ISA dispute with Santander/Alliance & Leicester

eevilscotsman

Hi, I'm writing this on behalf of my mum who has found herself in this situation.

She had a current account & ISA with Alliance & Leicester which in roughly 2008 was taken over by Santander. As she was retiring and moving house that year, she went into the branch and notified them of her change of address. When she moved, there was a re-direction of the post by Royal Mail to her new address.

Skip forward to 2014/present - For whatever reason, she put the ISA to the back of her mind and continued to receive statements from Santander for the current account. Recently, she began to wonder about the ISA so travelled (a long journey) to her old branch, now Santander to investigate - after a great deal of searching in the branch, someone finally found it and it was discovered that the address was changed on the current account but not on the ISA. Basically the money has been sitting in an account doing nothing since 2008.

The Santander says they posted ISA statements (assuming to the old address) however- the royal mail redirect was in operation for 2 years from 2008, so this must be false, even considering the old address.

After complaining, she received a letter explaining the ISA would not have automatically updated when Santander took over Alliance and Leicester and the onus would have been upon her to upgrade it each year. They offered her £10 as a gesture of goodwill.

Should she put this down as unfortunate, or is there any recourse for the lost years of interest?

Thanks for reading
Fin

colsten

Afraid, it is normal that people need to request ISA transfers themselves. There is no onus on the providers to chase people about their savings.

7 years is an awful long time to not remember your own savings.

Thrugelmir

eevilscotsman wrote: »

Should she put this down as unfortunate, or is there any recourse for the lost years of interest?

The money still earnt interest. Hindsight cannot be used to say now what you she may have done with it. Obviously had no need of it.

eevilscotsman

Not a case of not remembering, just put it to the back of her mind combined with not really knowing - she's an OAP, just a little old lady - but I guess perhaps something may have been done earlier if Santander had updated the address on the ISA account, after all, she did notify them. That is the issue

bowlhead99

eevilscotsman wrote: »

Not a case of not remembering, just put it to the back of her mind combined with not really knowing - she's an OAP, just a little old lady - but I guess perhaps something may have been done earlier if Santander had updated the address on the ISA account, after all, she did notify them. That is the issue

Come off it mate. You're saying it "was not a case of not remembering". So, she did remember she had it and she knew she hadn't taken any action to enquire what interest rate it was now earning? Right, so it is her fault for not doing something useful with the money like investing the stock exchange to double her money, or putting it in a bank account paying a high level of interest.

I would put it to you that it WAS a case of not remembering. Either that, or she did remember but chose to "put it to the back of her mind" rather than deal with it, as you suggest.

In either case, she didn't employ Santander as an adviser with any responsibility to go looking for better rates for her. They have already given her ten pounds for free. Hoping for anything else is wishful thinking.

Actually what they have given her is a free lesson in why it is sensible to track what you have done with your money. That could actually be quite valuable.

eevilscotsman

ok bowlhead99, I put it to you that her saver account was ticking along nicely, with no further action required up until the point in 2008 when Santander took over. She had never been told to review it every year by Santander and had no correspondance to that effect, probably due to the fact that someone hadnt done their job properly by not updating addresses correctly. Am I getting through here?

Mattygroves2

eevilscotsman wrote: »

ok bowlhead99, I put it to you that her saver account was ticking along nicely, with no further action required up until the point in 2008 when Santander took over. She had never been told to review it every year by Santander and had no correspondance to that effect, probably due to the fact that someone hadnt done their job properly by not updating addresses correctly. Am I getting through here?

But even if they had updated her address they wouldn't have told her to review it. At the most she would have got a letter saying that the interest rate had gone down. You have to be more proactive these days and keep track of things yourself.

enthusiasticsaver

I think I would agree with the other posters on this thread and say your mum should chalk this up to experience and unfortunately banks make their money through people leaving their savings languishing in old low interest rate accounts. You could say the bank were at fault for not changing the address and obviously they were but equally she knew she had an isa so should have checked up on it earlier than 2014. Banks are not obliged to point out she could be doing better elsewhere sadly.


She should have been receiving a statement each year but equally you could say she should be checking annually on all her savings to see if she could get a better deal and I am afraid old age is not an excuse for not being pro active in fact that is rather an ageist thing to say as many people who are retired (and you say she is only just retired in 2008 so presumably in her 60s or early 70s?) are more savvy than most in getting good rates as they have more time to shop around.

jimjames

Savings accounts never just "tick along nicely", if you do that then you'll lose the best rates. If no action was being taken to monitor it before 2008, why would anything different have happened after?

Maybe as the child of a "little old lady" it might be worth helping her check her finances more carefully.

If she is after the best return have you read these forums to advise her on the ways to get the best rates on your money?