Nationwide ISA Transfer Delay - any experience of this?

Catcam50

I’ve banked with Nationwide for many years with no problems…until recently.

In April I applied for their 4.35% Fixed Rate ISA which I was funding from a Santander ISA due to mature on 1st May. The funds were transferred over a bank holiday weekend and were received by Nationwide almost a month ago on 5th May. My understanding is that cash ISAs should take no longer than 15 working days to transfer….this is now day 26 since the transfer date.
My issue is that this new account is still not showing on my Internet Banking. I’ve called Nationwide several times to be reassured that the money is with them, but has a ‘lock’ on it. Although the advisors are helpful, none has been able to tell me why it remains missing from my accounts dashboard. They continue to reassure me that they can see it on their system and that the money is safe, but can give no explanation as to why the account is ‘locked’. Apparently the ISA team who deal with this are only accessible by internal emails and so advisors have told me they will email them with my concerns, but no one gets back to me…nor have I had any notification either in writing or by email about the account.

Last week, frustration led me to lodge a complaint and today a statement arrived in the post confirming the account’s details, so at least I now have some peace of mind, although it’s still not showing online. Wondering if there are others who have experienced this delay?

friolento

Not with Nationwide, but a number of us are having a terrible time with transfers to HSBC.

You have done the right thing raising a complaint. Don't let them fob you off. They have a legal duty to complete cash ISA transfers within 15 business days. Albeit there doesn't appear to be anyone who enforces this legal duty 😓

Sandyra

I feel your pain, not with Nationwide but having the same problem with Barclays from Vida. Requested it 27th April. Logged a complaint after 15 working days. Now complaints are telling me it has been rejected when Vida said they accepted transfer and are waiting for Barclays. I’m regretting going with them (for the cashback) as my last transfer took 45 days to Barclays and I ending going elsewhere, it seems the bigger banks - for e.g HSBC can’t get their act together. CMC invest to Vida took 2 days including the day the form was submitted via email.

oddcueball52

My Nationwide Cash ISA did not appear online for a while when I applied for 1 Year Single access on 6th April and checked it every day which it finally appeared on either on 17th or 18th April. Checked the account and saw the transfer completed on 10th April.

When I queried about how long would the account appear with their online chat, their bot advise me that current account would take 3 days any other account opened would take up to 5 working days to appear. Eventually got connected with an advisor who have told me the account would not appear until the transfer complete.

Money_Stitch

I've noticed a few things this spring about ISAs and transfers.

Fewer decent flexible offers, more providers insisting no transfers in, more providers not allowing partial transfers / transfer means closure.

Focus is on fixed offers, but transfers themselves seem to be much slower, even where in the past the provider was expedient. This year none of my transfers have completed within the 15 days and I'm still stuck in a quagmire with HSBC, which started on 6th April. I've made 3 formal complaints, 1 escalated to the FOS none of which I've ever needed to do.

Is it more people moving money around or a concerted effort by banks to make it more difficult to move ISAs? Is it HMRC in the background or the general understaffing affecting the whole country?

It has affected my mindset. I certainly will never go for anything HSBC offers ever again, in fact I'm avoiding the high street full stop. My dabble with small building societies will also not be repeated. Anything which needs a paper form will not attract me, why is it necessary in today's world?

It's been a really frustrating 'season' this year which requires a complete rethink for when things mature in 2027. That is if my HSBC fix ever manages to be funded. What a contrast from last year where virgin moved me to paragon the same day.