Transfer Cash ISAs Discussion Area

gavsky

Wondering if anyone else has encountered this.

I submitted to Santander a ISA transfer request (from a Halifax account), which was due to expire after 3 years on April 11, 2015. I sent the request a few days before the end date, to ensure an immediate start.

I very specifically signed & post-dated the transfer request as 'April 14, 2015', to rule out any chance of a withdrawal charge being applied and thus losing valuable interest.

But Santander ignored that, and processed the withdrawal the day they got the form, which meant it all went through on April 10.

As a consequence, Halifax charged me £375.75, which is 270 day's worth of interest.

I raised a formal complaint with Santander, asking for compensation for this administrative error. They, however, flat out deny any wrong-doing, and state in their defence that I "ticked the box that states ‘Immediate, in which case I accept any consequential loss of interest or penalty’ (if applicable)".

My argument remains that as the application date on the form was deliberately set as April 14, 2015, that Santander should not have processed anything before then. Am I wrong in believing this? Had I had any suspicion that they were going to act this way, I obviously would never have sent the instruction until after April 11.

Any/all advice most appreciated. I am considering making a formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman about this as I really do think Santander are acting improperly here.

Archi_Bald

If you didn't tick the box that says they need to wait until maturity or until any notice period has expired, neither Santander nor Halifax could have known that they should have waited for any event.

May be if you grovel to Halifax, they might refund the money to you but I think your chances are slim.

dekkard

The Skipton ISA has now been withdrawn so no longer available for transfer in. Just missed it!

gwapenut

To be honest, i think all credit to santander for acting so quickly. I think if you tick the box saying immediate and wrongly date the application form - the date is meant to be the legal date you are signing it, it is not described as a transfer date - then that just creates complications when there is a perfectly good, industry standard tick box for waiting until maturity.

Worth begging the Halifax though....

I think, given this, i will use santander for a speedy exit from dotcomunity when the time comes!

paberley

Hi, Im in a similar situation to the first post.:- looking at starting a new isa with the Nationwide regular saver (don't accept transfers in) for new money as I save through the year. However I also have isa's with Barclays and Leek united. Leek united pay quite poor interest at 1.1% but if I ever want another mortgage id prob go back to Leek united hence keeing money with them. However I am looking at moving some of the money from Leek united to my barlcays isa. Is this possible with me opening a new isa this tax year with the nationwide??

murphydavid

paberley wrote: »

Hi, Im in a similar situation to the first post.:- looking at starting a new isa with the Nationwide regular saver (don't accept transfers in) for new money as I save through the year. However I also have isa's with Barclays and Leek united. Leek united pay quite poor interest at 1.1% but if I ever want another mortgage id prob go back to Leek united hence keeing money with them. However I am looking at moving some of the money from Leek united to my barlcays isa. Is this possible with me opening a new isa this tax year with the nationwide??

If the Barclays account is one that will accept transfers in then the answer is yes.
But You did not say what the interest on the Barclays ISA is. You could also open the ISA with Nationwide for new money and another with say West Brom (see Transfer Your Cash ISAs article) and transfer money from both Leek and Barclays into that if it pays more interest. The rule is you can only pay new money into one ISA in any one tax year but you can open new ISAs for the tranfer in of old ISA funds as many as you like.

afmfifgh

gavsky wrote: »

Any/all advice most appreciated. I am considering making a formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman about this as I really do think Santander are acting improperly here.

I think if I were you I would complain firstly to the banks, Santander and Halifax and then if that doesn't work out to the ombudsmen, you have nothing to loose by doing so, only your time.

But tbh, I think it is your own fault and quite possibly you won't get anything back. But nothing ventured nothing gained.

As has been stated already the date next to the signature box is to date your signature not when to start the transfer. As has been said, it is quite clear on transfer forms about how you want them to proceed. You should have ticked the wait until it matures box (I can't remember the wording). I ALWAYS tick that box even if it is by my dates past maturity just incase I have my dates incorrect and there are still a few days left to serve.

Why you would choose to tick proceed immediate and forward date the form as opposed to tick the correct box and date the form correctly I don't know.

Sorry but looks like you will have to take this one on the chin and learn from it but you never know they may look favourably on you so always worth asking.

zerog

Quite pleased with Yorkshire Bank today. Had an appointment in branch to transfer 50K of ISAs today (and also to open more accounts for my relatives to get the switching incentive). Thought that the 2% ISA deal would be dead as they stopped accepting transfers last Friday, but they said that as I had arranged the appointment before the 17th, they would still permit the transfer. Let's see if it actually happens now.

badger09

zerog wrote: »

Quite pleased with Yorkshire Bank today. Had an appointment in branch to transfer 50K of ISAs today (and also to open more accounts for my relatives to get the switching incentive). Thought that the 2% ISA deal would be dead as they stopped accepting transfers last Friday, but they said that as I had arranged the appointment before the 17th, they would still permit the transfer. Let's see if it actually happens now.

Have you got that in writing?

Great if honour it

zerog

badger09 wrote: »

Have you got that in writing?

Great if honour it

Well I don't have it in writing, but they were happy to accept the forms and if they don't then I will make them pay.