ISA Transfer from Virgin to NatWest

Richchad

I am in the process of transferring our ISAs from Virgin to NatWest, I completed the online NatWest transfer forms when we applied for the ISA fixed accounts and ticked the box that stated we wanted to pay the 60 day penalty charge to transfer immediately.

I messaged Virgin a couple of days ago to check if ISA transfer requests had been received, the replies from Virgin were, one hasn’t arrived or has been lost or Nat West have sent to wrong office….

The other had arrived and has been rejected as 60 day penalty would be due..

The first one maybe that NatWest haven’t sent the request to Virgin yet, I wouldn’t think it could have gone to wrong office if the other request had arrived okay.

I replied to the message about the rejection and told them I knew about the 60 day charge and accepted it as I had ticked the box for that.

As usual I got a reply telling me to ring their ISA team, after 40 minutes waiting I spoke to someone who then said he would email the ISA team (who I thought I was supposed to be talking to) explaining the problem and they will ring me back… well no phone call yet as expected..

Tried to speak to Nat West through their Cora messaging system and got the usual ring ISA team…

I don’t know what Nat West would send to Virgin, assume it is a copy of the form I signed??

If Virgin have rejected my transfer again I assume they will relay this back to Nat West with the reason of rejecting?

I have transferred many ISAs over the years and seem to recall problems with most, or maybe it is just those ones I remember.

Sorry for the long rant..

Shedman

All you will get back from Nat West is a letter saying that Virgin have informed that they cannot to transfer your ISA as the information they hold for you doesn't match their records.  And then advise you to contact your current ISA provider, get them to correct and re-submit the transfer.  I know this as I've just received one today (dated 15 Aug...no idea why NW can't post it into the app mailbox and send an email or notification to say a new document is there!).  I will have to waste part of my life now trying to get hold of Virgin as I dib't want to lose out on the NW 2 year 5.90% rate if I can avoid it.

Transferring away from Virgin is like being trapped in Kafka novel...wife had same issue with a transfer to RBS but we didn't bother progressing that one at the time. 

Shedman

Well relatively quickly (for these days anyway..) I got hold of a helpful guy called Neil at Virgin ISA team (0345 600 7301 by the way).  As soon as I mentioned ISA transfer to NatWest he immediately know that the issue would be NW sending transfer requests to Gateshead (where Virgin haven't been for 2 1/2 years) instead of Clydebank (as I recall has been mentioned elsewhere on this forum) even though according to him a) they have told NW and RBS about this a couple of weeks or so ago and b) even so the ISA electronic transfer system should tell them the correct location based on the sort code.  When he checked my transfer request this was confirmed to be the issue.  What the hell is wrong with NatWest

Now trying to speak to NW....

UPDATE:  1 hr 10mins later (and enduring muzak that sounded like someone had died...) i got through to be told that they were aware of the issue and had been for around 2 weeks.  Checked my details and promised to resubmit them to the right location.  When I said if you knew of the problem a) why haven't you sorted it and b) why didn't you just resubmit automatically to the right location when the rejection came in all he could say was that I was absolutely right in what I was saying and apologised but couldn't say why they hadn't done so or sorted things out.  I said as they knew it was an issue there should be compensation for their failings let alone for the hour and a quarter of my life i won't get so he said yes I should raise a complaint and is going to email me a complaint form.  Fingers crossed the resubmitted transfer works this time.   

Richchad

UPDATE:

I managed to get the return phone call from Virgin which surprised me, he told me the reason for my rejection was that the instruction given to them didn't state that I wanted immediate transfer and would pay the penalty despite me filling in the online form requesting the transfer immediately as I always take sceenshots of all forms etc.

So told me I need to get back to NW, I wondered afterwards if he could have accepted my word and made the transfer as I had gone all through security, anyway on the phone to NW, as mention by Shedman listened to that awful music with someone telling me they know I am waiting every 15 seconds for over 2 hours, 2 hours! when I just gave up...

I did managed to do other stuff online while waiting so not a complete waste of time just the music etc and getting nowhere in the end..

Complaint form filled out expressing what an appalling way to treat customers and explained the problem and the resolution to just do what I requested.

I will try to phone NW first thing Monday and see if I get through, if not maybe my complaint will be dealt with before I can get through all though not holding my breath for that to happen.

There is no way to leave a message or email other than the Cora thing which can't speak to their ISA team..

Glad I don't use Nat West as my normal bank....

Shedman

No wonder they don't complete the transfer request forms correctly, they are that bad they can't even complete their boilerplate emails properly 😅 ....this is what I've received with the complaint form attached:

We're sorry you feel the need to complain but rest assured we are committed to putting things right for you.

Please complete our complaint form, providing your contact details and the most appropriate time for us to contact you. We will investigate your issue and do our best to contact you at the requested time to discuss your complaint further, this will help us resolve things quicker.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

 

 

Many thanks,

 

bankername

jobtitle

Phone - 

Email -     

VNX

How odd

i transferred my ISA Virgin to NW, took five working days and they just deduced the interest penalty 

Richchad

VNX said:

How odd

i transferred my ISA Virgin to NW, took five working days and they just deduced the interest penalty 

Good to hear it can be done as it should, maybe it just depends on the person who is dealing with your transfer to ensure it goes to the right place and with correct information taken from the forms we completed?

mpelson

I am in a similar position to the original poster, albeit without the complication of the penalty as my old fixed ISA

had already matured.

I originally requested ISA transfers from two different providers. HSBC one was dealt with within 3 working days, but the one that I told them about from Virgin Money hadn't moved after a week, so first called VM and they said they have repeatedly told NatWest how to make sure the requests go to the right place and that they had not received a request from NatWest for my transfer.

I should add that whilst I log in to the Virgin Money website/app my account is an old Yorkshire bank one. Perhaps this is what is causing my tranfer request issue - are the others here having problems in proper Virgin Money acccounts?

First time I got through to Nat West (after a 50 minute wait), they appeared to know that there was this problem and told me they had received a rejection from VM and I would get a letter. They understood the problem and told me that they could redirect my request and resubmit it, so they did that on the call.

Now, over a week later, VM (Yorkshire Bank) still haven't received a transfer request and I cannot get through on the phone to NatWest. Have tried multiple times - one call got to 1 hour 15 mins, then went slient and got ended. Another couple of attempts got to a similar time and my phone froze! Today, got to 1h17 and the message reverted to the start one and I'm still waiting! 1hr40 and counting, but I don't know if, when the first message started repeating itself I went to the back of the queue 

As others have said, Cora cannot deal with the request for information

ab56

Similar problem.  Submitted transfer form electronically.  Been told by Virgin that when transfer request sent to them by RBS the box for transfer across and suffer penalty was not completed (which I am positive I completed on form).  So transfer request rejected by Virgin.

Have tried to ring RBS but held over 1hr and had to give up.

Anyone know if best to submit transfer form again electronically or post paper form?

TYI

Beddie

mpelson said:

Now, over a week later, VM (Yorkshire Bank) still haven't received a transfer request and I cannot get through on the phone to NatWest. Have tried multiple times - one call got to 1 hour 15 mins, then went slient and got ended. Another couple of attempts got to a similar time and my phone froze! Today, got to 1h17 and the message reverted to the start one and I'm still waiting! 1hr40 and counting, but I don't know if, when the first message started repeating itself I went to the back of the queue 

As others have said, Cora cannot deal with the request for information

Waiting on the phone to Natwest is doubly annoying as they interrupt the music every 30 seconds or so, to tell you to keep waiting or something like that - yes, we know! It's really irritating as you think the call might be answered, but no. Just play the music and only interrupt it when you answer the call!

Richchad

ab56 said:

Anyone know if best to submit transfer form again electronically or post paper form?

I must admit I did think about resubmitting electronically another transfer form, not sure if it would complicate things, or they would just submit another request to VM, who would either ignore it if transaction was happening or attempt to start process over again, and what if NW forget to add the acceptance of the penalty again.... 

Beddie said:

Waiting on the phone to Natwest is doubly annoying as they interrupt the music every 30 seconds or so, to tell you to keep waiting or something like that - yes, we know! It's really irritating as you think the call might be answered, but no. Just play the music and only interrupt it when you answer the call!

Yes that was the bit I found annoying, you tend to think they are about to answer the call..