Santander lost my £20,000 fixed-rate bond

By This Is Money
Updated: 04:45 EST, 8 June 2011

 

I took early retirement in February 2010 and invested part of the lump sum from my pension with Santander.

I put £20,000 into a one-year bond paying 5% to run in conjunction with a £20,000 share investment plan.

The bond matured at the beginning of March this year.

I was on holiday at the time and did not catch up with the paperwork until mid-April.

But when I went to cash in the bond, Santander told me at first it could not find it.

Then it said it had been closed last September. I didn't close it and I certainly have not received any money.

I have since had meetings and phone calls, and provided copies of the cheques I wrote out to make the investments with Santander, but there is still no satisfactory outcome.

B.W., Salisbury, Wilts.

Margaret Stone, of Money Mail, replies: Your account wasn't closed in September.

Instead, when the bond matured in March, it was put into a holding account.

Quite why this happened is unclear, and probably is to do with the fact you were on holiday when it matured, although it is normal procedure to inform customers a month ahead of this.

According to Santander, it seems likely the problem stemmed from a branch error — and this was further compounded when it failed to give you a simple explanation as to a) what had happened and b) where your money actually was.

The good news is your money is now actually in the right place, your bank account, complete with the interest earned during the investment period.

In addition, in view of the delay and disappointing service, Santander is sending you a goodwill payment of £85 — accompanied by a case of wine.