ISA Transfer Woes - Any advice?

Confused619

I had some uninvested cash in a HSBC InvestDirect ISA as they had a 0.75% interest rate which was a respectable rate. In August they removed this to 0%. 
Hence on the 10th October I opened up a Cash ISA with the Coventry Building Society and filled in a ISA transfer request form to transfer all uninvested cash.
On the 22nd October I noticed that my HSBC account had this amount removed with the transaction text saying cheque.
A cheque was sent to Coventry Building Society but when they went to pay it in it 'bounced'
So they had to post this back to HSBC and wait for a new one to arrive. 
The new cheque arrived on the 16th November with Coventry Building Society but Coventry Building society have apologised and explained they have still been unable to pay this in as the 2nd cheque was not signed. They have tried to contact HSBC but find no-one answers.
I have now wasted many hours calling HSBC to resolve this. I raised a complaint with HSBC on the 11th November for which they said they have to respond within 5 working days. I have still not heard anything from the complaints team.
Yesterday I rang HSBC to say I had had enough, had lost all confidence in them and had no faith in their competence to send a third cheque. I requested my money to be sent electronically. They said they would pass the message to the appropriate department and get them to contact me but insinuated this was not possible. No one has yet contacted me.

I have not had access or been able to see this money in any account since the 22nd October - I am at a loss on what to do?

Alexland

Confused619 said:

I have not had access or been able to see this money in any account since the 22nd October - I am at a loss on what to do?

1) Ask HSBC why they missed their own 5 day target to detail "When you can expect to hear from us again" and "How your complaint will be dealt with". Bad news is that a complaint about an ISA transfer may fall under "for all other matters" up to 56 days or longer if they are unable to resolve within that long time....

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/feedback-and-complaints/

2) If their process is to use cheques then there's not much point pushing them to do an electronic transfer so if you want it done quickly you probably have to keep chasing the 3rd cheque.

Confused619

Thanks Alex for the response,
I am going to call them tomorrow again. I raised a second complaint online this evening.
I just don't get how it is acceptable for financial institutions to put the customer in financial hardship for weeks and why cheques are still being used between large financial institutions.

My main concern at the moment is getting access to my money as I currently can't see it anywhere.
Does anyone know if I am entitled to request compensation at my consultancy rates for the time spent on resolving this, and also the fact that I do not have access to this money causing additional health, stress and financial issues?

ranciduk

See, it’s posts like this that make me too terrified to transfer my !!!!!! Halifax ISA!

hope you get it sorted soon mate...

Aceace

ranciduk said:

See, it’s posts like this that make me too terrified to transfer my !!!!!! Halifax ISA!

hope you get it sorted soon mate...

Don't let it put you off. Most go very smoothly. I've done more than 50 and only 2 had problems. Both were sorted after a few weeks delay and some prodding. They seem to be getting smoother and faster since covid hit as it's caused many more institutions to do electronic transfers rather than requiring wet signatures and cheques.

Frogletina

Confused619 said:

Does anyone know if I am entitled to request compensation at my consultancy rates for the time spent on resolving this, and also the fact that I do not have access to this money causing additional health, stress and financial issues?

You can request any amount you like, but they will have their own limits on what they will give as compensation.

eskbanker

Confused619 said:

I just don't get how it is acceptable for financial institutions to put the customer in financial hardship for weeks and why cheques are still being used between large financial institutions.

My main concern at the moment is getting access to my money as I currently can't see it anywhere.
Does anyone know if I am entitled to request compensation at my consultancy rates for the time spent on resolving this, and also the fact that I do not have access to this money causing additional health, stress and financial issues?

Not defending them here, but if this is money that you needed swift access to to avoid financial hardship and health complications, then wouldn't it have made more sense to simply withdraw it from the ISA rather than initiating a transfer that, even without any issues and regardless of the actual method used to move the funds, only needs to be completed within thirty days?

Confused619

If you withdraw an ISA completely you lose the tax benefits so no not an option.  I understood the risk of 30 days. One I was willing to take for no interest vs interest. However, it is now substantially longer and a lot can change within 1-2 months hence why it is un-invested and also not in a fixed ISA for easy acess. 

With regards to health would you not be worried and stressed if your money had been missing for nearly five weeks?

Alexland

Confused619 said:

If you withdraw an ISA completely you lose the tax benefits so no not an option.

In which case you don't have much of an argument that you suffered hardship unless you can demonstrate that your circumstances materially changed after making the transfer request (knowing it might take up to 30 days) such that you then needed to make them aware of the need to make a withdrawal?

Confused619 said:

With regards to health would you not be worried and stressed if your money had been missing for nearly five weeks?

Not if you knew they were both reputable FSCS protected institutions who have had cheque problems and will sort it out eventually. Nothing to get stressed about just annoying admin hassle requiring chasing and taking time. Still they might give you something modest from the complaint.

Albermarle

ranciduk said:

See, it’s posts like this that make me too terrified to transfer my !!!!!! Halifax ISA!

hope you get it sorted soon mate...

I have moved numerous cash ISA's , a couple of S&S ISA's and three pensions . The only issue of note is that the process is normally quicker nowadays than it used to be . Clearly though with an occasional exception/admin problem..

Froggitt2

Its so far taken four months to transfer my ISA from The Share Centre to iWeb. The shares finally came over last week, and still waiting for the cash to arrive.
I have raised complaints with both, and as I expect both to point the finger at the other, I'm likely to take both complaints to the FOS.