PCF BANK - should I be concerned?

OWAIN

Only just found out about PCF leaving the UK market and has stopped offering personal savings accounts etc. I have a considerable amount of money deposited with them on a 3 year fix that matures in June 2023. To say I am concerned is an understatement. I realise that my money should (hopefully) be covered by FSCS, but I have just tried to log into my online account and received a message saying 'ACCESS DENIED'. Does anyone have any latest news on this ? I have searched the forum and can only find the initial newsletter from Martin; I'm surprised (and somewhat worried) that there are not more threads on this as there must be many on this forum who have banked with them. The lack of activity and news is, quite frankly, freaking me out.

masonic

It's had FCA enforcement action taken against it (see https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000003MxqyiAAB#what-can-this-firm-do-restrictions ), though this doesn't relate to the banking side of its business, rather its lending operations. This may have contributed to its decision to wind down its UK operations. To me, the restrictions don't look to be an impediment to the survival of the business during the wind-down period. I expect many of the savings accounts on its books pay less than the current 4% that can be obtained through overnight inter-bank lending of the cash.

Your fixed term deposit will probably be repaid in line with the T&Cs, or you might get it back early with interest for the full term if you are lucky. As you say, the FSCS will step in if PCF become insolvent due to the restrictions. If anyone had failed to receive their money at maturity up until now, we'd certainly have heard about it on the forum! The time to get worried is when there are lots of threads about it, not when you can't find any other complaints.

I wouldn't be too quick to jump to conclusions about the login issues.

MrStanners

I have also got savings with PCF and until I saw your post I also didn't realise they were closing. It's very poor of them not to advise us of the situation and to confirm money will be returned to us as normal, so the lack of communication is concerning.

I am rate chaser so I do have savings with small banks.  I had savings with Masthaven who have left the UK market.  They advised me of the situation and when I would get my savings back. It has all been returned.  I would hope for the same behaviour from PCF.

Thank goodness PCF savings are in the FSCS.  I wouldn't have made any deposits with them otherwise.

Regarding login.  I have logged in, I can see my accounts with them but if I then try to check more details it just logs me out.  My savings shown in my account were all as I expected.

I know it's easier said than done but I would try not to worry, at the end of the day there is the FSCS to fall back on.

EthicsGradient

I had an account with them which I emptied in Nov 21 (but for which they didn't pay the the final interest - just a few pounds - until Aug 22, in the next tax year - I never could work out why). I can log in now, and it correctly tells me I have no open accounts, and did allow me to get old statements and confirmations of tax paid (which I hadn't yet bothered taking copies of - I have now). One thing was that when I asked to export the list of interest paid in each tax year, it said the tool to export in PDF or XLS format was unavailable - but it was able to export in simple CSV (comma-separated values) format, so use that (spreadsheets can read that, or a word processor).

So there's a somewhat-working system there, but it sounds as if there may be a few bugs in it - and they're possibly not doing much to fix them. If I were a customer with funds still in there, I'd make sure I've got all the possible log in details, then document step by step what you do as you try to log in and (hopefully) use it, and check what works - and take copies of statements etc. whenever possible, so you're as little reliant on their system as possible, and have evidence in case expected maturity payouts etc. don't arrive.

jaypers

Possible that they are just doing some system maintenance? The login issue may be nothing to do with what’s happening with the business. 

wmb194

jaypers said:

Possible that they are just doing some system maintenance? The login issue may be nothing to do with what’s happening with the business. 

Particularly if the OP, per the time of his post, tried to login at c.3am..

OWAIN

Thankyou to all for the replies, has somewhat put my mind to rest. Thanks.

Turns out the log-in issue was due to my using a VPN even though my location was set as London. Turned the VPN off and voila! So taken the advice given above and have exported csv file (thankyou EthicsGradient), have also taken screenshots of every page of that site to ensure all my details are available.

I am not, by nature, a panicky person but have never experienced a bank - with my money - running into problems, so disconcerting to say the least, especially when I wasn't able to log-in at all. masonic made a very good point, that the time to worry is when there are lots of threads on here, not when none can be found. Still one is concerned when there appears to be no news/update on the situation and no-one even discussing it.

Quite agree with  MrStanners too, that it is very poor that PCF did not let it customers know of the situation initially and has not provided any updates either. 

Guess, as everyone else seems to be doing, I will just have to sit back and wait to see what happens. I have gained re-assurance from your replies and has said above, 'thanks to all' - got to love this site and the helpful members.