Intelligent Finance ISA's

A question about : Intelligent Finance ISA's

Help! We have tried to open I.F. ISA's both by phone and via web site but they do not answer or respond.
Anyone found a solution?

Best answers:

• Ronnie, I have had to complain to IF about the lenght of time they take to answer the 'phone recently. The answer I was given is that they are very busy taking shed loads of money because the ISA rate is so good! They take ages to reply to E-Mails but I suggest you hang on in there.
• hang in there i have found them very helpful on the phone and they answered all my questions sent me all the paperwork and so far i have found them to be great, am jus about to pop my application for a current acct and an isa both at 4.6% in the post to them so shall keep all posted as to how good they are at transferring all my stuff over :-*
• I found them a bit slow as well when I transferred my toisa from the Abbey. They claimed the sluggishness was from the Abbey end. THe whole process took about six weeks. Compared to what the Abbey had been paying I decided to hang in there. It was a bit frustratling though.
• I too have opened a IF cash ISA when they were in the bst buys for a few months, interstingly I read that they requested to be taken out of the best buy tables of late as they could not cope with the demand etc, which is why people have not been able to get throught o them.
  They also like the person earlier said increased their mortgage rate but froze their ISa rates.
  time to look elsewhere
• Yikes ! >
  I opened my Mini Cash ISA online about an hour ago and gave them my bank account details to transfer the Ј3,000 from when the ISA is up and running.
  If they are taking ages, should I move the Ј3,000 out my current a/c into my ING a/c *NOW* for say 7 days to gain some interest, then move it straight back into my current account ?
  Having said that, it takes 3 working days to get it from my current a/c INTO my ING a/c, then it'll take 3 working days to put it back >
  Hardly worth it for just 1 day in my ING a/c is it ?
  And, what if "IF" try to take out Ј3,000 while it's in my ING account ? Imagine the fines/charges I'd get for that :-[ :P :-X :'(
• I would just call and ask them how long it will take, and if you get interest from the time of application or from the time they get around to processing it.
  If you get interest from the time of application, no worries. Let it sit in your current account -- your ISA is still earning interest.
  If you don't get interest until they process it, you might ask them why you should sit around and wait for them. Others are paying interest from the time of application, I believe.
• Thanks DiggingOut.
  I get a bad feeling about this....
  I know it was only 2 days ago I applied online for their Mini Cash ISA but I just phoned them up and the guy checked and said none of my details are on screen yet
  I asked about will my interest be backdated to when I applied (when my application is finally processed) and he said yes it will, but to when it was received
  > :-/
• What if it takes them a month to process it ?
  I only have the Ј3,000 @ 0% until 1st Jan.2005 :-/
• I think you are covered if they back-date interest. Basically, they will make people angry and lose customers if they don't do this.
  If it takes them a month, that just means a month where they don't have your money, but are paying you interest. They are losing money, not you.
  The only thing that makes me concerned is that he said "when it was received" rather than "when you applied". I would want that clarified, because you applied online, so it should have been received immediately. I would bug them again today for clarification.
• Application pack received today - phew ! 8)
• I've been banking with IF for three years and have always found their service via email pretty appalling. If you email them I'd say there is a 50% chance of it being answered. Fortunately I rarely needed much assistance via email so it was ok. Also their phone service was pretty good, atleast until now from what I've been reading.
  The answer? Only use IF, if you are after a no-frills basic service where you don't want to do anything out of the ordinary.
  Cheers,
  Rod
• Dont bother with IF for cash Isa ,go to local branch of Abbey and open mini cash Isa on the spot also get 4.85% from june 1.I tried IF first and gave up on them after trying to get an answer on phone for over a week couldn't even complain to them as you have to register with them before you can email them!
• but it's far easier to transfer funds online from IF to your current account and vice versa
• Signed my "purple pages" and sent them back, should soon hopefully be the proud parent of a new Ј3,000 tax free ISA care of EGG card lending me the money to open one with at 0% until Jan.2005
• One week one after returning my signed "purple pages" and nothing >
  And what's with IF's online service ?
  If you goto https://www.if.com, then log-in, all that does it let you "re-apply" for a product >
  What a shambles......
• Hmmm, very suspect indeed....
  Having just spoken to a Customer Service advisor (an 0845 number at least!), I was assured my MINI CASH ISA was opened and went "active" (his words) on the 5th June.
  Went back online and I can now access my account with them....
  Anyway, balance shows Ј0.00, so where is the Ј3,000 I gave them permission to "deposit" from my bank account then ?
  :-X :'(
  I didn't want to send them a Ј3,000 cheque as I wasn't sure when I'd get the Ј3,000 from Egg into my current account.....
  I'm convinced they're gonna shaft me by giving me interest from the day they get my Ј3,000 and NOT when I applied
  Where's Martin when you need him for his expert guidance ? :-/
  Rochdale_Guy. :-[ :'(
• no they won't do that Mr Rochdale man, I had the same problem where there appears to be a delay in processing the transfer but I got my interest from Day 1.