Leeds Building Society

Grumpydude

As a newbie to the forum but long term follower of MSE I was interested in this post. After reading MSE's guide to savings offering a decent (ish) interest rate I have just opened a Leeds savings account - LIMITED ISSUE ONLINE ACCESS ACCOUNT (ISSUE 68). What a torrid experience. Opened it and told that I need to transfer £1000 from another account in my name, try to do so but can't - phone them and get told I have to wait for their system to refresh overnight. Next day transfer the £1000 over. Again can't see it until the next day but do eventually get a text saying that they have received an undisclosed transfer in. Next day get solicitor to transfer funds into the account from my house sale. Can't access the account as I have to wait for an activation code to arrive in the post. Phone LBS and told the transfer has occured. Tell them I want to transfer £250k to Coventry for better rate (leaving plenty in LBS), advised that I can't transfer until account is verified, but they can transfer for me but only £50k. They say this is done but then get a text saying there was a technical glitch and the transfer didn't happen! Next day get the activation code so think all will be well. THINK AGAIN! Now find that I have to register Coventry as a nominated account. Straightforward surely? Yes, but for some reason LBS then feel the need to not actually recognise the new account until the next day. Phone again and say this is riduculous. "just trying to protect my money" Save me from myself. Next day I can see the two nominated accounts but can't do anything with MY money. Message says: "Transactions Not Permitted Please  Call..." Call again. Can't get a straight answer but advised there's a technical issue and it will be resolved - at some unspecified time. Meanwhile I am losing out on a better interest rate elsewhere. Same thing after the weekend. All this despite another notice on the same page as the above statement that says:

Called again this morning, still no resolution.

But then this afternoon I finally get a phone call from LBS and am told that the problem was that "A Warning" had been placed on the account that apparently gets put on all new accounts and has to be manually removed. It seems if the person that called is to be believed that the warning should have been removed when the account was reviewed after opening. But for some undisclosed reason (incompetence?) wasn't. Am told that it is now sorted but once again I have to wait until after mid-night to then finally be able to transfer the money to Coventry.

Coventry by contrast was a doddle to open and access - just like every other bank and BS I have ever dealt with. Sadly there is a limit on how much you can put in there and I wanted to keep the audit trail as simple as possible so as to be able to take advantage of the FSCS "life event" increase in protection for 6 months.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to access my money after 5 days. Will see!

So if anyone is thinking of opening a LEEDS BUILDING SOCIETY account and needs quick access to it then perhaps think again. There are other BS and Banks that offer similar returns with far less difficulty.

It has taken 5 telephone calls, with all the waiting time involved with that, to get resolved and two complaints to LBS

Grumpydude

Today apparently managed to make a faster payment! But then get email advising that transactions made up to 7pm on one day are not actually available in the nominated account until the next working day! So much for faster payments... Advice - don't use Leeds BS if you want to be able to actually get your hands on your money!

ChirpyChicken

Coventry is the same.  Faster payment arrive next normal day. That's common.

PRAISETHESUN

Faster Payments by themselves are only guaranteed to arrive by the end of the following business day. That's rarely the case, but when you add extra links into the chain, such as building societies batch processing withdrawals overnight, and also relying on other clearing banks to send the actual payments, it adds up. It's a fairly standard though and not something I'd be overly concerned by.

ChirpyChicken

PRAISETHESUN said:

Faster Payments by themselves are only guaranteed to arrive by the end of the following business day. That's rarely the case, but when you add extra links into the chain, such as building societies batch processing withdrawals overnight, and also relying on other clearing banks to send the actual payments, it adds up. It's a fairly standard though and not something I'd be overly concerned by.

I just accept it with the coventry..its no hassle