NatWest Banking and ISAs Automation Shambles

dprice8893

Having saved under the ISA umbrella for many years, I've become accustomed to the various processes and hiccups within providers Apps and online banking platforms. However, nothing has quite prepared me for the shambles that is Nat West.

I had a simple Nat West fixed rate ISA that recently matured. They gave me notice that it was maturing and said how I could deal with the maturity. With their rates remaining competitive and wrongly thinking my ISA could be transferred on the day of maturity, I opened another 1 yr fixed term ISA ready for the transfer. As it transpired, I was unable to transfer the amount on the day of maturity and it became a variable rate easy access product at a poor rate. They wouldn't transfer it via a phone call and I had to fill in an online form and wait five working days for it to be processed.

After filling in the form and being told it could take up to five working days to clear, on the fifth day I received a second email asking me to consider what I wanted to do with my matured ISA. Obviously annoyed, I went through their Cora chat box experience (rubbish), their automated phone system (long winded and useless), only to finally speak with a human being who somehow managed to get me cut off and I had to repeat the whole process again.

In conclusion, a pretty poor system. I only hope mine was an isolated situation, but somehow I suspect it isn't.

masonic

I expect you'll be able to get a better rate if you transferred elsewhere anyway.

dprice8893

It was 4.25% which is there about at the moment. I know you can get a bit more if you look in the margins. However, I expected the process with Nat West to be far more smooth than it turned out to be. Generally speaking, ISA transfers have become less bureaucratic and complicated than they used to be.