Close Brothers Savings Avis 

I opened an ISA on 14.04.23 and applied at the same time to transfer my existing ISA from Aldermore. I was informed yesterday by Close Bros in a phone call I made to them that the requsest to transfer my ISA had commenced as part of the application process. I was lead to believe that the request was done electronically however Aldermore haven't received the requst and their ISA dept says Close Bros transfers ar paper based. In other words everything goes by snail mail. I tried today to contact Close Bros by phone but after 20 mins of listening to tinny music i was so traumatised that I gave up. Close Bros cannot be bothered to emply more staff to cope with expected demand from people opening accounts with advertised higher rates. They appear to be creating the illusion that their transfer process is quick. I intend making a complaint about these issues but if you are thinking of opening an account with them please don't. They are not worth a candle.

Do not use Close Brothers savings. I have been trying for 3 months to get my matured ISA transferred out. Their systems and processes are clearly broken. A string of failed promises. It's laughable if it wasn't so chronic. I've wasted hours of my life on the phone and chat. The staff are polite and apologetic but insufficiently trained. My message to the customer service team at CB? Go get yourself a better job with a proper bank who will give you better systems that actually work and better training. I will never use them again and despite how attractive the rate, find someone else.

Well my first experience with Close Brothers is they certainly would not be my first choice to invest my money. My experience of transferring funds to a fixed ISA could have been smoother and a lot more difficult than others. Don't get me wrong the transfer was quick. After all they want people's money as they want to invest it themselves. However, the same could not be said about their service.

1. Online chat system would be ideal.
2. 033 numbers are not cheap. My bill was £30 to resolve this over the phone and it was no mistake of mine so that was waste of my time and money
3. Improve your web site. The password algorithm needs improving. Ive seen other complaints about this.
4. Better service. This should have been resolved from day one. Instead they kept keeping me the same code that we already established did not work.
5. They do not respond to querries or simply do not know so choose to not respond. I am not sure about you but when I ask a question before I invest and dont get a response that instantly tells me how poor their service is and this stems from the senior management level. Poor managent results in poor service and that impacts the customer.

We all live and learn. Would I use them again? Highly unlikely but with 90% of ratings here being less than average I think that says a lot.

Final note: Please do not trust all the reviews on this site. Majority are likely to be fake so do not pay particular attention to high ratings. Trust Pilot have a lot to learn to be honest. They do not seem to understand really basic things when it comes to how things work online.
In my experience Close Brothers are also slower than other providers with ISA transfers. The partial transfer gives me 1% and this works in their favour as they loan it with higher rate than they are now giving me. This is not acceptable guys.

I've been saving with close brothers for a while and even though it's website has problems it is not as bad as it was. Their interest rates are always competitive. So why am I giving Close Brothers Savings one star?
I have been having the most appalling experience trying to move a substantial Cash ISA from another provider to a cash ISA with Close Brothers. I started the process by sending in the completed ISA transfer form on the 13th of January 2023. I set up the new cash ISA online with CB it was a 3 year fixed term ISA at 4.15%. some weeks later when I looked I saw there was no sign of the ISA being transferred, I contacted CB to see how it was progressing. I was told there was nothing on the system to say they had received it!! I said I had sent it by recorded delivery! I fished out the post office receipt and checked it online. The transfer request form had indeed been delivered on the 18th of January. I called again giving the person who answered the reference which she checked with the postal service and saw for herself. She said she would look into it. Eventually it was found I accepted the apology for a failure in the system and thought that would be it! A week or two went by and still my newly opened ISA balance remained at zero.
I called again and was told that they had sent it out to NS&I quite some time ago and on three separate occasions apparently!
Then I had to contact NS&I to see if there was a problem with them! Long story short NS & I said their ISA transfer requests have to be sent to Sunderland. This was not the address I had given on the ISA transfer form to CB. So I called CB to inform them. However I was then told that they either send the requests electronically or email them. Then I called NS&I again who told me that they do not accept electronic transfers or emails for ISAs they have to be sent to Sunderland in the post!! When I contacted Close Brothers and told them this they said they always email them or transfer electronically. I told them that NS&I are not a bank and they can't do that with them and they have explicitly stated the the ISA transfer must be requested by post.!!
I know this story is dragging on, the truth is it's worse than it seems. The amount of time I've spent listening to awful music waiting for both NS&I and CB to answer ( 38 mins for NS&I was the worst and 18 mins for CB). People from CB not calling me back so I had to call them again. It seems that no one is accountable for anything. No one seems to know what is what, the ISA team are referred to but I'm not able to speak to them or a manager! Eventually I spoke to someone yesterday saying that the time had come to let their CEO know about this! ( Maybe they would be glad of that as maybe some staff don't understand their job enough and keep passing the buck! Maybe their tech systems are not fit for purpose along with the training! Who knows. The person I spoke to said I could raise a complaint and should get a response email in three working days! I said ok. ( Thinking why would I think that could turn out well, shouldn't I just start again with a new provider). Today I looked at my online ISA which I set up with the expectation that it would soon be filled and guess what! It's expired. It's over 45 days since it was opened and nothing in it because of the above. I will not bother any more with Close Brothers after this. I'm not going to try and argue that a lady called Jade said that they would keep my 4.15% Isa open because they had a mix up about receiving the form. I have a fixed term savings account with them with a lot of money in. It matures in September. I doubt I'll have trouble removing that! It's a shame I've been saving on and off for many years with close brothers since they started general savings. Please don't bother moving an ISA from another provider it's not worth the stress! If I could leave no stars I would. I'd just like to say that I have had no problems with any of my other accounts. Rate highly Zopa, Tandem, Investec, Atom.

Internal ISA transfer to a better interest rate account went smoothly and efficiently. Immediate reply to secure messages. Usual good service, don't understand the complaints, we've always had good service from this bank, and their interest rates are very competitive

still awaiting an ISA transfer out to be completed after weeks and weeks of waiting, no reply to secure messages , spoke to customer service who promised to sort it out and still nothing, what more annoys me is that each day I am losing interest on the new account I have set up, the industry standard should be 14 days, what a joke this company is, dont deal with this joke of a company.I have asked if they have a valid reason for this massive delay and they just return my message to me unanswered.

I applied to have my ISA transferred to another bank and Close Brothers did not transfer it within the 15 day timescale so the other bank had to cancel my application. I made several calls to close brothers to try to get answers but to no avail.
This bank in my opinion should be avoided at all costs. I now have to start the process all over again and try to get my ISA transferred and hope that I don't have another wasted month

Following a 'Martin Lewis' suggestion of investing in this bank, my wife and I opened a joint account and tested it's authenticity by investing £5. I wanted to confirm that I wasn't dealing with a 'clone' by ringing their published telephone number and getting them to confirm the account number. Multiple efforts to contact them by phone resulted in 20 minute delays with no response. I was unable to get the confirmation I wanted, so my investment money has gone elsewhere. Their lack of sufficient staff to answer telephone calls indicates a company in disarray.

This company can't even get post codes right.

Back in April, I told them their web site was wrong when you use their Drop-Down box and enter my post code xxx xxx. It shows Houses that are in the road where I live, but not the block of Flats, which is actually where I do live. The houses have a completely different post code to mine which I pointed out to them way back in April.

However, a few days ago, I checked their web site (stupidly, thinking of possibly making an investment) and, unbelievably, over 6 months later they are STILL showing the wrong Post Code for my address?

I told them, in my email a week ago, to look at the Royal Mail web site, under Post Codes which will confirm what I am saying - but no reply.

However, I did get an email reply back in April that shook me at the time - (and I quote) -
"As a resolution to this, I suggest you input ‘5 xxx xxx’ (the name of my road - and not my Flat - which I know to be wrong) and then inform us once you have completed your application and we can amend this manually for you."

Have you ever heard a Savings company making such a ridiculous and stupid statement in these days of so much on-line fraud? It is quite unbelievable.

Trying to close our cash ISA with them 4 days ago but still not money transferred back to us. Called them several times and each time you're on hold for over 20 minutes. They asked for a proof of nominated bank account which is weird because they confirmed they have the correct account on records. Emailed them the proof but since then nothing has happened. Contacted them twice and am told it's with the Admin team. Going to see about reporting this company to the financial ombudsman service. Avoid Close Brothers Savings !

Avoid this company, whilst the rates look good the customer service is abysmal.
I applied 3 weeks ago for a high interest savings account they immediately acknowledged my application but nothing since. I have emailed them and got an automatic reply saying they would reply within 2 days that was 7days ago and they replied today but still not answering my question. I would never put money into a savings account that provides this sort of poor service.

Tried to open fixed rate bond (company at top of Best Buy table) Automatic identity authentication failed, asked to upload documents. No further communication received. Tried to contact by phone, but gave up as holding forever!

I am trying to open an ISA with Close Brothers today. The online application has shown they can’t complete, so can I give them a call. Apparently they are really busy, but not bothered enough to employ more call centre staff. Twenty minutes on hold so far, when I do get through, I’ll just cancel - plenty of other ISA providers out there.

Attempted to speak to this firm by 'phone to discuss an account. The recorded voice said they were busier than usual ( but clearly not busy enough to bother to engage more staff) Gave up after listening to tinny music for a long time.

Avoid avoid avoid................
Tried to open an ISA savings acount online with this bank. Could not complete as there online aplication service was not working correctly. Phoned them and after waiting 2 hours for them to answer the phone they sent me a link by email to complete my application...My security system sent me a warning to say there system was not secure and my details were about to be stolen..........Rang them again to tell them to cancel my application and my ISA transfer..........BEWARE Looks to me like this bank is been run by Micky mouse and Norman Wisdom....

How long does it take?! I sent a completed ISA transfer form to them via first class post on 18th April (for an ISA maturing on 20th April) and it is now 31st May and they still haven't paid the money into my account. This is ridiculous!

Gave new customers savings rate increase, delayed giving increase to existing customers by nearly 3 weeks.

I emailed to say Would not be reinvesting 200k for a1k intent and money to be locked away for 1year email returned not recognise ,phone call unanswered 10 mins put phone down Usless

Just tried to open a Fixed Rate Bond but for some inexplicable reason they say they cannot do it for 48 hours because their software says so. My wife's account was opened immediately.
Totally unhelpful so my money goes elsewhere.