Savings Bond - Closing Early - Urgent Advice

abfalex47

Hi all,

I need some help and advice (legal if possible) regardng early closure of my Savings Bond.

Background: Last December I opened up a Savings Bond for 4 years with a reputable online Company. It was for £5000. I read and understood the conditions that I would not be able to deposit further funds or make any withdrawals, which was fine at the time.

However, a year one, my wife's finances have spiralled out of control and currently my only option is to close my savings bond early and help my wife out, which this amount would enable me to do.

I would rather do this and give both my wife and I piece of mind, especially with Christmas around the corner.

I also need to add that my wife and I have separate bank accounts and she pays the rent, council tax etc and I have my own committments and already give her extra money to help her out. She already has a bank loan and would not be able to secure a further one.

I have written a letter to the bank and they have further requested that I send them proof and an explanation why I require to cancel this account. I have done this and I have even included a letter from my wife to back up my request to show that I have considered this seriously.

Even though I desperately require this money, which they agree is mine and further acknowledge that under special circumstances they can close the account, they still may refuse.

I am still waiting to hear from them.

Can they refuse and if they do, is there any legal options open to me?

Look forward to any advice.

Alex

Archi_Bald

abfalex47 wrote: »

I read and understood the conditions that I would not be able to deposit further funds or make any withdrawals <snip>

Can they refuse and if they do, is there any legal options open to me?

You and the bank are bound by the terms of the account. What do the terms say about early closure?

ColdIron

abfalex47 wrote: »

Can they refuse and if they do, is there any legal options open to me?
Alex

Absolutely they can refuse if this is what is stated in the T&Cs that you agreed to and accepted. In this case there are no legal options open to you

Many Fixed Term/Interest accounts will allow early closure (usually with a penalty) while others do not although some will consider cases of hardship. I am guessing your account is one of the latter. You are entirely in their hands I'm afraid and each organisation will assess your case based on their own criteria

eskbanker

I agree with the above posts in that (in the absence of any published rights to withdraw) it boils down to their discretion as to whether your circumstances are indeed 'special' enough to satisfy them - presumably they'd be more sympathetic to, say, serious illness, than a vaguer 'spending all the money' scenario (you don't say on here what the root cause is but obviously don't need to explain yourself to strangers on t'interweb). Unfortunately the "it's my money" line isn't relevant here....

abfalex47

Thanks for all your replies. I guess my only hope is to see whether they are sympathetic to my request. I suspect they won't agree after reading the above comments.

Archi_Bald

So what do the terms say about early closure?

abfalex47

Hi Archi, The terms for early closure are purely based on their discretion, which is annoying compared to other companies who will deduct 90 days interest for closing down the Bond Early.

I have had a reply from their Team Leader and they have currently refused to close my Bond early.

Sadly, they have missed the point of my request. It seems to me to to just quick fob off.

It continues.....

dunstonh

Hi Archi, The terms for early closure are purely based on their discretion, which is annoying compared to other companies who will deduct 90 days interest for closing down the Bond Early.

Those that deduct interest tend to have less favourable terms. Generically, there are two types of fixed term deposit. Those that allow early access (and lower rate) and those that have no early access (but higher rate).

The ones with no access are very frequently used to fund deals in lending (such as special terms mortgages). So, you are effectively asking the bank to make a loss on you. Often in cases like yours they may consider a short term overdraft or loan.