account and specified in opening the account over the phone or in the branch.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you need to speak to us about your ISA product please contact our ISA helpdesk, you can contact them on 08456 02 87 81. They are available on this number Monday to Friday, 9am until 7pm and on Saturdays, 9am until 12pm.[/FONT]

Paul_Varjak

So, adverts and the words of Nationwide staff can overrule written Terms & Conditions? I think not.

I was told (in a recorded phone call) that I could 'consolidate' my e-ISA into the Flexclusive ISA - that is one reason I decided to open the Flexclusive ISA.

Not only was I told that but even Nationwide now agree that the Terms & Conditions do not prevent such consolidation.

Their advertising did suggest that the account could only be opened with 'new' ISA monies and that transfers from other ISA managers were not allowed but, again, the Terms & Conditions do not seem to prevent that either. It is the T&Cs that are crucial here not the adverts - adverts you may have never seen. And who knows what branch staff may have said when you opened the account?

Should Nationwide decide, at some point, to move monies out of my Flexclusive ISA because of these 'unwritten' T&Cs I will certainly take Nationwide to the Ombudsman. That will cost them a lot more as they have to pay the Ombudsman for my claim; it would cost me nothing and I could probably seek compensation for the time spent pursuing that claim. Additionally, if I won such a claim I would hope this might set some sort of precedent for others with similar claims.

I think Nationwide would back down over this if pressed!