Trading 212 ISA account being terminated

scrystaltips

3 years ago I opened up a cash ISA with trading 212 as the interest rates seemed to be the best around at that time and continue to be good.

I have been happily paying into this every year and was horrified to have received an email to say my account is being terminated in 30 days.

I don't have any other accounts with Trading 212 and as far as I am aware I have not committed any fraud. Trading 212 has refused to give me any reasons behind my account being terminated and will refuse to discuss this with me as to why my account is being terminated. They have said the money will go back to my original deposit method ( my bank account) in 30 days.

I have explained to them if this happens I will lose the taxation benefits on having a cash ISA as it will be out of the ISA tax free bubble.

I am waiting for them to get back to me regarding me this.

I wanted to ask is there anyone else having this same problem?

Is there anything else I can do like going to the ombudsman?

Thank you for replies in advance.

paul235

Transfer to another cash ISA with another provider?

poseidon1

Seems you are not the only one affected by T212' capricious closing of ISA accounts - see below

https://www.reddit.com/r/trading212/comments/1dezptt/account_terminated/

friolento

Sounds pretty horrible.

If not already done, you need to raise a formal complaint with T212 asap.

I would also contact the Financial Ombudsman and ask for their advice - clearly, you can't wait for the customary 8 weeks as you only have 30 days. 0800 023 4567

Third action could be to contact the HMRC ISA team by email: savings.compliance@hmrc.gov.uk

Umiamz

Complaining won't make any difference - they are (currently) allowed to terminate your account for any reason they like.

Just get it transferred ASAP.

jaybeetoo

Open a new ISA somewhere else and as part of the account opening, tell them you want to transfer your Trading 212 ISA into your new account. Do it ASAP!

masonic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004411#Comment_82004411

While they are allowed to make such decisions, they must treat customers fairly. The FOS uphold rate for complaints about this issue is more than one third. In this case, I'd suggest the notice period, given risk of loss of multiple years ISA allowance, is not reasonable. Standard notice is 2 months, which was increased to 3 months for recently entered contracts. Nor is stating the money will be returned to the original payment method (rather than encouraging the customer to make use of an ISA transfer to avoid this) fulfilling obligations under the consumer duty.

I think it would be worth pursuing with the FOS after transferring the money to the safety of another provider.

seacaitch

So T212 has form with this heavy-handed approach to a breach of their terms - a breach that might occur simply as a result of accidental user error! They should behave as masonic indicates, giving people reasonable time to transfer so they don't lose their wrap status. You only have to consider someone with a couple of decades of accumulated contributions having it all ejected from an ISA wrapper to realise that T212's over-zealous actions aren't reasonable.

Does T212's new SIPP account have similar T&Cs? If so, what do they say they'll do with your accumulated pension contributions?!

Dizzycap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6668820/trading-212-isa-account-being-terminated

As already stated: to keep your 3 year tax-free ISA wrapper, find a new cash isa provider who accepts transfers in, there's plenty availble on Moneyfacts - check the product specifics, open the new ISA account online, then download your new providers ISA transfer form, print off, complete, and post to your new ISA provider pronto. It can take 7-10+ days for ISA transfers to be requested by your new provider to your old 'Trading212' provider.

Once your new provider confirms the trasfer request, usual by account message or post, then start chasing/pushing Trading212 via their chat to confirm receipt of the transfer request and politely request they pull their finger out to transfer your whole account / monies out.

Personally, I'd leave any complaint until your ISA transfer has been sorted, then you have time to make a direct official complaint to Trading212, and if no correspondance with clear logical reasoning for terminating your account is forthcoming, then go to the financial ombudsman after 12 weeks and request due compensation etc.

@ seacaitch - "Does T212's new SIPP account have similar T&Cs? If so, what do they
say they'll do with your accumulated pension contributions?!" - I was actually wondering the same thing as I have been on their SIPP waiting list for a number of weeks, and yesterday, they finally accepted me for their SIPP. Based upon some having negative experiences with Trading212, including the above, I've decided to leave well alone and stay with my present SIPP provider.