Virgin money ISA transfer out - how long to reach recipient bank?

Rich2808

I have applied for a couple of ISA transfers out from Virgin Money following the maturity of my one year exclusive fixed rate ISAs. The transfers were done via a paper transfer form with a wet signature as Virgin apparently require for large transfers.

Virgin closed the accounts last Thursday but the proceeds have not yet appeared my account with the new provider - a major bank.

Do Virgin post the proceeds out by cheque to the other provider or do the transfer electronically - if it is the latter I should have had the funds by now.

Should I be concerned - given it is now nearly a week? 

PS Yesterday I got two letters from VM asking me what I wanted to do with the proceeds of my maturing ISA nearly 4 weeks after the maturity date - with a load of bumpf in each envelope. A little late perhaps?!

refluxer

Do the new ISA providers feature on this list alongside Virgin Money ?

If so, then it's odd to hear that Virgin require a paper form and signature as the transfers should be wholly electronic. This must be a Virgin 'quirk', caused by the large balance that you mentioned. Either that or it might possibly have something to do with the merger with Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks a while back, the systems of which still seem to be in use within Virgin even today and have been known to cause issues when it comes to ISA transfers. 

In my experience, BACS ISA transfers usually take a day or two following the request so if you are close to a week following the closure of the Virgin account, then that does seem to suggest that funds have been sent via cheque through the post. Where I live, it's not uncommon to receive first class post with letters that were dated a week ago, plus you have to add on the manual processing time at the receiving end.

Rich2808

Yes - they are on that list. 

Is it common for a major bank to do these ISA transfer payments via a cheque in the post in 2024? And while the funds are 'stuck in the post' am I earning interest from my new provider or none? 

And in the meantime who do I contact - my new provider?

Given the problems I have had with VM since I opened the account - I just want my money out and never to have to deal with them again as it is too much hassle.

auser99

Was your Virgin ISA a "true" Virgin account, or was it the old Clydesdale or Yorkshire Bank ones Virgin took over?

As I moved a not tiny ISA from a "true" Virgin account to Santander electronically and it only took TWO days!
So quick it shocked me, having only moved ISAs from NSI before, by the terrible slow paper way which took numerous months at its worse and a reasonable time at best.

Rich2808

auser99 said:

Not sure how "large" you're meaning, but I was amazed that my decent amount Virgin to Santander ISA switch took just 2 days electronically.

So quick, I hadn't even had my Santander passwords for online banking arrive by then.

Having only previously done the paper form approach via NSI and had some incredibly long waits, the speed honestly shocked me.

It is over their £30k 'wet signature' limit - let's put it that way.

My concern is what has happened since the funds left both my VM ISA accounts last Thursday. 

eskbanker

Rich2808 said:

And while the funds are 'stuck in the post' am I earning interest from my new provider or none?

It's recommended practice (but not mandatory as such) for the new provider to pay interest from the day after the cheque date, to dovetail with the old provider so that the money is earning interest every day from one or the other.

refluxer

Rich2808 said:

Is it common for a major bank to do these ISA transfer payments via a cheque in the post in 2024? And while the funds are 'stuck in the post' am I earning interest from my new provider or none? 

It's fairly common for the smaller building societies to still deal with paper forms and cheques, but you do get the odd bank too (eg. Hodge). What isn't common is for a paper-based transfer to occur when both providers would normally use the BACs ISA transfer service, as that defeats the whole purpose of being in the scheme !

As mentioned above, interest should (in theory) be back-dated. In my experience, this is usually done by dating the deposit as the date the cheque was issued, rather than the actual date the cheque was paid into the new account.

Rich2808 said:

And in the meantime who do I contact - my new provider?

You would normally contact the new provider, as they're the ones dealing with the transfer. There's not a lot of new info you can glean from Virgin anyway, especially if you know the account has already been closed and the date that happened. If the funds have been sent via cheque, then you're at the mercy of the Royal Mail and efficiency of the new provider to deal with it once it arrives. As it's only a week, I wouldn't be panicking just yet, personally.

Rich2808 said:

Given the problems I have had with VM since I opened the account - I just want my money out and never to have to deal with them again as it is too much hassle.

Based on the numerous threads and comments about Virgin Money on this forum, I decided a number of years ago that I probably wouldn't use them and lets just say I haven't read anything since then that's made me think I made the wrong decision !

Rich2808

refluxer said:

Rich2808 said:

Is it common for a major bank to do these ISA transfer payments via a cheque in the post in 2024? And while the funds are 'stuck in the post' am I earning interest from my new provider or none? 

It's fairly common for the smaller building societies to still deal with paper forms and cheques, but you do get the odd bank too (eg. Hodge). What isn't common is for a paper-based transfer to occur when both providers would normally use the BACs ISA transfer service, as that defeats the whole purpose of being in the scheme !

As mentioned above, interest should (in theory) be back-dated. In my experience, this is usually done by dating the deposit as the date the cheque was issued, rather than the actual date the cheque was paid into the new account.

Rich2808 said:

And in the meantime who do I contact - my new provider?

You would normally contact the new provider, as they're the ones dealing with the transfer. There's not a lot of new info you can glean from Virgin anyway, especially if you know the account has already been closed and the date that happened. If the funds have been sent via cheque, then you're at the mercy of the Royal Mail and efficiency of the new provider to deal with it once it arrives. As it's only a week, I wouldn't be panicking just yet, personally.

Rich2808 said:

Given the problems I have had with VM since I opened the account - I just want my money out and never to have to deal with them again as it is too much hassle.

Based on the numerous threads and comments about Virgin Money on this forum, I decided a number of years ago that I probably wouldn't use them and lets just say I haven't read anything since then that's made me think I made the wrong decision !

Thanks for the helpful update.

Spoke to my new provider who said not to worry as any interest would backdated to the date I requested the transfer.

Called VM first just before 5.30pm via their cash ISA line. I was informed the offices were now closed and I should ring back between the opening hours of 8 am to 6pm on Monday to Friday. You really have to laugh - as I rang them 35 minutes BEFORE their lines were supposed to close. Comical!!

I do feel sorry for the VM staff - they must get a lot of grief from annoyed customers - assuming you can ever get through to speak to someone.

auser99

Rich2808 said:

auser99 said:

Not sure how "large" you're meaning, but I was amazed that my decent amount Virgin to Santander ISA switch took just 2 days electronically.

So quick, I hadn't even had my Santander passwords for online banking arrive by then.

Having only previously done the paper form approach via NSI and had some incredibly long waits, the speed honestly shocked me.

It is over their £30k 'wet signature' limit - let's put it that way.

My concern is what has happened since the funds left both my VM ISA accounts last Thursday. 

Seems odd, as I was given no such limit, but maybe you're on the older Virgin ISA accounts. Or there was some other difference applied.

auser99

refluxer said:

Based on the numerous threads and comments about Virgin Money on this forum, I decided a number of years ago that I probably wouldn't use them and lets just say I haven't read anything since then that's made me think I made the wrong decision !

Just to apply a positive for Virgin ISAs, NSI paper form to Virgin went through as quick as that could ever go through for me, and the electronic transfer to Santander took 2 days!

Rich2808

Finally spoke to Virgin.

Apparently they sent the two cheques out in the post last week - but they haven't arrived yet with my recipient bank. No idea why the funds weren't transferred electronically - the recipient is another large bank.

They were just sent out in normal Royal mail post - so there is apparently no way of tracking the item. Apparently if they don't turn up by the middle of next week they will cancel and reissue them - hopefully my recipient provider will be happy to wait.

Very grateful to the helpful person at their call centre - just feel sorry for them having to deal with all the complaints they get!

Just a little annoying to have tens of thousands in a couple of cheques 'stuck in the post'!