Upheld: failure to follow maturity instructions; operational error; inadequate customer support complaint against Bank of Ireland (UK) Plc (trading as Post Office Money)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr R instructed Post Office Money to reinvest £85,000 into a one-year bond at maturity on 25 November 2024, but the firm failed to execute this instruction and instead transferred the funds to a lower-interest easy saver account (1.35% versus 4.15%). Mr R did not discover the error until March 2025 when notified of an interest rate reduction, and subsequently experienced technical difficulties accessing his account online. Post Office Money argued Mr R should have monitored his account and noted the absence of a confirmation letter, but the ombudsman found this letter was not delivered due to postal system failures beyond Mr R's control. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, directing Post Office Money to pay backdated interest at the higher bond rate on both the original £85,000 and £50,000 subsequently transferred to another account, plus £100 compensation for inconvenience and inadequate technical support.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Mr R most likely provided complete maturity instructions as claimed, evidenced by Post Office Money's own confirmation message and the fact it paid the interest component. The firm's assertion that it only received partial instructions was not credible. The ombudsman rejected Post Office Money's argument that Mr R should have monitored his account to discover the error, as the confirmation letter was not delivered due to postal system failures beyond Mr R's control. The technical difficulties Mr R experienced were genuine and Post Office Money failed to provide adequate support. The ombudsman determined that Mr R should be restored to the position he would have been in had the instructions been followed correctly.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website