Santander has lost my Cash ISA Money!!!

DietIrnBru

Rather serious problem for me.

I requested that Santander transfer my Cash ISA from Northern Rock to itself.

The transfer was requested in early April and I checked in my Northern Rock account to see if the funds had been transferred. My account had been closed, the interest added and the money apparently transferred.

Week later, my money still wasnt in my account at Santander. I contacted them - they stated they hadn't received the cheque from Northern Rock. On the phone to Northern Rock, they had despatched the cheque and told me that Santander had not only received it - but cashed it! They even offered to send a copy of said cheque that had been stamped by Santander.

Santander are still denying receiving the money.

I really need advice on this, I'm awaiting a copy of the cheque form Northern Rock - but as it stands - my £12,000 is missing and I am seriously worried.

Wurly

I doubt it's lost.
I had a similar thing with transferring from Nat West to BMsavings. The money came out of my NW acc sometime early April. I had two letters from BM asking me to chase NW because they hadn't recieved it. I did nothing of the kind, but after the second letter dated 20th April, i thought i'd call BM to find out where it was. The money actually appeared on the 23rd and interest back dated to when the funds left NW. I expect your money will appear very soon.

RobStaffs

I had a similar issue

Have you spoken to Santander ISA support team in Glasgow? Originally we were told a similar story by another office

My money left my account on the 12th April and never landed until the 20th.Dont panic.It can take longer.

innovate

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3919373

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3915199

Santander "Transferring your ISA is easy!" page

beth.stephenson2009

I know this may not be too helpful OP, but Santander cause problems for lots of people.

A friend of mine booked a holiday on her Santander credit card, and they charged her TWICE. There was basically months of messing around before they held their hands up and admitted they were in the wrong.

When your money turns up- make sure you go into your local branch and close any account you have with them. I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, especially now I have read this and realise my friend is not alone.

Agricolae

The average time from you sending off the transfer request form, to the funds crediting where you expect them to, is 15 (working) days. This is common to most banks. Sometimes it can take longer, particularly around this time of year when a massive number of transfer requests are being received. It's slow and annoying but banks will typically backdate interest automatically.

innovate

beth.stephenson2009 wrote: »

I know this may not be too helpful OP, but Santander cause problems for lots of people.

Think you are right, your post may not be too helpful because you are talking about an entirely different sort of transaction. Which may or may not have been messed up by Santander, but credit card transactions are not the subject of this thread.

On the subject of this thread:

There is no evidence that I have seen on here or other forums that suggests Santander (or any other bank, for that matter) doesn't transfer ISAs as they should. There is, however, plenty of evidence that people have not informed themselves what is involved in an ISA transfer before they started one, and then begin to panic. Luckily, their panic looks quite unjustified.

innovate

beth.stephenson2009 wrote: »

When your money turns up- make sure you go into your local branch and close any account you have with them.

It's a very dangerous suggestion that people should go into a branch and "close any account you have with them", i.e. incl ISAs.

Firstly, you might be on a fixed-term ISA deal and would pay a significant penalty if you terminated the account before maturity.

Secondly, it would most likely be a bad idea to withdraw ISA money since you'd lose the tax-free wrapper forever.

Thirdly, see my earlier post.

MoneySaverLog

Perhaps beth.stephenson2009 should have said remove everything but the ISA / Fixed Rates, then when they mature get a transfer done from them to a more reliable bank/building society who is more customer focused.

DietIrnBru

innovate wrote: »

On the subject of this thread:

There is no evidence that I have seen on here or other forums that suggests Santander (or any other bank, for that matter) doesn't transfer ISAs as they should. There is, however, plenty of evidence that people have not informed themselves what is involved in an ISA transfer before they started one, and then begin to panic. Luckily, their panic looks quite unjustified.

FYI I have transferred my ISA many times and am equally familiar with the possible period of time involved in transfer. Perhaps if you re-read the post - a cheque that was cashed by Santander - yet they denied receiving it. There appears to be plenty of evidence that people don't read forum posts properly.

UPDATE: I contacted Northern Rock who in turn contacted Santander regarding this issue. Turned out that Santander had received the funds - but deposited them in the wrong account! Perhaps this falls outside the standard transfer procedure?

Agricolae

DietIrnBru wrote: »

FYI I have transferred my ISA many times and am equally familiar with the possible period of time involved in transfer. Perhaps if you re-read the post - a cheque that was cashed by Santander - yet they denied receiving it. There appears to be plenty of evidence that people don't read forum posts properly.

UPDATE: I contacted Northern Rock who in turn contacted Santander regarding this issue. Turned out that Santander had received the funds - but deposited them in the wrong account! Perhaps this falls outside the standard transfer procedure?

Glad you got it sorted. Another clerical error unfortunately by the sounds of it. Often banks will actually pay the cheque into a suspense account when they receive it, and then transfer the funds from there to your ISA once it's open (and when they get around to it if there are backlogs). That way they don't have masses of cheques lying around and they don't have to wait for the funds to clear once they pay into your ISA.

But in this case they say they paid your cheque into someone else's account entirely?