Tembo - are they any good

pecunianonolet

Nijinsky said:

I was going to post a thread about Tembo, as I'm thinking of transferring my Moneybox cash ISA into a new Tembo ISA myself, for the better 4.8% rate.

The last post concerns me though with Tembo pausing transfers due to excess demands. It makes me wonder if they have the resources to provide a satisfactory service with the excess demands and customers.

I think I might stick with Moneybox, even though the rate has dropped to only 4.2%, but I will keep an eye on this thread to see what feedback new Tembo customers have and if it's worth transferring across. Currently, I'm thinking I would rather earn 0.6% less with a more reliable provider, who will give me less problems and knowing my money is more secure?

I am currently trying to transfer out of Moneybox. Worst customer service ever received from any financial institution I have been dealing with in a long time. 

Be aware, in my case they froze my ISA from the day they received the transfer out request and instead of receiving the underlying 4.2% until the day the actual transfer happens they dropped the rate to 0.75% when the funds are still in the account. Raised a complaint and I don't think they have any intention to resolve this quickly and will exploit the opportunity that they have 15 business days to send my funds to Virgin Money. Had various other transfer in and out with Virgin and they all have been super quick and hassle free so the issue most certainly lies with Moneybox. 

friolento

My Moneybox time is over as they will no longer let you have a cash ISA, ever, once you transferred your cash ISA out (might be the same for S&S ISA). I have explored various alternatives with the Moneybox CS but the answer remains the same: NO.

Compared with this, the temporary pause in transfers-in at Tempo disappears into insignificance. I was lucky in that I had one transfer-in processed before the pause, and am very happy with the speed they complered the transfer. I will have further transfers-in to make in a few weeks time, hope they will have worked through their backlog by then.Definitely a thumbs up for Tembo from me.

snowqueen555

I have my LISA with them, but their 4.8% on the cash isa is way above what I'm getting at Coventry (4.22%). How can they be so high? I am thinking of transferring but not sure if it's wroth it as I am hoping to use it this year as a deposit.

friolento

snowqueen555 said:

I have my LISA with them, but their 4.8% on the cash isa is way above what I'm getting at Coventry (4.22%). How can they be so high? I am thinking of transferring but not sure if it's wroth it as I am hoping to use it this year as a deposit.

Right now, you cannot transfer anything into Tembo.

Whether it will be worth your while transferring when it's possible again, only you can tell. £1,000 will pay you £42.20 after 12 months in Coventry, £48.00 in Tembo.

slinger2

snowqueen555 said:

I have my LISA with them, but their 4.8% on the cash isa is way above what I'm getting at Coventry (4.22%). How can they be so high? I am thinking of transferring but not sure if it's wroth it as I am hoping to use it this year as a deposit.

Is the 4.22% a monthly rate? Tembo's 4.80% is AER and equates to about 4.70% monthly. Also it's variable. With a possible BOE rate cut next month the Tembo rate might not look so tempting in a couple of months time. Who knows?

poseidon1

Nijinsky said:

I was going to post a thread about Tembo, as I'm thinking of transferring my Moneybox cash ISA into a new Tembo ISA myself, for the better 4.8% rate.

The last post concerns me though with Tembo pausing transfers due to excess demands. It makes me wonder if they have the resources to provide a satisfactory service with the excess demands and customers.

I think I might stick with Moneybox, even though the rate has dropped to only 4.2%, but I will keep an eye on this thread to see what feedback new Tembo customers have and if it's worth transferring across. Currently, I'm thinking I would rather earn 0.6% less with a more reliable provider, who will give me less problems and knowing my money is more secure?

See my detailed post of 23 March. Given the miniscule size of the business balance sheet you may well wonder about their resources, not only in terms of back office operations, but how on earth they can be topping the instant access savings charts with their minimal capital resources.

Have to wonder how much of their last £14 million round of private equity funding they may be burning through to attract new savings  business, and how much they hope will stick once the incentives evaporate.

friolento

poseidon1 said:

Nijinsky said:

I was going to post a thread about Tembo, as I'm thinking of transferring my Moneybox cash ISA into a new Tembo ISA myself, for the better 4.8% rate.

The last post concerns me though with Tembo pausing transfers due to excess demands. It makes me wonder if they have the resources to provide a satisfactory service with the excess demands and customers.

I think I might stick with Moneybox, even though the rate has dropped to only 4.2%, but I will keep an eye on this thread to see what feedback new Tembo customers have and if it's worth transferring across. Currently, I'm thinking I would rather earn 0.6% less with a more reliable provider, who will give me less problems and knowing my money is more secure?

See my detailed post of 23 March. Given the miniscule size of the business balance sheet you may well wonder about their resources, not only in terms of back office operations, but how on earth they can be topping the instant access savings charts with their minimal capital resources.

Have to wonder how much of their last £14 million round of private equity funding they may be burning through to attract new savings  business, and how much they hope will stick once the incentives evaporate.

What is motivating you to steer people away from Tembo?

I for one am not pleased but also not concerned about the temporary pausing of transfers in. The reason for this is obvious, and it’s totally reasonable that they work through the backlog before taking on new requests. In addition, they have full FSCS cover so there is no reason for anyone to worry even if they went bellies up. 

I have already had one transfer-in which was completed in 2 business days, and as soon on as tranfers in reopen, I plan to request two further ones for ISAs that have now matured. I am not put off in any way by your efforts. Quite the contrary.

masonic

There is in general a lack of understanding about what is required to break into this market.

Several years of big losses is the norm in order to build market share. Interactive Investor is a good example of how long it takes to reach profitability.

MeteredOut

I notice the Tembo app has changed the "Transfer in progress" message to "your money is already earning interest while we finish the transfer", probably due the volume of transfers they received and people asking whether they were accruing interest.

BreakingGlass

MeteredOut said:

I notice the Tembo app has changed the "Transfer in progress" message to "your money is already earning interest while we finish the transfer", probably due the volume of transfers they received and people asking whether they were accruing interest.

I get the same message for my transfer from Coventry that was initiated on 19 Mar.  The money is sat in my Tembo account with interest yet to be added.  I do find that the app crashes very frequently - I am using iPhone SE latest version. 

My wife's transfer (initiated the same day, 19 Mar) still has no progress - the money is still sat in her Coventry ISA.  We chased this on the app and received a 'bot' response to say 'we're looking to resume transfers on 11th April, but this might be pushed back to 14th April depending on demand.  Since your transfer was initiated before the pause, we should still be processing it.'

In view of the last sentence, my wife asked for contact with a real person, was connected to their 'transfer team' and eventually got a message to say that 'an escalated email has been sent to Coventry Building Society and we expect a response on the progress of your transfer over the next couple of working days'.

I'll report back if the situation changes, but I would recommended holding off any attempts to transfer ISAs to Tembo at the moment.