I have been trying to get a letter from Halifax about my ISA fixed for 1 year savings. It was opened on 6 Feb 09 and will mature on 6 Feb 10. I asked the following points to be included in the letter:
- My full name;
- The account number;
- The date of the letter;
- The financial institution's name and logo;
- The funds held in my account; and
- That GBP3,600 have always been in the bank since 6th of Feb 2009. (meaning the balance of the a/c was GBP3,600 every single day since 6th of Feb 2009 to date.)
- That these funds can be withdrawn at any time if I wish. (proving there is no lockup and funds are liquid)
Home Office will not accept letters which simply show the balance in the account on a particular day as these documents do not show that you hold enough funds for the full period (at least for the last three months) required.
What I have got is a confirmation of Investment where it shows the following points with a cover letter dated 5th Oct 2009:
- My full name and full home address;
- The account number(Roll number);
- The date of the letter;(only on cover letter)
- The financial institution's name and logo;
- The funds held in my account as cash and funded by cash
Interest rate
account start date
account term
maturity date
total investment
NI number
date of birth
and declaration of authorisation.
I believe that the cover letter dd 5 Oct 09 with the confirmation letter proves these funds were held in my account more than three months.
I am not sure if it is supposed to show that I can withdraw it at anytime I wish.
Although Halifax is not good at writing such letters, I found a solution for this. I can attach Halifax ISA saver leaflet where it shows the conditions of withdrawal: I will lose 6 months interest and I will get back principal plus interest amount and the account will be closed. If that interest amount due is less than 6 month interest amount, then no deduction will be made from principal and they will pay only principal.
Page 5 and 11 on the following link
(http://www.halifax.co.uk/HelpCentre/pdf/1_336202-9.pdf)
In my case, it is obvious they will pay some interest since it is being held about 8 months. In order to prove that there is no withdrawal lock up or liquidity problem, I think I need to submit this leaflet with the highlighted points and mentioning the relevance to my case. If Halifax puts a stam and signature on it, then this would be the best option. If they become stubborn again, I will only submit their leaflet with the cover letter containing confirmation of savings where it shows the points given above.
Can I get your opinion if this is ok? Otherwise, I will take them to Ombudsman since they are so negligent on writing such easy letters.
Regards,
Umikum


