The £16,000 I saved to pay off my mortgage is stuck in HSBC Isa transfer chaos: CRANE ON THE CASE
I’ve been an HSBC customer for 44 years and have my mortgage with the bank.
There is about £125,000 remaining and I planned to pay it off at the end of August when my fixed term ends, using money from savings.
At the start of this tax year, I began transferring money from various savings elsewhere into my HSBC cash Isa to make up the required sum.
This included more than £16,000 in funds from a Post Office Isa, a transfer I initiated on April 22. However, those funds have still not been transferred after 15 weeks.
The deadline to pay off the mortgage is approaching and I can’t do it without that money. I’m having sleepless nights. Please help. C.W., South Wales
Delays: This reader tried to transfer £16,000 from the Post Office to HSBC but the process was painfully slow – which was a problem as they needed it to pay off their mortgage
Helen Crane, This is Money’s consumer champion, replies: Paying off your mortgage should be a joyful time, but your experience with HSBC made it fraught with difficulty.
As a longstanding customer and holder of a Premier account, you didn’t anticipate any issues – but it turned out there were plenty.
You first attempted to make the transfer online, which required entering your Post Office account details and requesting that HSBC make the switch.
But while HSBC’s electronic form listed the Post Office amongst its ‘approved’ Isa providers for transfers, it would not accept the 10-digit roll number on your Post Office.
Instead, it insisted that you enter 12 digits and a sort code, which was impossible as they didn’t exist.
You sought help from HSBC on this several times but it couldn’t find a solution.
One operator told you to enter ‘XX’ as the final two digits, which worried you as you thought it might be the code for someone else’s account (as Post Office accounts can contain letters and numbers) but even that didn’t work.
Ultimately you were told to go to a branch to fill out a paper form, which you did in Bridgend on April 22.
Sadly, that was the last you would see of your money for months.
The money left your Post Office account shortly after, but never turned up at HSBC.
You have called HSBC Premier customer service many times and made three official complaints. You even wrote a letter to the chief executive.
You have been promised that someone will find out what is going on with your money, but no one has.
Unfortunately, it seemed you had fallen victim to lengthy Isa transfer delays at HSBC, which have been plaguing customers since April.
At the start of the new tax year, HSBC launched juicy cash incentives for new customers.
They could get up to £1,000 in free money if they both opened a Premier current account and transferred a large Isa balance from another bank or building society to HSBC.
This led to a rush of applications – and it appears this overwhelmed the bank, leaving some customers waiting well beyond the 15-day period in which banks should normally complete a transfer.
In late May, one frustrated HSBC customer told This is Money how she waited for more than six weeks for her £52,000 life savings to be transferred.
She was told to apply by post, as the online form also failed and her rural location meant the nearest bank was a five-hour round trip.
Frustratingly for you, you couldn’t even get the incentives on offer. You are already an HSBC Premier customer, and the HSBC Isa you were transferring the money into was existing, not new.
You simply wanted to collect the money in one tax-free place while you waited for the date when you could pay off the mortgage.
As time passed, you became greatly concerned that the money wouldn’t arrive in time for you to redeem your mortgage, which you say gave you sleepless nights.
Paying off your mortgage must be done at the right time. Too early, and you will incur early repayment charges if you are still in a fixed deal.
Too late, and you will roll on to an expensive standard variable rate. HSBC’s is currently 6.24 per cent.
A shocking 15 weeks after the initial transfer and still none the wiser, you contacted me.
Shortly after that, the money turned up back in your Post Office account – putting you straight back to square one.
I contacted HSBC, and to give it its due the bank its due it did snap into action quickly and you were called by a senior employee at the bank.
You said: ‘I asked why it took so long for this to get to him and pick up the phone to me, he said it was due to my referral to the Daily Mail.’
HSBC completed the transfer within days.
In a call, you said a representative claimed the Isa transfer had been ‘abandoned’ by accident by a HSBC employee.
You have already paid off your mortgage, as the bank agreed to let you do this early and waive the early repayment charges.
It paid you £500 in compensation, adding to the £175 you had already received for your earlier complaints.
It also paid you backdated interest on the money you were trying to transfer into your Isa, totalling £167.
On top of that, you were sent a posh hamper from Fortnum & Mason.
A spokesman said: ‘We’re very sorry for the difficulties our customer has experienced with completing an Isa transfer.
‘We are pleased to confirm this process is now complete.
‘In recognition of the inconvenience caused, we have offered compensation and have backdated all interest.’
It could not have got off to a much rockier start, but I hope mortgage-free life is plain sailing from here on in. Enjoy.
