S&S ISA Transfer - HL to iii - Absurd Delay

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

After the new charging structures were announced earlier in the year, I applied to move my S&S ISA from HL to iii

The balance (£68k) was held in cash at the time (ie uninvested, but all sitting within the S&S ISA)

3 April - Transfer forms sent
7 April - iii acknowledge receipt of forms (by private message)
9 April - HL send letter stating cheque sent to new provider

[Numerous calls/messages after this from me, asking why transferred balance not showing]

iii now saying:

Our Transfers team have again chased Hargreaves Lansdown on 10 June, which was our 7th follow up. As yet, we have not received your cheque.

The account with HL was shut down long ago, log in stopped working - so for 10 weeks my money has been lost in the ether.

Anyone experienced similar, and had any luck complaining to the FOS? Why on earth would anyone be shunting money around by cheque in this day and age?

If I was a cynic (which I definitely am) I might suggest this was a decent money making wheeze for somebody.

dunstonh

Anyone experienced similar, and had any luck complaining to the FOS?

You cannot go to the FOS without complaining to HL first. What do HL say when you ask them?

Why on earth would anyone be shunting money around by cheque in this day and age?

More secure than online transfers. Better audit trails. Less likely to be used with money laundering. Easier to keep workflows in place.

xylophone

You yourself have contacted HL?

They should be in a position to confirm exactly when the cheque was sent and whether or not it has been cashed.

My relatives, whose cash was sent by HL to II a week ago, will be contacting both providers if the cash is not in their accounts by the beginning of next week.

masonic

dunstonh wrote: »

More secure than online transfers.

More secure, really? I'd imagine a smaller proportion of electronic transfers fail to reach their destination or get tampered with than is the case for letters sent through the post, but perhaps the scale of electronic transfer fraud is hushed up by an industry that is desperate for consumers to go paperless? :think:

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

I did consider chasing HL, but on all available evidence they did their part,
and notified me promptly when they had done so (which I'm not sure they were even obliged to do)

Their last letter to me:

9 April 2014

Further to your recent request for the transfer of your HL S&S ISA to iii

I can confirm that a cheque has been sent to your new plan manager.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for using HL...

So the possibilities as far as I can tell are:

1) HL thought they sent the cheque, advised me as such, but they didn't actually do it
2) The cheque got lost via whichever carrier it was sent by
3) iii have poor admin and received the cheque, and have failed to allocate the funds to my account

iii made mention of asking for a copy of the cheque from HL - they haven't brought this issue up since, so I think HL have done as requested and iii have botched something and aren't admitting it

If HL have done nothing wrong (not yet proven) would I still need to comply with their complaints procedure (having already gone through iii's complaints procedure) before heading to the FOS?

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

Just checked again, funds have turned up with iii in the last two hours (no communication on their part to explain what they did with the funds in between)

Obviously should have posted on here sooner - does make me wonder what sort of firm I have moved my account to

masonic

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need wrote: »

Just checked again, funds have turned up with iii in the last two hours (no communication on their part to explain what they did with the funds in between)

Obviously should have posted on here sooner - does make me wonder what sort of firm I have moved my account to

You should still formally complain about the delay and press them for more details. If it has been bouncing between RM sorting offices or held up waiting for Peter K Hargreaves' signature then that's somewhat beyond their control, but if the money has been sitting in somebody else's account then that's another matter entirely.

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

I agree, but I suspect it is heavy odds on that they palm me off, then the FOS says 10 weeks delay is toppy but acceptable in the current environment

I believe HMRC recommends 4 weeks for the process - which still seems ample, I can't really fathom why something like this doesn't happen over the space of 3 days.

Pinging bits of paper around to pay funds from one account to another is just pathetic, not necessary at all. Think I'd give up the supposed added security for the substantial loss of income suffered as a result.

Im_A_Mouse_In_Need

Will try to find out when the cheque was cashed, thanks for the earlier suggestion

dunstonh

masonic wrote: »

More secure, really? I'd imagine a smaller proportion of electronic transfers fail to reach their destination or get tampered with than is the case for letters sent through the post, but perhaps the scale of electronic transfer fraud is hushed up by an industry that is desperate for consumers to go paperless? :think:

One digit wrong on sort code/account and you may not see the money again.

masonic

dunstonh wrote: »

One digit wrong on sort code/account and you may not see the money again.

Even if you address a letter correctly it can still end up being incorrectly delivered, which would not normally result in the money being lost, but is more likely to expose sensitive customer information to a third party, which is a big security concern for the customer.

In this instance we're talking about large institutions who will be transferring between each other somewhat regularly. I find it very hard to accept that it is less secure for them to send a payment electronically using stored (or electronically queried) account details vs putting a cheque in the post.