Yahoo Finance 'Post Office won't let me move Isa to another provider'
Two months ago Post Office Money wrote saying my Isa would reach the end of its bonus period in 14 days.
In the letter it invited me to choose one of its products to reinvest the balance. In view of its letter saying that sums over £85,000 were not covered by the compensation arrangements, I did not feel comfortable with all my savings being in one basket.
I therefore telephoned to say I would like to move £75,000 into the Post Office’s fixed-rate Isa. I said I planned to move the rest of my money to an Isa with another provider.
I was told that only the full amount could be removed during the term and there would be a penalty for early withdrawals.
However, I maintained this Isa had reached the end of its bonus life and thus should have been available to move elsewhere penalty-free. As I read it, the money was transferable between Isas.
GP, Shropshire
Your concerns originally arose over the limits of protection for funds under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
This safety net protects deposits of up to £85,000 per individual depositor held in each bank, building society or credit union.
Bear in mind though that the limit applies to the total of all deposits an individual holds across all the brands coming under the same authorisation. For example, HSBC and First Direct go together. Special concessions may apply for temporary high balances. See fscs.org.uk, or the telephone number is 0800 678 1100.
In your case, less than £20,000 was exposed above the compensation amount. It took a long time and several calls to Post Office Money until I had any kind of an answer.
Then it was to insist that you had already transferred the money into a one-year fixed-term Isa by completing an application form.
When you made your request, the 14-day cooling-off period had already, albeit only recently, ended. However as a gesture of goodwill it now agreed to waive the £270 breakage fee for moving all the money “mid-term”.
It suggested that you could then put the full balance into another product elsewhere if there was a provider that would co-operate. Then it said you could move some of it back to Post Office Money.
You are 90 and really cannot face all the kerfuffle of going into the local town, finding a provider to do all this and then having to go through the motions.
Given this, you feel you will probably leave the money in the account.
Another option when between products could be perhaps moving some cash from your non-Isa accounts and use it to buy a new Isa elsewhere using this year’s allowance, if still available, and leaving the rest where it is.
A Post Office spokesman said: “We would always recommend that customers check with their providers to clarify all terms and conditions including options for partial transfers, before investing in any savings accounts.”
