Leeds 2yr FRISA issue 65 - was online application form incorrect?

gwapenut

OK, they've just written to confirm to me. I think my transfer and application docs were posted first class on the 17th. They have not bounced my application form, though I do not recall what page types I had.

They state in the letter that they will backdate ISA interest from the date they receive the cheque. I thought for ISAs it had to be from the date the donor ISA closed the account and sent the cheque?

KGriff

My wife has received an email today confirming activation of her Leeds isa, the deposit cheque is still to clear and the transfer of her of isa has been requested. I reckon it will have taken 1 month from application (on the 8th April) until everything is complete.

In the email Leeds BS have stated the following:

"The Society has recently seen extremely high demand for our range of ISA’s and this has meant we have taken longer than usual to process new savings applications.! Please accept my apologies for any delays you have experienced.! I would like to reassure you that we have backdated the opening date for the account and any interest due to the day we received the application.

If you have requested an ISA Transfer please note that this has been requested from your ISA Provider.

Under industry guidelines interest will be paid from no later than 15 days after we received your application (assuming funds are not subject to a notice period).! This means on receipt of the ISA Transfer funds, we will backdate interest to no later than 15 days after the account opening date."

That seems fair to me and the wife so we don't have any complaints. Like I said in my earlier post I really feel sorry for the Leeds staff, who must have been totally overwhelmed by the 'mountain' of applications and I'm sure that some staff have had a rough few weeks or so.

Then again my wife and I are very forgiving for a lot of things.

Anyhow were just glad of the leeds email and update and happy that the wife's Money hasn't just disappeared into "the further" ... The place that exists somewhere between two bank accounts, never to emerge or be seen again.

My wife is now a happy bunny! :kisses3:

butterflymum

KGriff - it might be best to ask for a new declaration page for yourself if they don't send one, as you wouldn't want the wrong one to cause HMRC problems for you further down the line.

KGriff

In a week or two's time my wife and I have to pop into a branch to get our passbooks updated, so I will mention the declaration form to them then and get the name of the person I speak to.

It really then is an issue for them.. The mistake is theirs surely?

I would never have known if things had not been mentioned here. I wonder how many other mistakes over the years have been made by providers in their documentation?

Ken

butterflymum

I wonder how many other mistakes over the years have been made by providers in their documentation?

Quite a number I would guess, including spelling mistakes such as:

Financial Obbudsman

as noticed at:

http://www.leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk/your-society/faqs/#SavingsFAQ



I noticed too, that they are now advising processing times of up to 21 working days for savings account applications received after 12th April.

billyboy

Hi,
I opened 2 ISA's online on 7th April for myself and my wife and at first showed zero balance. Then the computer system was so called upgraded. Now nothing can be seen. The transfer money from the Halifax left on 17th April and mine arrived O.K but still no passbook. My wife's has gone AWOL. Ringing the LEEDS is a waste of time--all you get is we were busy it will get done. I have now submitted official complaint in order to get them onto the case. Surprise Surprise they were swamped after advertising a market leading rate. What did hey expect?

butterflymum

billyboy wrote: »

Hi,
I opened 2 ISA's online on 7th April for myself and my wife and at first showed zero balance. Then the computer system was so called upgraded. Now nothing can be seen. The transfer money from the Halifax left on 17th April and mine arrived O.K but still no passbook. My wife's has gone AWOL. Ringing the LEEDS is a waste of time--all you get is we were busy it will get done. I have now submitted official complaint in order to get them onto the case. Surprise Surprise they were swamped after advertising a market leading rate. What did hey expect?

Did you happen to save a copy of both your application and declaration forms? If you did, it would be interesting to know if they contained the correct ISA declaration wording and if the application showed your National Insurance number.

KGriff

My wife received her Leeds passbook the day before yesterday, 7 May 2015, having sent in her application and transfer forms into Albion Street on the 8th April. The deposit amount (only) is now shown in the passbook as being received on the 15th April... Interest to be paid from that date

My wife's previous ISA though is still to transfer to her account and it is still lodged with her previous provider (Barclays) .. I assume that will move over, sometime in the next week or so, but Leeds state they will pay interest on that too no later than 15 days after account opening... So that should be from 30th April then, I guess, in my wife's case.

After the transfer of funds are complete my wife and I plan to do a 25 Mile+ round trip to get the transfer money added to each of our passbooks at our nearest Leeds branch. They say we can send them through the post, but we prefer not to do that.

It's still a pity we were unable to view the accounts afterwards through their online access. It would have helped reassure us that everything had been received and processed etc.

I reckon they took the ISA savings accounts offline to simplify their own internal process of dealing with the enormous amount of subscriptions they received and to correct the 'wrong generated form glitches' perhaps?

I wonder if their interest rates will be 'leading' the other ISA providers in the coming financial years or whether they will now consider just how much of a problem they were presented with this year. We shall see ? At the very least, the amount of complaints made by some people, must surely have increased these past few weeks and caused some damage to their reputation.

brick

KGriff wrote: »

It's still a pity we were unable to view the accounts afterwards through their online access. It would have helped reassure us that everything had been received and processed etc.

It is a bit of a poor show TBH.

Even a email or postcard to at least confirm receipt of paperwork and advise of processing delay would have both reassured on an individual basis, and helped avoid potential scenario where someone waits patiently for 3, 4 or 5 weeks to then find that their application "never arrived".

KGriff

brick wrote: »

It is a bit of a poor show TBH.

Even a email or postcard to at least confirm receipt of paperwork and advise of processing delay would have both reassured on an individual basis, and helped avoid potential scenario where someone waits patiently for 3, 4 or 5 weeks to then find that their application "never arrived".

That's true 'Brick', especially as when my wife opened her Leeds ISA on the 8th April, her print-out showing her customer ID and account number etc; also stated that if 'they' had not received her signed form and deposit within 28 days, the account would be automatically closed. That really worried us.

It got so close to that deadline, we decided to phone customer support. We made a couple of calls. We initially were told to submit the forms again, but when we called again two days afterwards, they told us they had got the forms, but it would be a week or so before they would be processed and 'activated'. We asked for an email confirmation, but never got anything in writing, until a week later.

It's a shame the management, didn't fully anticipate the numbers and throw more resources at the problem. The moral of the staff on the ground, must have been quite low too I expect, having to deal with what must be a repetitive and monotonous workload.

At least they are backdating the interest so we have not complained, but I think some may still be waiting now to hear what's happened to their application.

Let's hope ALL the financial institutions learn lessons and plan better in the future, especially for the start of each financial year... You would think these type of issues would have all been eradicated by now.