Old ING Direct account that was never fully opened

ribrob

Hi there

I'm after a bit of advice.

About 10 years ago i began the opening of an ING Direct Savings account, by transferring £250 to ING to get the account set up as required.

After doing that ING subsequently sent me a welcome letter along with a request for certified documents to prove my address at the time and identity (why this wasn't asked for from the beginning i do not know).

I can't remember the exact reasons why, but the upshot was that the account was not formally opened, as nothing i could easily provide for my address or identity was acceptable to ING.

As a result i asked they refund the £250 to me, but they said they couldn't as the account wasn't properly open, to which i reminded them they weren't happy with any method of verification i could supply.

As you can imagine, this went around in circles for a while and i ended up giving up.

Ten years on, i've just found the paperwork about this, and being more mature and sensible, i see it for what it is - a ridiculous situation and that should get sorted once and for all.

What i'm wondering is if i can insist on them paying me interest on that initial £250 which they've held onto for 10 years - or whether they can rightfully say that given the account opening process wasn't formally completed they don't owe me a penny.

What do people think?

Ribrob

Exo

I wouldn't bother with the missing interest payments. Just seek compensation for the inconvenience and distress caused as they failed to return your initial deposit when requested.

Barclays took over ING Direct UK back in 2012, which may cause some further problems if they have no record of your existence.