I want to help my daughter buy a house after her divorce, but the bank won’t let me: SALLY REGISTERS IT

A few weeks ago our daughter told us the terrible news that she and her husband are getting divorced and that their house is for sale.

This is devastating as our daughter earns very little and works with multiple disabilities including long Covid. We want to help her and her daughter finance a home as her income is too low to afford a mortgage.

To do this we need to take out £20,000 in a one-year bond which we took out in June this year through the Aviva Save marketplace. But the company is refusing to give us this. Can you please help us?

DP, Doncaster

Sally Hamilton responds: Your family has rallied to help your daughter and granddaughter in their hour of need. Although your daughter will receive money from the sale of the marital property, it will take time and she will still not be able to get an adequate mortgage on her own.

You and your son have decided to lend a helping hand by donating £155,000 from you and £20,000 from him, to secure the purchase of a bungalow worth £175,000.

You both filled out ‘gifting letters’ for her conveyancing solicitor and estate agent. These are needed to confirm that people who give money for a property purchase do so without conditions.

Her offer for the property has been accepted, but completion is in jeopardy due to a £20,000 shortfall. This is the amount tied up in your one-year GB Bank Bond that Aviva Save told you cannot be released.

Aviva Save is an online marketplace that gives 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 fill in an application each time.

You were happy with your one-year bond from GB Bank, which offered an attractive rate of 5.02%. But the deal clearly states that customers must leave their money there for the year. Savers in these types of accounts sacrifice flexibility for higher returns, although in limited circumstances providers will consider early access and may impose a penalty for early termination.

You thought your plight would meet such criteria. It certainly proved enough to convince NatWest, who released £40,000 that you had committed to its one-year bond. But Aviva Save rejected your bond application.

I thought you had a strong case for Aviva Save to show more leniency, so I contacted the company on your behalf. A few days later they responded with a decision to give you your savings anyway.

A spokesperson said: ‘Normally, the terms of a fixed term account do not allow customers to end their contract early, except in specifically defined circumstances. This is standard practice.

‘However, in this case we recognise the exceptional circumstances of the customer and have therefore worked with the bank that provided this account. The bank has agreed to release the customer’s money ahead of the expiry of the contract. As a gesture of good faith, the £75 early release penalty has also been waived.’

You have received back the full amount invested, but no interest has been added, as this was to be calculated at the end of the 12-month period. The purchase of your daughter’s house can go ahead.

In late 2019 I bought a prepaid SIM card from the Three Mobile store on Oxford Street, London, to use in America. Unfortunately I couldn’t activate it for my trip as it didn’t work with my phone.

It cost me £20 and although that was a shame I didn’t think much of it until earlier this year I discovered that I had been billed monthly by direct debit since 2019 without my permission.

The charge does not show up on the statement as Three, but as ‘H3G’, which I assumed was my gym. I have been trying to resolve this since late January, have spent over 12 hours on the phone with Three customer service and can’t get through. Please help.

SH, Kettering, North America

Sally Hamilton responds: You said that once you realised the direct debit was being run by Three, you cancelled it and withdrew the amounts that had been debited via a direct debit exemption claim. That seemed to wake Three up from the non-communication.

After four years of no attempt to correspond with you, the bank decided to write to you requesting payment of the outstanding balance of £811 on your account. This amount included cancelled direct debits and two unpaid bills.

You explain that you had no contract, that you never activated the SIM card and that you never received any notifications, such as warnings about price increases. If you had, you would have taken action sooner. The important thing is that the mobile number was never used and that you have no idea what it is. An investigation was promised. But then it went quiet.

I asked Three to step up its efforts. It came back saying that the data suggested you had opened a rolling monthly contract in November 2019 and that, although the phone had never been used, the terms and conditions state that customers still have to pay.

You don’t remember signing a contract. After my intervention, Three said it had requested this from the store, but that it would clear your outstanding balance in the meantime.

A spokesperson for Three said: ‘SH entered into a monthly recurring contract and made monthly payments to Three in accordance with this contract. As a gesture of goodwill, we settled her outstanding balance and closed her account.’ It also agreed to amend your credit file.

In general, taking out a mobile phone contract in-store gives buyers fewer automatic cancellation rights than when buying online or by phone. The latter have a 14-day cooling-off period. In-store buyers can request cancellation in this window, but there is no guarantee that the provider will agree.

Your experience is a lesson to all of us: check your bank statements regularly so we can address unexpected charges quickly.