Irish bank refuse to issue a letter of 'no interest'

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Marni

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Scottish Friendly (ScF) insurers contacted me to say an endowment assurance policy I have had for many years has matured as I have turned 70. Over a number of weeks, they requested different information which I provided in a timely manner each time. Then they informed me that my policy is assigned to a leading Irish bank and ScF needs them to issue a letter of ‘no interest’ before they will pay money due to me. However, ScF don’t have the original Policy No. (possibly mortgage related?) or much-identifying information which the Irish bank say they require in order to issue a letter of ‘no interest’. Although the Irish bank have been unable to trace anything under my name or in relation to ScF, they still say need a copy of the Notice of Assignment Form from the Life Company in order to release an interest. Surely, ScF should not be able to withhold the payment, if they cannot provide the necessary information required by the Irish bank? The policy may go back to 1984 and mention was made of ScF ‘buying over the book’ around 2011.

Both ScF and the bank in question refuse to communicate directly with each other. I have been left as an individual trying to communicate and liaise with two financial institutions. I have been on to a number of sections in the bank and ScF. A few months on and following numerous emails and phone calls I am now no nearer a solution. My hopes have been raised and then dashed.

Any advice welcome e.g. are there any regulatory bodies I could contact or solicitors specialising in this area.

Yours in frustration and disappointment
 
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Agree with Mr. Burgess.

On a personal level, I'd be tempted to add a line to your written complaint, indicating that you intended to seek damages from both institutions, calculated at a penal interest rate of "X" percent, per annum, calculated on a daily basis, from the date of your complaint letter.

While collecting interest from the institutions directly, may prove difficult, it may help to focus their minds, or prompt their complaints teams to offer some form of compensation. Alternatively, it may later help indicate an expected level of compensation, should you ultimately need to go to the Ombudsman.
 
SlurrySlump said:

Fines / Penalties - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

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Go after them via the GDPR route.
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That sould be in addition to a 'Formal Complaint letter'.
 
MrEarl said:
On a personal level, I'd be tempted to add a line to your written complaint, indicating that you intended to seek damages from both institutions, calculated at a penal interest rate of "X" percent, per annum, calculated on a daily basis, from the date of your complaint letter.
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I would resist that temptation. You want to come across as a well advised, professional person seeking a resolution to your problem, with whom they will want to engage.

And not a mad person that they will want to avoid.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I would resist that temptation. You want to come across as a well advised, professional person seeking a resolution to your problem, with whom they will want to engage.

And not a mad person that they will want to avoid.

Brendan
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I thnk you can present such a thing, without appearing "mad".

Let's not forget, legislation provides for small companies to charge an interest rate on late payment from creditors, for example.

People are entitled to be compensated, when others delay payment.

It's clearly a judgement call...
 
MrEarl said:
I thnk you can present such a thing, without appearing "mad".

Let's not forget, legislation provides for small companies to charge an interest rate on late payment from creditors, for example.

People are entitled to be compensated, when others delay payment.

It's clearly a judgement call...
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Sometimes madness works. In a former life, a customer arrived into reception as we had not paid out on a policy fast enough for her liking. To cut a long story short. It ended up with the CEO writing out a personal cheque to for the full amount to get rid of her.
 
Towger said:
we had not paid out on a policy fast enough....writing out a personal cheque for the full amount to get rid of her.
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In other words the company fulfilled the terms of their contract; which they could clearly have done at an earlier point.

My advice, where possible is to use the initial only of your first name & yr second name when writing (e.g. J. Smith rather than Jane Smith) along with a nongendered email address (smith_field at gmail.com). [Not a real email]

And before anyone tries to insist all customers are treated the same, there is a huge body of research that says otherwise.
 
I would go down the route Brendan suggests. Once you initiate the complaint procedure they have no choice but to answer you in set timescales. Once you have your final response letter from the assurance company and bank, you can get the Ombudsman involved
 
phoenix53 said:
I read it that the Company contacted them.
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In that case, it would seem likely that when they acquired the original insurer that OP took a policy out with, they migrated the policies to their own system and have them new policy numbers, and failed to adequately record the original policy number.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Don't be bothering with solicitors.

Write a joint letter to their Complaints Department and ask them to resolve it or to issue a Final REsponse Letter.

Then complain to the Financial Services Ombudsman in Ireland and the British equivalent.

Brendan
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Many thanks for your advice, Brendan. I’m in the process of drafting a joint letter to the Complaints Departments of both financial institutions asking them to resolve or issue a Final Response Letter. If the result is not satisfactory, I will follow up with the relevant Financial Ombudsman Services. I appreciate you taking the time to respond and will keep you updated.
 
MrEarl said:
Agree with Mr. Burgess.

On a personal level, I'd be tempted to add a line to your written complaint, indicating that you intended to seek damages from both institutions, calculated at a penal interest rate of "X" percent, per annum, calculated on a daily basis, from the date of your complaint letter.

While collecting interest from the institutions directly, may prove difficult, it may help to focus their minds, or prompt their complaints teams to offer some form of compensation. Alternatively, it may later help indicate an expected level of compensation, should you ultimately need to go to the Ombudsman.
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Many thanks for your response, I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
 
DannyBoyD said:
My advice, where possible is to use the initial only of your first name & yr second name when writing (e.g. J. Smith rather than Jane Smith) along with a nongendered email address (smith_field at gmail.com). [Not a real email]

And before anyone tries to insist all customers are treated the same, there is a huge body of research that says otherwise.
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Whilst I agree that women are often treated differently, I have spent my life challenging many forms of inequality experienced by myself and others and would be slow to deny my identity. Also, at this stage I have written numerous emails to both institutions with my full name. I appreciate the solidarity, advice and support.
 
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phoenix53 said:
Just another point, how the the life assurance company find you with no policy number? That sounds strange.
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I have been receiving Bonus Notices for many years from Scottish Friendly (ScF) with their policy number on it, and had informed them of change of addresses, so they had my contact details. I had not done anything, as I thought the ‘Minimum Death Benefit’ payment might have been useful to my son for my funeral expenses. I didn’t know anything would change or that I would be entitled to anything when I turned 70. I have the ScF Policy No. but the Irish Bank want the original Policy no. which may date back to 1984 (when I bought my first house) and unfortunately I don’t have any documentation in relation to this mortgage protection. ScF made reference to ‘buying the book’ at some stage - I would have thought all the relevant information should have been copied to them from the Irish Bank.
 
Many thanks to everyone who has responded, I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
 
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