Successfully challenged ptsb penalty on former Irish Nationwide account withdrawal

M

MugsGame

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Irish Nationwide regular saver @ 7.35%?

camlin90 said:
Some details from the brochure.
- Max of 2 withdrawals per year; subsequent withdrawals are subject to 30 days interest penalty on the amount withdrawn
Click to expand...

For the benefit of other account holders who may have been charged a notice penalty by PTSB on closing the account:

  • These accounts were transferred to PTSB in early 2011.
  • When I closed my account earlier this year, PTSB charged me a 30 day interest penalty on the balance, even though I had never made any withdrawals.
  • I disputed this at the time, but needed to close the account immediately due to the then imminent change in the government bank guarantee.
  • I accepted the penalty at the time in order to access my funds, and pursued the issue through PTSB's internal complaints procedure.
  • PTSB's Final Response was that documentation circulated in May 2011 removed the product feature allowing two penalty-free withdrawals.
  • I have the originals of all correspondence on the account. This is not my interpretation of the documentation I received at the time.
  • I referred the matter to the Financial Ombudsman eleven days ago.
  • Financial Ombudsman contacted PTSB and myself, offering mediation.
  • I have today received a settlement offer from PTSB matching my original request, which was to refund the penalty applied plus interest to date. In my case this is a three figure sum

Although PTSB have not admitted liability and still maintain they were correct to apply the penalty, I would encourage anyone else to follow the complaints process. You also have the option of going to the Small Claims Court rather than the Ombudsman - this may be quicker in some cases.

I can provided scanned copies of all relevant IN and PTSB product documentation if necessary.
 
Hi Mugs

Well done! Great to see them settling this without the hassle of the Ombudsman.


If ptsb circulated notified their customers of this in May 2011 in a clear, unambigous and prominent manner, I take it you would have no complaint?

Could you post the wording which they sent out in May 2011?
 
Actually it was lots of hassle and took months. If I hadn't contacted the Ombudsman, PTSB wouldn't have paid out. That said everyone I dealt with in PTSB was courteous and professional, and I have no reason to think that things weren't moving behind the scenes in PTSB.

I'm travelling at the moment; I'll try and post more details over the weekend. I can see in retrospect why PTSB may think they changed the terms and conditions, but it was certainly not clear / unambiguous / prominent.
 
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The COMMON theme on Complaints against Banks is as Mugs says {lot of hassle and took months}
I do not thinkl things were ACTUALLY moving in PTSB , they moved because Mugs had the persistence and knowledge.
The ordinary punter has little hope.
The ordinary punter has only nominal protection.
 
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