Shawbrook ISAs - poor registration experience makes it hard to trust them

basschucker

Here is a screenshot of an exchange I've had with Shawbrook today. The poor quality of support speaks for itself but I'm amazed that (at a time when we are encouraged to be cautious about where we send money) any ISA provider would fail to mention in its documentation that another organisation name could appear when trying to send money.

I realise MSE can't evaluate every registration process for accounts it recommends but there is a trust issue here which Shawbrook seems to care little about. 

Or is this more common than I think?

RunsFromRobots

My previous experience with Shawbrook was not great. I found their customer service was practically nonexistent and messages were curt.

eskbanker

Google's AI engine states that Shawbrook uses SurePay's Verification of Payee service to handle Confirmation of Payee enquiries from sending banks, but it sounds like the implementation may be flawed if it creates the impression that money is actually being transferred to SurePay, rather than to Shawbrook itself.

refluxer

I've never heard of SurePay BV, but it appears to be a company who provide Confirmation of Payee checks to different banks. If that's the case (and you've followed Shawbrook's paying-in advice), then your money won't be going to SurePay BV.

I've had a number of different accounts with Shawbrook in the last few years and have never had a problem making deposits. Where possible, I always send a small test payment to any new accounts I open and ensure they are received and credited to the account before sending large amounts, however a successful (positive) Confirmation of Payee check effectively removes the need to do this, these days.

Albermarle

basschucker said:

Here is a screenshot of an exchange I've had with Shawbrook today. The poor quality of support speaks for itself but I'm amazed that (at a time when we are encouraged to be cautious about where we send money) any ISA provider would fail to mention in its documentation that another organisation name could appear when trying to send money.

I realise MSE can't evaluate every registration process for accounts it recommends but there is a trust issue here which Shawbrook seems to care little about. 

Or is this more common than I think?

Martin Lewis does not endorse any savings provider. The MSE site just lists the ones currently paying the best rates.
Apart from that the only criteria is that they have a banking licence, and are covered by the FSCS compensation scheme.

any ISA provider would fail to mention in its documentation that another organisation name could appear when trying to send money.

Many cash ISA providers are not clearing banks, and their bank account is normally with Barclays, Nat West etc.
So when you send money, the bank account is not the same description as the savings provider. This is very normal.
However in this case, a completely unknown entity pops up, which is not right .

35har1old

basschucker said:

Here is a screenshot of an exchange I've had with Shawbrook today. The poor quality of support speaks for itself but I'm amazed that (at a time when we are encouraged to be cautious about where we send money) any ISA provider would fail to mention in its documentation that another organisation name could appear when trying to send money.

I realise MSE can't evaluate every registration process for accounts it recommends but there is a trust issue here which Shawbrook seems to care little about. 

Or is this more common than I think?

Did the COP check confirm that it was successful or was it highlighted that they couldn't identify the account?
Sure pay claim they clear 400000 transactions per day 
Based in the Netherlands 

basschucker

Thanks for all the feedback.

On the "who are SurePay BV" responses, that all makes sense but if Shawbrook are unable to tell me that themselves, I have to wonder what else they're failing at, regardless of FSCS compliance. So I'm not going to use them.

Albermarle said:

Martin Lewis does not endorse any savings provider. The MSE site just lists the ones currently paying the best rates.

Fair enough 👍

35har1old said:

Did the COP check confirm that it was successful or was it highlighted that they couldn't identify the account?

It highlighted that SurePay BV was the apparent recipient and it was my risk if I continued.

eskbanker

basschucker said:

35har1old said:
Did the COP check confirm that it was successful or was it highlighted that they couldn't identify the account?

It highlighted that SurePay BV was the apparent recipient and it was my risk if I continued.

Out of curiosity, which bank were you trying to send from?  It seems entirely self-defeating for a company to provide a payee validation service if the impression created is the exact opposite of that intended, so I wonder if this is just an issue with one bank's flawed processing of the CoP responses rather than a widespread one....

friolento

Just send a £1 test payment, using the data provided by Shawbrook. Once it has arrived afely, you can then make further deposits.

You can then separately write to Shawbrook to make them aware of your concerns. However, you can be assured that SHawbrook are a bonafide ISA provider. Many here, including myself, have used them for years.

ctdctd

I've found Shawbrook's messaging service poor - as it gets answered out of hours, I suspect it's outsourced.

On the other hand, I've found phoning them up excellent, with queries answered correctly and dealt with immediately.

clairec666

Can't give you any info on the SurePay thing, but it's a bit poor that the agent replied to your message without actually paying attention to what you had asked. Sounds like an AI response.