A MARRIED couple have told how NatWest ‘lost’ £628,000 of their retirement savings.
Kevin McCormac, 75, and his wife Sarah say they signed up to the bank’s best buy two-year fixed-rate Isa over the summer.
A couple from West Sussex have recounted their process of opening a fixed-rate Isa with NatWest
But after two months, the West Sussex couple’s combined savings of £600,000 from an Investec stocks and shares Isas had still not been stored in the Isa, MailOnline reported.
“My wife and I tried for months to transfer two stocks and shares Isas from Investec into NatWest and it has been a nightmare,” Kevin fumed.
He continued: “I have made endless telephone calls to NatWest, sent countless emails and written long letters…”
Kevin and Sarah say they agreed to the 24-month Isa in July this year, paying a rate of 5.9%.
NatWest apparently provided the couple with an application number and assured they would be sent an application pack “explaining everything that she needed to do” to open her Isa, but it was reportedly never received.
Kevin’s new NatWest Isa was opened and – in the meantime, as he had discussed with his local branch manager, he told Investec to convert both stocks and shares Isas to cash via their current accounts on this day.
It reportedly took NatWest three weeks to transfer Kevin’s Isa, and the pensioner sent a letter of complaint regarding the delay.
The two say they visited their branch to demand an update, where the bank’s manager submitted a second Isa application.
Kevin’s £310,772 savings was sent to NatWest from his Investec stocks and shares Isa that same day, the couple say, but the funds were missing from the account.
In September despite signing off the second Isa application, an emailed letter from NatWest stated it was received after the deadline, despite being received by their branch four days prior.
By this point, Sarah’s life savings have been sitting in her current account for a month and a half.
Kevin says he tried to contact David Lindberg, chief executive of retail banking to help solve the couple’s predicament, but he received no response.
In November, Kevin’s Isa finally received his £310,772 savings, six weeks after the money was sent from his Investec stocks and shares Isa.
A missing interest payment of £3,868.06 was also transferred.
“The time and stress this has caused – it is not an exaggeration to say it almost took over my summer,” Kevin said.
Kevin and Sarah’s daughter also allegedly fell victim after attempting to transfer £20,000 to a NatWest Isa.
She slammed the bank for telling a “complete lie” after she was told she had missed the deadline.
He continued: “I would never have done this to our savings if I didn’t think it was the best thing for them at the time.
“The stock market has not been performing well over the last eighteen months and we wanted the certainty of a 5.9 per cent return for our retirement money.
“Our branch manager has been amazing throughout this while trauma but he told us that they were totally unprepared to deal with the response to this Isa and it coincided with a £200 ‘switch’ offer on current accounts which, in his opinion, was totally unnecessary as so many other banks have closed their branches locally that new customers are already flocking to them in droves.”
According to MailOnline, a spokesperson from NatWest said: “We have now completed the Isa transfer requested by Mr McCormac, backdated the interest and apologise for the inconvenience he has experienced.
“While we are clearing the backlog of Isa transfers quickly through the reallocation of additional resources, there are still one in three cases where we are waiting on the funds from other providers.’
“Mrs McCormac’s application for the transfer in question was received outside of the time period when the relevant product was on-sale and unfortunately we were therefore not able to proceed with the requested Isa transfer.
“However, as a gesture of goodwill we will make the appropriate arrangements for Mrs McCormac to be able to transfer to the product she applied for and will be in touch to outline next steps.”