Transfer in to Tesco 1 year fix

SiliconChip

I'm thinking of opening the Tesco 1 year fix with initial funding from other savings. I have a Santander fix that matures on 1st May that I'd like to transfer in to Tesco at that point, but one of the Tesco conditions is that funding has to be complete within 30 days of opening. Given the current thread on the large variation in the time it takes Santander to complete transfers would I run the risk of the Tesco transfer window closing before the money is moved if I opened the Tesco ISA today? Or is requesting Tesco to start the transfer within the 30 days good enough to allow it to continue even if it takes Santander beyond that time to actually do it?

subjecttocontract

Well my previous experience was that my transfer to Tesco took considerably longer than 30 days. But it was during the postal strike & over a Christmas period but Tesco still went ahead with the transfer anyway.

Please note.....I am only a sample of one.

youngretired

I opened a 1yr Fixed ISA yesterday for my dad on the phone (due to time out message online) and told the member of staff that my dad will be transferring his Santander ISA that matures 1st May, as well as putting in new money. The member of staff said that it wouldn't be a problem so long as they received the request within 30 days.

They prefer you to use the transfer form they send in the welcome pack (as they just scan the QR code). They even mentioned about the postage delays due to RM, but would hope that the customer would receive within a week and be received by them within the following week, so plenty of time for 1st May. I myself requested a transfer last week, but downloaded a form and sent to the FREEPOST address as I couldn't rely on waiting for RM to deliver, as don't receive post frequently and my maturing ISA matures 19th April.

refluxer

As eluded to above, the funding window for new fixed rate cash ISA deposits is also the window for receiving transfer-in requests and not the actual funds, in my experience.

As Santander and Tesco both use the BACs ISA transfer service, transfers should be carried out wholly online/electronically.

SiliconChip

youngretired said:

I opened a 1yr Fixed ISA yesterday for my dad on the phone (due to time out message online) and told the member of staff that my dad will be transferring his Santander ISA that matures 1st May, as well as putting in new money. The member of staff said that it wouldn't be a problem so long as they received the request within 30 days.

They prefer you to use the transfer form they send in the welcome pack (as they just scan the QR code). They even mentioned about the postage delays due to RM, but would hope that the customer would receive within a week and be received by them within the following week, so plenty of time for 1st May. I myself requested a transfer last week, but downloaded a form and sent to the FREEPOST address as I couldn't rely on waiting for RM to deliver, as don't receive post frequently and my maturing ISA matures 19th April.

Thanks very much for this, sounds like it should be fine to go ahead with my plan then, I'll probably do the same as you and dowload the transfer form.

youngretired

To my surprise the Tesco welcome pack arrived today, applied Friday 5th. Tesco did send it 1st class and so as long as RM deliver then you should be fine to use the QR transfer form.

SiliconChip

youngretired said:

To my surprise the Tesco welcome pack arrived today, applied Friday 5th. Tesco did send it 1st class and so as long as RM deliver then you should be fine to use the QR transfer form.

That's good to know, thanks for the update. I didn't have time to apply today but I'll give it a go tomorrow.

SiliconChip

Did you get the MSE-advertised rate of 4.75%? It seems to have been reduced to 4.60% now, I just wondered if that's happened overnight and MSE hasn't caught up yet.

refluxer

SiliconChip said:

Did you get the MSE-advertised rate of 4.75%? It seems to have been reduced to 4.60% now, I just wondered if that's happened overnight and MSE hasn't caught up yet.

Yes, the rate has decreased today. Some comparison sites are quicker to update than others - I find Moneyfscts is usually the most up-to-date.

Anyone applying up until yesterday will have gotten 4.75% - it's been that rate for quite a while, IIRC.

SiliconChip

Thanks @refluxer, oh well, my tardiness has cost me a few pounds but at least I've got it set up now.

youngretired

Has anyone ever had a problem transferring to Tesco?
I completed a transfer request and called them today to make sure they'd received my transfer form. I'm transferring from Halifax and Tesco has said that my account details are incorrect.
They have sent a letter on the 10th asking me to provide correct details, but I said to them that the account details are correct. They read the details out 3 times to me and asked where I got the details, I said it's right in front of me online. I even rang Halifax to check there wasn't anything I'd missed and was told no and the account details I provided were correct and no reason why Tesco can't process it!
I rang Tesco back and told them this. They hadn't even sent the request to Halifax, so it's totally them that are saying details are wrong. Fingers crossed they will now submit the request and the transfer goes through OK.