A few weeks ago, our daughter informed us of the terrible news that she and her husband are to divorce and have put their house on the market.
This is devastating as our daughter earns very little and works around various disabilities, including long Covid. We want to help finance a property for her and her daughter as her income is too low to support a mortgage.
To do that, we need to access £20,000 held in a one-year bond we took out via the Aviva Save marketplace in June this year. But the company refuses to let us have it. Please can you help?
D.P., Doncaster
Sally Hamilton replies: Your family has rallied round to help your daughter and granddaughter in their hour of need. Although your daughter will receive money from the sale of the marital property, this will take time and she still wouldn’t be able to secure an adequate mortgage on her own.
You and your son decided to offer a helping hand with £155,000 from you and £20,000 from him, to secure the outright purchase of a £175,000 bungalow.
You both completed ‘gifting letters’ for her conveyancing solicitor and estate agent. These are necessary to confirm people giving money towards a property purchase are doing so with no strings attached.
Her offer on the property has been accepted but completion is at risk because of a £20,000 shortfall. This is the sum tied up in your one-year GB Bank Bond that Aviva Save told you cannot be released.
Aviva Save is an online marketplace that offers customers access to competitive savings deals from partner banks (currently seven, including GB Bank) which they can then manage in one place. They can switch and open savings accounts without having to complete an application every time.
You were pleased with your one-year bond from GB Bank paying an attractive rate of 5.02pc. But the deal clearly states that customers need to leave their money in for the whole year. Savers in these types of account sacrifice flexibility for higher returns, though providers will consider early access in limited circumstances and may apply an early-exit penalty.
You thought your predicament would meet such criteria. It certainly proved enough to persuade NatWest, which released £40,000 you had locked up in its one-year bond. But Aviva Save turned down your bond request.
I thought you had a strong case for Aviva Save to show more leniency, so contacted the company on your behalf. A few days later, it responded with the decision to let you have your savings after all.
A spokesman says: ‘Under normal circumstances, the terms and conditions of a fixed-term account agreement do not allow customers to terminate their contract early except for in specifically defined circumstances – this is standard practice.
‘However, on this occasion, we recognise the customer’s exceptional circumstances, so we have worked with the bank providing this account, which has agreed to release the customer’s funds ahead of the contract ending, as well as waiving the early release fee of £75 as a gesture of goodwill.’
You got back the full sum you invested but no interest was added since this was due to be calculated at the end of the 12-month period. Your daughter’s house purchase can proceed.
In late 2019, I purchased a pay-as-you-go SIM card from Three mobile’s store on Oxford Street, London, to use in America. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to activate it before my trip as it wouldn’t function with my phone.
It cost me £20 and whilst this was unfortunate, I didn’t think much more of it. However, earlier this year I became aware that I’d been charged monthly since 2019 via a direct debit, without my consent.
The charge doesn’t appear on the statement as Three but ‘H3G’, which I had assumed to be my gym. I have been trying to resolve this since late January, spending more than 12 hours on the phone to Three’s customer services, but have got nowhere. Please help.
S. H., Kettering, Northants
Sally Hamilton replies: You said that as soon as you realised the direct debit was being taken by Three, you cancelled it and recalled the funds taken via a direct debit indemnity claim. That seemed to wake Three from non-communication.
After making no attempt to correspond with you in four years, it decided to issue a letter, requesting payment of an outstanding balance of £811 on your account, which included recalled direct debits and two unpaid bills.
You explain how you had no contract, that you had never activated the SIM card and that you never received any alerts, such as warnings of price increases. If you had done so, you would have acted sooner. Most importantly, the mobile number has never been used and you have no idea what it is. An investigation was promised. But then silence.
I asked Three to boost its endeavours. It came back to say its records suggest you had opened a rolling monthly contract in November 2019 and even though the phone had never been used, its terms and conditions state customers must still pay.
You have no recollection of signing a contract. After my intervention, Three said it had requested this from the store but that in the meantime, it would wipe your outstanding balance.
A Three spokesman says: ‘S.H. opened a rolling monthly contract and was making monthly payments to Three in line with this contract. As a gesture of goodwill, we have cleared her outstanding balance and closed her account.’ It also agreed to amend your credit file.
Generally, setting up a mobile phone contract in-store gives buyers fewer rights to automatically cancel than if they bought online or over the phone. The latter get a 14-day cooling off period. In-store buyers can ask to cancel in this window but there is no guarantee the provider will agree.
Your experience is a lesson for us all to check bank statements regularly so that any unexpected debits can be tackled promptly.