Not upheld: misinformation and poor customer service complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr M complained that Nationwide gave him conflicting information when he attempted to close a Junior ISA account for his third grandchild (C). He visited multiple branches and received different responses about whether the account existed and when it had been closed. The ombudsman examined account records and found that no Junior ISA had actually been opened for C; instead, a Smart Limited Access Account was opened in 2006 and later transferred to C's sole name. All funds were properly accounted for, including a 2018 transfer to Mr M's account. While Mr M received inconsistent information from different branches, the ombudsman found no significant errors except for Nationwide's initial misstatement that the account opened in 2014 rather than 2006, which Nationwide acknowledged and apologised for. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman examined three key issues: whether a Junior ISA was opened (finding it was not, only a Smart Limited Access Account), whether duplicate payments were made (finding they were correctly credited as bill payments set up by Mr M), and whether incorrect information was given (finding no significant errors except one dating mistake). Without contemporaneous notes, the ombudsman could not definitively determine what was said at each branch visit, but found the account records supported Nationwide's position that no Junior ISA existed. The only identified error was Nationwide's initial statement that the account opened in 2014 rather than 2006, which Nationwide acknowledged and apologised for.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website