Misleading information from TSB about options at end of Fixed rate 2 year ISA

dcs34

This is akin to complaining to Tesco's when they don't advertise in the shop that apples and bananas are 4p cheaper at the Asda's down the road.

Vember

The FCA is now considering whether the documents breach any of their principles. The FCA does not disclose outcomes. Received by email from the FCA: "Just to set expectations, we wouldn’t be able to provide you with an update and it’s not possible for us to tell people about the outcome of any action we may have taken in response to the information they've provided to us. This is because much of the work we do with firms is covered by legal and policy restrictions on what we can disclose. I can appreciate this may be frustrating, but rest assured the information will be reviewed carefully."

eskbanker

Vember said:

The FCA is now considering whether the documents breach any of their principles. The FCA does not disclose outcomes. Received by email from the FCA: "Just to set expectations, we wouldn’t be able to provide you with an update and it’s not possible for us to tell people about the outcome of any action we may have taken in response to the information they've provided to us. This is because much of the work we do with firms is covered by legal and policy restrictions on what we can disclose. I can appreciate this may be frustrating, but rest assured the information will be reviewed carefully."

Yes, a generic boilerplate fob-off was always the most likely response!

sheslookinhot

What a complete and utter waste of time, diverting organisations from much more important cases/complaints.

eskbanker

sheslookinhot said:

What a complete and utter waste of time, diverting organisations from much more important cases/complaints.

Yes, but only if you take "rest assured the information will be reviewed carefully" at face value....

Middle_of_the_Road

sheslookinhot said:

What a complete and utter waste of time, diverting organisations from much more important cases/complaints.

Not everyone knows banking procedures inside out. It's often reported how people have only one current account, let alone a savings account.

It seems there are many who don't understand current ISA rules and restrictions, as evidenced on this forum daily. So is it not conceivable, that some, might not know that an ISA can be transferred?

The transfer option was not listed in their communication. That failure would not negatively affect the enlightened, but could have in the OPs case.

Banks have a duty to provide clear terms and conditions, which, as is often  mentioned on here, customers have a duty to acquaint themselves with. 

Alexland

I do feel sorry for businesses that suffer ever growing public expectations of duties that are not in their commercial interests. I get that there's a basic obligation to treat customers fairly but is it really their job to ensure customers are aware of the options with their competitors? They are not charities or public funded education bodies they are just companies that have offerings that you can take or leave.

Middle_of_the_Road

Alexland said:

I do feel sorry for businesses that suffer ever growing public expectations of duties that are not in their commercial interests. I get that there's a basic obligation to treat customers fairly but is it really their job to ensure customers are aware of the options with their competitors? They are not charities or public funded education bodies they are just companies that have offerings that you can take or leave.

No it's not. It is their job to make customers aware of options, with their own products. 
The simple fact is...TSB failed to clearly communicate the option of transferring a maturing TSB ISA.

Alexland

Middle_of_the_Road said:

No it's not. It is their job to make customers aware of options, with their own products. 
The simple fact is...TSB failed to clearly communicate the option of transferring a maturing TSB ISA.

ISA transfer out isn't a particular feature of their product it's just something they have to allow to meet the requirements placed upon ISA managers. Provided they are clear what will happen if the customer does nothing then in my view they have kept the customer informed and it's really the customer's responsibility to identify and assess what options they may wish to pursue. The real problem is that expectations creep causes people to expect more these days.

wmb194

Middle_of_the_Road said:

Alexland said:

I do feel sorry for businesses that suffer ever growing public expectations of duties that are not in their commercial interests. I get that there's a basic obligation to treat customers fairly but is it really their job to ensure customers are aware of the options with their competitors? They are not charities or public funded education bodies they are just companies that have offerings that you can take or leave.

No it's not. It is their job to make customers aware of options, with their own products. 
The simple fact is...TSB failed to clearly communicate the option of transferring a maturing TSB ISA.

 But why did the customer choose TSB anyway? Did they really think that TSB is the only option? How far does the spoon feeding have to go? 

This is the sort of nannying that leads bodies like the FCA to say things like owning shares in individual companies should be banned for retail investors because we're all too stupid to understand the risks and concomitantly are people too stupid to be able to do basic research to understand how Isas work? If offering Isas becomes a burdensome hassle then companies will just stop offering them.