We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
ISA transfer experiences
Comments
-
Paragon, Santander, Lloyds, Skipton, Coventry and YBS - both ways or one
Paragon to Santander, Lloyds to Paragon, Paragon to Lloyds, Skipton to Paragon, Coventry to Paragon - all completed in two to three working days since Christmas. YBS transfers a couple of days slower - but once it happens it happens.
HSBC - no comment!
HSBC - requested electronic transfer on 1 April to Lloyds, HSBC didn't submit the request to my current provider Lloyds until 9 April, and the funds finally left my old ISA (once HSBC got their act together and completed what they needed to do) last Friday 24th. So over 3 weeks - even allowing for Easter. As of today my money is still not credited to my HSBC ISA two working days post receipt. So where my tens of thousands of pounds are sitting currently in HSBC I have zero idea - but they aren't in my ISA!
Not that I would dare to suggest people should avoid HSBC transfers of course - but a higher rate or cashback isn't the only factor one should consider. But I would note I have already 'lost' 40% of my expected cashback from their current offer in lost interest from the transfer process being so slow - vs the 2-3 working day turnaround other providers offer!
The importance of efficient administration of your total funds - not just interest/cashback on top - can't be overstated. Even when the transfer happens - it is quite helpful to if they put the funds in your account promptly!
1 -
Hopefully we won't both have to wait 3 weeks like Bioboybill did for his funds to appear in his new HSBC ISA post being sent to HSBC by Trading 212.
How is it not automated and automatic - as a faster payment should be - when it is an electronic ISA transfer from another large building society or bank to HSBC?
Where does your money sit in HSBC until they pay it into your account - and will they pay interest backdated to when they received it not credited it?
0 -
When I've done electronic ISA transfers they've taken a few days
Santander and Virgin (both ways), Shawbrook to Santander.
When a paper form - mixed luck. NSI to Virgin - decent turnaround - obviously not as quick as the electronic but decent. NSI to Shawbrook - huge wait was months in the end - and compo paid!
Just embarking on a new NSI to Shawbrook electronic one now. At least you can email the form to Shawbrook and I was pleased their next working day confirmation mentioned emailing NSI! Both steps cut out a postal delay.
It's the how quickly NSI do their bit and whether SB chase them better this time!
0 -
Transfers into Saffron Building Society are taking an age. E-mailed the forms to them on 6th April and it took them 2 weeks just to forward the forms to my existing providers (UBL and Charter) - received emails on 20th April saying they'd done so and it could take up to another 15 working days. Nothing at all yet. I will likely complain
0 -
They're not quite correct there - the whole end to end process should take no more than 15 working days, but the first five of those are for the new manager to send the request to the other provider, so the remaining steps should take no more than ten working days:
Cash ISA to Cash ISA transfers must take place within 15 business days of the transfer instruction being received by the new ISA manager, unless the investor stipulates that the 15 days starts on a later date. The 15 days are broken down as:
The new ISA manager has 5 business days to forward the instruction to you.
You have 5 business days to send the funds and information to be provided to the new ISA manager.
The new ISA manager has 3 business days to apply the funds to the new ISA.
The other 2 days are to allow for time taken for first class post between you and the new manager.
2 -
Quite. And it took them 10 just to send it on, when they should do it in 5.
I already sent them a secure message pointing out that I emailed the request to them on the 6th, but they only sent it on on the 20th.
They replied to say they've had a lot of requests and to allow 15 days from when my existing provider receives the request.
So I think they're trying to reset the clock to the 20th.
I'll wait until it transfers and see when they calculate interest from, before deciding whether to complain.
1 -
I do note the Saffron delays but they are a small local society with limited staff who only do paper transfers so the admin load is much greater. They recognised their problem soon and pulled the 4.5 per cent ISA product quickly in late March. And at least you can call Saffron and get someone based in the UK who isn’t reading from a script. Not excusing them but I can understand what happened.
HSBC - a global high street bank - are still continuing to take applications for their 4.5 per cent ISA and cash back despite the fact their ISA transfer process is equally in a bit of a mess - and they have electronic transfer processes in place which should at least for those transfers be automated but clearly isn’t. And the person you are speaking to could be based in the Philippines or India with often a very limited understanding of UK ISA rules as they don’t have a dedicated ISA team in place.
Saffron made a mistake and took action to limit it getting worse - HSBC seemingly just couldn’t care less.1 -
I transferred recently from Zopa to Monument and it was flawless. Took about 3 days and the referral bonus was in my linked account within a day.
0 -
Agree on this. Unfortunately Saffron might learn from the experience and opt not to offer such a great rate in future. Presumably they wanted to pull in customers, but not quite so many all at once!
I was fortunate enough to grab the Saffron ISA before it was pulled, didn't transfer in, just opened with £1 so I could add more funds later.
0 -
Sure,
Sure, but when I submitted the transfer form, Saffron should have advised me of their likely being a prolonged delay (2 weeks) in them taking any action - had they done so I would have temporarily transferred my matured UBL ISA elsewhere as it is just sitting in a pending account paying no interest, before subsequently transferring into Saffron at a later date.
In my view this is indicative of how outdated the whole ISA transfer process and the 15 working day timeframe is. 3 weeks to transfer money in 2026 is ludicrous when you think about it.
1
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 354.6K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.5K Spending & Discounts
- 247.5K Work, Benefits & Business
- 604.4K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.6K Life & Family
- 261.9K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards