Cheshire Building Society

They lied when they said that you can withdraw cash from your ISA - honestly, they did!

I've just returned from my local Nationwide Branch to do just that, and was told,

"I'm sorry, we can't make a cash payment to you. I know it's awful isn't it, that you can't get at your own money? The best I can suggest, is, for you to go ring this number", pointing at it on my document (letter with my ISA details).

In fairness, she did smile, and apologise... well worth investing with 'Cheshire' then.

So, now I've had to send a Cheshire-ISA-Cheque-Withdrawal-Request-Form by post. Which means, instead of getting my money today, I shall have to wait many days, hmm! (unless, of course, they'll reveal even more ways to stall me)

If only I had known they won't let you readily access your money...

I applied to open and transfer my previous ISA in March, got confirmation that only part of the amount was transferred in April , called in to check what happened, was assured that Cheshire received all the amount from my previous provider and the money was "sitting on a holding account" and that I shouldn't worry. Next thing I know is a cheque from Cheshire for the missing amount.

Thank you Cheshire for keeping me In the dark for over 2 months and making me lose my ISA allowance. Hope you enjoyed the interest on my money and that your executives got a nice bonus for their hard work, they deserve it!

Too many cock-ups with my ISA transfer, resulting in stress and lost time, for which, in my opinion, a better-than-average interest rate does not compensate. Moreover, when I mentioned the inconvenience I had been caused as a result of their mistakes, they seemed disinterested.

I applied for a cash ISA with Cheshire based on their rate, but aware of the poor reviews here. It was a mistake.

I had difficulty satisfying their identification requirements, which in part turned out to be because of a mistake in their ID requirements list, and in part because of misinformation I'd received by telephone from them. In the end, my local Nationwide branch - same group - were a lot more helpful (incidentally they were also bemused by Cheshire's list and responses to my previous ID submissions).

I then had an email to say my application was successful, but didn't receive any account information. I called them up today and had a quite brilliant conversation. To paraphrase -

Me: I haven't received any account information, and would like the account details in order to pay some funds into the ISA

Cheshire: We only send out the welcome pack when funds are put into the account sir

Me: Yes, but I need to know the account number and sort code in order to put funds into the account

Cheshire: I see. But we only send the pack out once funds are in the account

Me: Yes, but do you think you could tell me what the account number and sort code are?

Cheshire: Well, I suppose so

I wonder how much time would have passed before Cheshire would have sent me any information or letters?

It was at this point I discovered that the account was postal only and had no online facility. I clearly missed this somewhere during application (apparently it was in the Ts&Cs) - but the application was online and wherever this information was contained it certainly wasn't clear enough that I noticed it.

So I'm afraid to say I have cancelled the account, my ISA account will be residing elsewhere.

I have been with the Cheshire since 2008 and have found them to be reliable and hav always recieved good cutomer service on the telephone.

I applied for a cash ISA online, printed out the documents, followed the instructions to the T end posted all they asked for including a cheque. I soon after received a text and an email thanking me for my application. So far so good... then I received a letter, and a text asking for additional proof of identification which I sent...all before the HMRC cut-off date.

With the 6th of April approaching I phoned up to ask about progress and was informed that some of the proof of ID I sent was not valid and they needed more. I can live with that but was concerned that we would miss the date. I was however assured that since they received all in good time that would not be an issue. One week after the cut-off I received a notice saying the cancelled my application as they had not received any funds...

So I phone up and here is where it really started going downhill. I was (rudely) told it was my fault since I did not send any funds. I said I must have as although they chased me for missing proof of ID they never chased me for the money and being a financial institution that was strange. Clearly they had the cheque but something in admin went wrong and it was lost/misplaced. They agreed it was strange however refuse to admit that they made an error. I can accept errors happen. In this I missed out on my ISA allowance for the tax year due to no fault of my own and felt it deserved at least an apology. Here is where the stonewalling began. They refused to apologise for my customer experience however were more than happy to offer their services for the next tax year...

I don't think that's going to happen ...

We have had our badly sold endowment mortgage with CBS for many years, and now owe very little. For some time I have been ringing up and making cash payments reducing the capital owed.

today, after answering over 10 questions I was told that I had failed the security clearance, to which I replied "but I want to make a payment". I was told that I could make a payment (£1500) but they couldn't send me the receipt!.

I asked her to send the receipt to the address on the account and she told me that she would be sending customer details to the wrong person, so I asked her how that could be, and she said it was because I had failed the security questions.

And I wanted to pay them some money, not take it out.

All the other times I have paid money in, I have never been told this silly answer. I realise that they need security, but if I have told them all the details of my mortgage, and my payments , and want to pay £1500, how can the receipt go to the wrong address if that is the one they hold?

Cannot wait to finish this debt off, and say goodbye forever!

I applied for a 3% ISA transfer fixed rate for one year (on line). They deliberately tell you your forms are incorrectly filled out to prolong the process. Weeks later after my holiday I had a letter saying the forms were still wrong! I rang up and told them that this was beyond a joke and I am capable of filling forms in. They said the interest rate had changed to 2.75% ( a big difference with £30,000.00 to invest) I said if that was the case I did not want my application to go any further. I was assured it would be honoured from the date the application was originally received (14th April)I then had a letter in May confirming that it would be back dated. I now have received a certificate stating the date commenced on 24th May at the new rate of 2.75%! I rang their customer service department and one of their lackeys couldn't deal with it so I asked to speak to his supervisor. A complete to$$er(his name cannot be printed here unfortunately) who REFUSED to put me on to his manager. He also told me my only option was to transfer the isa again to another provider, and be PENALISED for closing the account down before the maturity date! I explained the letter evidence and the name of the person I spoke to previously and he said it is on on receipt of a CORRECT form received! I admit the first error was a missing signature on my part - after that THEY prolonged the process because they KNEW the interest rates were changing. As I said 1/4 per cent does make a big difference. I have now made an official complaint and there is no way they are getting away with this. MY ADVICE? Steer well clear!

Avoid this mickey mouse building society. We sent off cheques to open a long term bonds. Never heard back from them for ages. Eventually heard back and they said that the account could not be opened because we did not send in the required documents with our application to prove ID.

But their application form said that there was no need to send in ID! They listed IDs needed, which included bills and bank statements. Usual, fair enough, except that they must contain your first name in full. How many bills and bank statements spell out your full names? They said that initials & surname would not suffice.

So we had to go to a solicitor to certify our passports. This costs money as well as time.

When we spoke to their accounts opening team, they were incompetent and knew nothing about the products that they offer.

Then they sent our ID documents back, which is sensitive information, in envelopes that they did not even seal! One of our document got lost but another managed to stay in the unsealed envelope.

Never bank with these incompetents, they will give you so much grief and their rates are not that much better than other competent building societies!

I've been a customer of Cheshire Building Society for a long time and I'm very happy. The branches are always nice and staff polite. I will always be a customer.I must say I got very excited when I heard that the Nationwide Building society will probably buy The Cheshire. How exciting that we might be able to get even more excellent service and offers from them!