14 Day Cancellation Rights - Fixed Rate Bond

P_urrkins

Hi there.

I recently deposited a large amount of cash into a fixed rate bond using the Prosper app. It is due to mature on April 7th 2025 which I thought was fine as we are in the process of buying a new house and initially everyone wanted to move in April. However, with the changes to stamp duty being introduced on April 1st, our buyers have really ramped up the purchase process and now want to exchange and complete at the end of February. The seller of the house we are buying we have discovered has already moved out.

I have contacted Prosper as was advised to do by their app bot by emailing support@joinprosper.co.uk. The response I received was I had a 14 day cooling off period as the account was only opened on January 7th. However, I have now been told that I cannot withdraw my funds as Santander who currently holds the funds do not offer a cooling off period as they are not legally required to do so.

I have scoured my emails and the Prosper app to see where I was given this information before transferring the funds, but can find absolutely nothing at all. Furthermore, I seem to be liaising with a bot rather than a person which is very frustrating. The app offers support but when you contact support there is often a long delay in receiving a response.

Does anyone have any advice around this situation please? These are my funds and the account was only opened seven days ago. What are my rights? Who do I contact to raise a formal complaint? Prosper or Santander? It is so confusing and there is very little guidance or advice on the Prosper app. In fact, the terms and conditions Prosper have sent me state I do have a 14 day cooling off period so who is right?

Thanks to anyone for any assistance with this. It is really stressful knowing I have this large sum of money deposited away and I am being refused to release it due to extenuating circumstances. Furthermore, at this point in time based on my experience so far I would not recommend Prosper due to the lack of information available on the app. 

Many thanks

Flugelhorn

I would think that you need to continue with Prosper - they say there is a 14 day cooling off period, they should stand by it. 

Hopefully after all this the buyers do actually move at the end of Feb..

dunstonh

However, I have now been told that I cannot withdraw my funds as Santander who currently holds the funds do not offer a cooling off period as they are not legally required to do so.

Conventional fixed-term deposits have cancellation rights.  However, treasury fixed term deposits do not.   Santander offer both types.  The terminology for treasury deposits varies across the banks.   Santander refer to them as Time Deposits.

There are also fixed deposit contracts offered by Santander International.   These do not get the same consumer rights as UK retail financial products.  

It looks like the Prosper app is just a front end to access Akoni, which is a market for deposits.  You then pick the product and accept the terms of the product.   In this case, it appears Santander International is the product provider and not Santander.

I just looked at the terms of the Santander International account and there is no reference to any cancellation period. It says: 

These are my funds and the account was only opened seven days ago. What are my rights? 

It will depend on what account you selected and the terms of that account.

Who do I contact to raise a formal complaint? Prosper or Santander?

Probably Prosper but they may just reply that you chose the product and accepted the terms of the product.   That would probably mean Santander International is the next stop as they supply the terms you agree to.   Also, you have to allow the firm 8 weeks to review your complaint before you get access to the FOS.   And then you are in another queue which could be months or years before resolution.   You may be able to request it is sped up but you may well find the maturity date comes before the decision.

In fact, the terms and conditions Prosper have sent me state I do have a 14 day cooling off period so who is right?

Prosper offer multiple products and use the services of others within their app.   The cancellation rights will vary depending on product type and the provider you select.

. It is really stressful knowing I have this large sum of money deposited away and I am being refused to release it due to extenuating circumstances. 

The use of a term deposit when buying a house is a strange thing to do.   You never know what the timescales are going to be and all it takes is someone in the chain to require a different date and the timescale changes again.   So, it was quite a high risk decision you made.      No complaint outcome or ombudsman will rule in your favour because your choice didn't work out for you.        The only place it could work is if there is if you were told there was a cancellation rights period of 14 days when there isn't.   But that notice has to apply to the product you bought and not a different product.

masonic

This is the only product I could find matching your information:

https://www.prosper.co.uk/savings/santander-international-90-day-notice--base-tracker-

Confirms it is Santander International. Notice account rather than a fixed term. It is not listed on conventional comparison sites, so a cautionary tale to stick to the mainstream unless you are very careful in checking everything out.

I can't access the full T&Cs without downloading the app and applying, so cannot verify whether there is a stated cooling off period (suspect not).

Motormad20

I’m pretty sure it’s the 3 month fix at 5% the 0P is referring too, still available in the Prosper App with Santander International. 

eskbanker

dunstonh said:

Who do I contact to raise a formal complaint? Prosper or Santander?

Probably Prosper but they may just reply that you chose the product and accepted the terms of the product.   That would probably mean Santander International is the next stop as they supply the terms you agree to.   Also, you have to allow the firm 8 weeks to review your complaint before you get access to the FOS.   And then you are in another queue which could be months or years before resolution.   You may be able to request it is sped up but you may well find the maturity date comes before the decision.

Santander International's products would appear to be based in either Jersey or the Isle of Man, so any ombudsman escalation would presumably need to be within those jurisdictions rather than to the UK one....

https://www.santanderinternational.co.uk/international/products/savings/fixed-deposit-contract/
https://www.santanderinternational.co.uk/media/r5rpxrgu/general-terms-and-conditions.pdf

masonic

Motormad20 said:

I’m pretty sure it’s the 3 month fix at 5% the 0P is referring too, still available in the Prosper App with Santander International. 

Strange they don't list that one on their website, only lower rate fixes from BLME. 5% for a 3 month fix seems very generous indeed given Santander Intl. offer only 3.9% if you go direct.

eskbanker said:

Santander International's products would appear to be based in either Jersey or the Isle of Man, so any ombudsman escalation would presumably need to be within those jurisdictions rather than to the UK one....

https://www.santanderinternational.co.uk/international/products/savings/fixed-deposit-contract/
https://www.santanderinternational.co.uk/media/r5rpxrgu/general-terms-and-conditions.pdf

Depends which firm the OP wishes to complain about. Might be better to complain to Prosper Savings Limited FRN: 991710 if this is the company that purportedly gave misleading information about cancellation rights, then it could be escalated to the UK FOS.

eskbanker

masonic said:

eskbanker said:

Santander International's products would appear to be based in either Jersey or the Isle of Man, so any ombudsman escalation would presumably need to be within those jurisdictions rather than to the UK one....

https://www.santanderinternational.co.uk/international/products/savings/fixed-deposit-contract/
https://www.santanderinternational.co.uk/media/r5rpxrgu/general-terms-and-conditions.pdf

Depends which firm the OP wishes to complain about. Might be better to complain to Prosper Savings Limited FRN: 991710 if this is the company that purportedly gave misleading information about cancellation rights, then it could be escalated to the UK FOS.

Agreed, my observation was in response to @dunstonh's reference to FOS which appeared to be in the context of a complaint to Santander International rather than Prosper, but complaining to both and escalating to one or more ombudsman services would run the clock down for the account term anyway so it's perhaps academic!

masonic

eskbanker said:

Agreed, my observation was in response to @dunstonh's reference to FOS which appeared to be in the context of a complaint to Santander International rather than Prosper, but complaining to both and escalating to one or more ombudsman services would run the clock down for the account term anyway so it's perhaps academic!

Yes, there's approximately zero chance of the process resulting in the money being released before the end of the term. So it becomes a question of asking for compensation for the consequences, should any quantifiable losses result, and for distress and inconvenience. That is, if the T&Cs were not available prior to moving the money, or the wrong T&Cs were provided. There is no lack of clarity in the correct set of T&Cs. Or perhaps the only complaint the OP has is that they were initially told something incorrect after the product was taken out, when they queried it. That might include being provided with some wrong T&Cs. That may result in a small D&I payment.

Looking at the bigger picture, it may be a case of managing expectations with the buyer so that they do not pull out. They'd probably struggle to identify and complete on a different property before the end of the tax year.

eskbanker

Seems to me that Prosper's model mirrors that of the other savings marketplaces like Raisin, HL Active Savings, etc, where there's one set of Ts & Cs associated with that level, and then separate ones for the individual institutions/products that the customer can choose from once funds have been deposited with Prosper, so I can't see how multiple sets of Ts & Cs can be avoided, but guess it's a case of how clearly this is laid out within the application process.

Bizarre to see that Prosper considers one of their FAQs to be what Mumsnet users think of it!

https://help.prosper.co.uk/en/articles/10200101-mumsnet-rating-for-prosper

dunstonh

That is, if the T&Cs were not available prior to moving the money, or the wrong T&Cs were provided. 

I downloaded the app and went to the savings section and the T&C from the product provider (Sant Int in this case) is available before applying and there is no reference to cancellation rights.

I suspect the OP mistakenly thought the deposit contracts were the same as UK retail fixed term deposits.    

I have to admit, that I thought the Prosper disclosures were pretty rubbish by mainstream provider standards and tha perhaps explains the lack of understanding by the OP that they were not buying an FTD but a deposit contract in a different regulatory regime.   You would expect Prosper to have warnings about the lack of cancellation rights on some products available through their app.