Industry-wide improvements to Cash ISAs deliver a better service to consumers
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today recognised the significant progress made on improving Cash ISA transfers in an announcement welcomed by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), the Building Societies Association (BSA) and the Tax Incentivised Savings Association (TISA).
The financial services industry is pleased to see that the significant changes made to Cash ISA Transfer Guidelines in 2010 have been widely implemented by providers.
The industry commitments, effective from 1 January 2011, have brought and will continue to bring tangible benefits to consumers. These include:
• cutting the Cash ISA to Cash ISA transfer time to 15 days;
• ensuring interest is paid for each day of the transfer process; and,
• showing Cash ISA interest rates in account statements.
These improvements to the product result from regular and direct contact within and between firms providing Cash ISAs. The BBA, the BSA and TISA are pleased to see that cooperation between their members in the implementation of industry-wide initiatives delivers positive outcomes for customers. This work is continuing with the development of an electronic transfer system for Cash ISAs, expected to be available to BACS members later this year, followed by an industry-wide extension in 2013.
Notes to editors
1. Today’s announcement from the OFT was informed by a review of 15 Cash ISA providers conducted in February/March 2012. The OFT were assisted by the BBA, the BSA and the TISA in this review.
2. The BBA, the BSA and the TISA have produced customer guidance on Cash ISA transfers which can be found on the relevant websites here:
http://www.bba.org.uk/consumer-guide-to-cash-isa-transfers
http://www.bsa.org.uk/consumer/factsheets/cash_isa_transfers.pdf
http://www.tisa.uk.com/uploads/Consumer Transfer Timeline Jan 2011.pdf
3. The BBA issued a statement on cross-industry Cash ISA to Cash ISA Transfer Guidelines on 31 December 2010. The commitments followed a super-complaint brought by consumer group Consumer Focus in March 2010, to which the OFT responded in June 2010. The OFT response can be read here: http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/super-complaints/OFT1246.pdf