Santander has lost my Cash ISA Money!!!

guitarman001

I'm going to sleep on this a couple of days. I really don't want that hassle. I understand things may go smoothly for me but you definitely have not had a good ride!

innovate

guitarman001 wrote: »

I get what you're saying, innovate, I really do. I guess I'm a pessimist but the frequency of Santander complaints does dwarf all others - I have 14 days. 4% or not.

Well, as I said, whatever you end up doing, do not let your money linger in a Vantage account. Even Lloyds have a 3.2% 2-year ISA - but you can still beat that with an instant access ISA.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/401374

I have nothing against Vantage as such, btw - - I have got 2 of them myself. However, my 2012-13 ISA has been maxed since April 7 this year, and I have some money in other savings accounts that pay better than Vantage. I just have a problem with the question "Vantage or ISA?" because this isn't really a valid Q.

guitarman001

I agree - ISA is better.

I must ask... if I now cancel the Santander account, can I open another ISA? I know you can only open one per year...

innovate

Don't worry - - if you have not paid into the Santander ISA, you can open one elsewhere, without even telling anyone. You don't have to cancel or close the Santander ISA either.

The only thing you must not do is pay new money into a new ISA if you already paid money into another one in the same financial year.

Don't get worked up about it. The easiest by a mile is still to deposit into the 4% one - - you will be in very good company. The vast majority of people have absolutely no problem with a Santander ISA. Anyway, I am repeating myself now, so I shut up.

guitarman001

Thanks - so I can open as many as I like, it's just that I can only pay into one new ISA per year (and up to £5640 whether that be in one ISA or small amounts in multiple ISAs).

Like I say, I'll have to sleep on the Santander one...

innovate

All your current year's money must always all be in one ISA, and one ISA only.* You can request transfers to new providers if you want to - - though normally you wouldn't, because there's rarely any incentive to do that.

Example (purely to illustrate what can be done):

• deposit £100 into a new ISA now
• request transfer (never transfer the money yourself) to a new ISA in a couple of months
• once transfer is completed, add another £100
• another couple of months down the line, request transfer to yet another new ISA
• once that transfer is completed, top up with up to your allowance for the year
• and so on.....

* there are one or two exceptions possible, such as Nationwide, but let's not complicate matters unnecessarily.

guitarman001

Thank you!
Lastly, I recently opened a Hargreaves Lansdown shares ISA. I take it it is no problem to have opened a separate cash ISA with a bank?

innovate

Your max 2012-13 ISA allowance is £11,280.

All of this can go into a S&S ISA.

Up to £5,640 of it can go into a cash ISA.

Whatever you put into an S&S and/or a cash ISA comes off your total allowance.

So if you invested £11,280 into your HL S&S ISA for 2012-13, you cannot pay anything into a cash ISA before April 6 2013. If you have less than that in the S&S ISA, you can pay into a cash ISA that you can have with any provider you like.

Shaloolah

Richy, your experience sounds very similar to mine, although it's 'only' been just under two months for me. Their complaints team ARE useless; i think my contact there is deliberately avoiding me now - he mysteriously 'disappears' from his desk when I call. 3 days in a row he's supposed to be phoning me back and hasn't. It is disgusting - nearly 11k gone missing and no-one could give a monkeys! I just want them to issue a final decision that it's lost so that I can go to the Financial Ombudsman (have contacted them already to get the ball rolling). Halifax have been more helpful. I feel my blood pressure rising when i think about Santander. AVOID

Mechanical

Mechanical wrote: »

That's good to hear.
Looking forward to Santander messing up my transfer request. Had a letter this morning confirming they had received my isa transfer form and had forwarded my request to Natwest.
I should add that I have had previous run ins with Santander, Natwest and Lloyds over various matters and come out the winner every time.

To date (3 weeks later) i've received a further 2 letters from Santander, both stating that Natwest have yet to transfer my funds. Just checked online and yes, my Natwest isa is still open. If I lose out on any interest to whom should I complain and what amount of compensation should I demand?
On a similar matter although not isa related, i'm still waiting for a definitive response from Lloyds tsb whom I complained to twice in writing beginning on 6 April. All i've received from them so far is confirmation of my first letter and another offering apologies for the delay and stating that I should get an answer in the first week of July.

These banks need a good kick up the backside as far as i'm concerned.