Postoffice
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Such a rigmarole to get a transfer out of an isa
Trying to get a small transfer from a post office isa to my current account. They said they couldn't verify my current account so I sent off the requested paperwork to verify it and was told it would take 2 or 3 days once they received it. Two weeks later, was told by another customer service person it could take 3 weeks because April is always busy with the end of the tax year. After 3 weeks rang to be told by a very helpful lady - Zoe - that it could take 4 weeks. This seems like such an antiquated process. I've had the same high street bank account for 53 years, how it can take 4 weeks and the necessity of sending off paper copies of bank statements to verify that it's legit is astonishing - and although I can see that April is busy because of the end of the tax year, surely they know that April comes round with absolute certainty every year and could plan their staffing accordingly. When I was clearly exasperated by this Zoe told me that she could sort it out that day via a secure email link, which she did and my account was verified within 10 minutes. She was extremely helpful. What I then found was that it would take 4 days to receive this very modest amount of money into my current account. 4 days! I could have drawn the money in cash and walked it round to my bank in 10 minutes. Usual justification about guarding against money laundering but they're transferring it from an account that they've held for me for a year to an account that they've spent 4 weeks verifying, hard to see how money laundering could have been involved. It's also really hard to avoid the thought that it's so they can keep the cash in their own account earning interest for a couple of days and once my small sum of money is multiplied up by thousands of customers, I can see that it becomes a decent income stream.
