UBL UK Bank fixed rate ISA

penniesmakepounds123

Hello
I’m interested in hearing from anyone else who has set up a cash ISA with UBL UK Bank. Following MSE recommendations, I have opened a 1 year fixed with them, but HSBC are being very challenging with me in terms of allowing a transfer into the ISA, and have placed significant doubts in my mind. I have done what I can to confirm the legitimacy of the bank and the ISA but it’s limited to what I see online. 

Also, if I chose not to proceed with investing in this ISA now, am I permitted to open another one this tax year to invest up to my £20k limit? Must I ensure the UBL one is properly closed first? I have placed £10 into it as a test. 
Many thanks for any thoughts.

eskbanker

penniesmakepounds123 said:

HSBC are being very challenging with me in terms of allowing a transfer into the ISA, and have placed significant doubts in my mind.

Do you simply mean that the automated Confirmation of Payee check isn't able to verify UBL as the ultimate recipient of funds that'll be routed via an intermediary bank, or are HSBC actively trying to dissuade you from sending money?

penniesmakepounds123 said:

Also, if I chose not to proceed with investing in this ISA now, am I permitted to open another one this tax year to invest up to my £20k limit? Must I ensure the UBL one is properly closed first? I have placed £10 into it as a test.

The fact that you've paid £10 into the ISA limits your options - you can normally only pay new money into one cash ISA per tax year, but as a one-off you can use the 'investor error' self transfer feature of ISAs and close the UBL one prior to paying into another:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/close-void-or-repair-an-isa-if-youre-an-isa-manager#repair-void

masonic

penniesmakepounds123 said:

Also, if I chose not to proceed with investing in this ISA now, am I permitted to open another one this tax year to invest up to my £20k limit? Must I ensure the UBL one is properly closed first? I have placed £10 into it as a test.

You could ask them to close it within the cooling off period and you'd be free to open and pay into another. Outside the cooling off period, you'd pay a penalty to close it and would be subject to 'investor error - self transfer' regime. 

However, I wouldn't let HSBC's overzealous approach put you off. UBL is a legitimate ISA manager and you need only confirm that you have been accessing the correct website as listed in the FCA register.

bristolleedsfan

https://ifscsortcode.in/ukbanks/sortcode/60-93-68/UNITED-NATIONAL-BANK-LIMITED/BROOK-STREET - Regulated name  https://www.ubluk.com/internet-banking-help/

anniecave

So I'm going to resurrect an old thread.  I haven't had the precise issues listed above.  I applied for a new 1 year fixed ISA in 2022, rolled it over for another year in 2023 and have just successfully transferred it out. 

My issues have been as follows:

The online banking system is unusual (it shows a funding account separate to actual accounts) and therefore it's not easy to figure out what details to use on outgoing or incoming payments.

I can't now get a statement on a closed account, nor can I even see the transactions, due to the way the online banking system works. I've had to resort to sending them a message (but the secure messaging system has categories and there wasn't a category for what I want)

I attempted to apply for new account this year with them, but it appears now (different to when I joined) it's no longer possible to have ISA interest crediting to the actual ISA. It wasn't clear why it was asking, but it appeared that as part of the opening process it was needing a beneficiary account that i wanted interest paid to. I went around in circles as it was running confirmation of payee which wasn't working for me (likely just I hadn't got my name on the account exactly right) but the confirmation screen was saying I was trying to make a payment when clearly I wasn't which I couldn't figure out. I've never come accross an ISA before that refuses to add interest to the balance. That's just bizarre to me.  It is listed as part of the information but that's not common so I didn't even notice it.

The online banking seems to be routinely down for maintenance evenings and weekends.  

They did quickly pay out my ISA transfer though, so no issues there.

masonic

Yes, it is quite unusual to impose pay-away on an ISA. More common for a non-ISA fix and less of a concern for savers who don't want to take the income, but for ISAs it means the interest must be added as a subscription if you wish to accumulate your ISA savings.

I don't really follow regarding the other issue. Was this verification of the linked account using Open Banking? Normally that would state that you were sharing account information rather than authorising a payment.