Member FAQs

If you wish to call us with an enquiry relating to your plan, we are required to check some details with you to verify you as the plan holder (or registered contact for child policies) all with the aim of keeping your details and your plan as safe as possible.

You will not be required to provide any information if you are calling with a general enquiry that’s not linked to your plan.

Our customers are at the heart of everything we do.  In line with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance and our ethos as a mutual society, we want to ensure that we treat customers with a vulnerability fairly whilst understanding and responding to your needs.

If you wish to let us know about a vulnerability please contact us on 0800 988 2418 or use our online form.

Take out any of our financial products and you’ll automatically become a member with access to Foresters Extras, our member benefits package including financial support, practical help, as well as social and community events. Alternatively, you’ll also be welcomed as a member by taking out an annual subscription. For only £25 every year, you can enjoy all the benefits of Foresters Extras.

If your plan has finished within the last six months and you would like to continue your membership, you can take out a new plan or membership with Foresters and your membership will be considered continuous.

Please contact the Branch Helpdesk on 0800 101 8310 or by email at [email protected].

To find out more about our discretionary member benefits package, Foresters Extras, you can view the membership section of our website. This will provide you with details of the main benefits we provide.

If you’d like to know more about the local benefits offered by your branch, please contact your branch secretary on the details you should have received when you became a member.  If you have misplaced your secretary’s details, please email our Branch Helpdesk on [email protected] or call 0800 101 8310.

To submit a claim for a discretionary grant, download the relevant form from our website, complete and return it as advised in each form.

To see what social and community events are happening near you or across the UK, use our simple events portal.  If you see something you like, just get in contact with the organiser and come along!  You can also contact your local branch secretary for details of the events they may be planning and your branch should be in contact with events that may be of interest to you from time to time.

We understand that some members want to have online access to their savings plan and we are investing in our digital capabilities to enable this service. In the meantime, we are able to provide plan values over the phone and we also send out annual statements regarding your plan’s value.

When online access is available, we will contact our members to provide them with the opportunity to set up a secure, online account with us.

If you wish to change the address on your plan you may either:

• Call us on 0800 101 8311; or
• Write to us at Foresters Friendly Society, Third Floor, Enterprise House, Ocean Village, Ocean Way, Southampton, SO14 3XB.
  If writing in to confirm your new address, please make sure you also include your previous address, full name, signature and your plan or member number if this is known.

Unfortunately we are not able to accept change of address requests via email. This is to ensure that we keep your personal and plan details as safe as possible.

If you wish to make a change to the bank details for your plan there are a couple of options available to you. We are unable to take new bank details via email to ensure we keep your plan as safe as possible.

• By phone
  If you wish to change your bank or Direct Debit details over the phone, please call our Contributions Department on 0800 101 8314 with your new sort code and account number. We can only speak to the bank account holder about a change of Bank or Direct Debit details.
• By Direct Debit mandate form
  If you don’t have time to call us, you can request a Direct Debit mandate form from us which we can either send to you in the post with a pre-paid envelope for you to sign and return to us, or which we can send to you by email. Mandates sent via email will need to be printed by the bank account holder, signed and returned to us by post to Foresters Friendly Society, Third Floor, Enterprise House, Ocean Village, Ocean Way, Southampton, SO14 3XB.

Please contact our Contributions Department on 0800 101 8314 or by email at [email protected] to request a Direct Debit mandate form. You will need to provide your plan number and some other personal details so that we can keep your plan safe by confirming it is the plan holder we are talking to.

If you wish to change the name on your plan please send an original or certified copy of your change of name documentation to our Member Services Team at Foresters Friendly Society, Third Floor, Enterprise House, Ocean Way, Ocean Village, Southampton, SO14 3XB.

Examples of accepted forms of change of name documentation include Marriage certificates, deed Polls and decree absolutes.

Please note that we cannot accept standard photocopies that have not been certified.

If you intend to provide certified copies of documentation, the certification should be undertaken by a regulated or professional person. This is similar to getting a passport certified. For example;

• Solicitor
• Banker
• Accountant
• Teacher
• Doctor
• Civil Servant

The certification should state “I confirm that this is a true copy of the original” and, along with the signature, include the person’s full name, full address, telephone number and occupation.

If you would like to add a nominee to your plan who can receive up to £5,000 without having to wait for probate following your death, you will need to complete, sign and return a nomination form.

Please contact our Member Sales & Services Team for a nomination form, by email at [email protected] alternatively, you can call us on 0800 101 8311.

New plan applications are processed by us within 5 working days of receipt. If you have not received your policy documentation within 7 working days following your application, please contact our Member Sales & Services Team who will arrange for another set to be posted to you.

To contact a member of our Member Sales & Services Team, please email at [email protected], alternatively you can call us on 0800 101 8311.

If you require information on your plan and have lost your original plan documents, we are able to send a replacement at no additional cost.

To contact a member of our Member Sales & Services Team, please email at [email protected], alternatively you can call us on 0800 101 8311.

Cashback is paid through the cashback provider once the advertised terms and conditions have been met.  Please contact the cashback site directly and they will assist you with your enquiry. We are unable to investigate any queries before they have been raised with the cashback site.

With profit plan annual bonuses are confirmed in March following the previous investment year which runs January to December i.e. the bonus rates for 2022 will be confirmed in March 2023.

Following their confirmation, we start work on the annual bonus statements and aim to issue them by June.

Child Trust Fund (CTF) policyholders receive their bonus statements slightly later in the year due to the different format the statements must take in keeping with CTF regulations.

Unit linked, POIS plan, statements are sent on the plan anniversary annually.

Bonus statements are currently sent by post so please keep your address details up to date with us.

If your plan is due to mature, our Claims team will send out your maturity paperwork approximately 8 weeks before your maturity date, to notify you of the details and the simple process to follow. This will include the maturity amount and the potential re-investment opportunities available so that you can remain a Foresters member.

We will contact you 8 weeks ahead of your 18^th birthday with details of your plan’s value and the simple process to follow using our online claims form.  We will also provide you with details on the re-investment options we have available to you so that you can continue your savings habit into adulthood and remain a Foresters member.

Your Child Trust Fund maturity pack will give you a final value for your plan, and include all the information you need to make your decision on what to do next.   To find out more please visit our Child Trust Find maturity Page.

When a savings plan matures, cheques are made payable to the Policyholder, which in this case is the child.

If a cheque has been issued in your child’s name and they do not have a bank account, then a bank account will need to be opened for them. Unfortunately we cannot make cheques payable to anyone other than the policyholder.

Please contact our Claims Department on 0800 101 8312 or contact us by email at [email protected] for further information.

Unfortunately, we cannot make a BACS payment to anyone other than the policyholder.  A bank account will need to opened for your child.

A number of payment methods are available to you depending on the type of plan you hold and the regularity of the payment.

Lump Sum Payments

To make a lump sum payment into your ISA, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA or Child Trust Fund we can accept:

• Lump sum payments made online via our top up forms
• Debit card payments over the phone
• Cheques made payable to Foresters Friendly Society

ISA Transfers

Transfers in can be made online for our ISA, Lifetime ISA and Junior ISA via our website. Alternatively you can download a transfer form here.

• Transfers in can be made online for our ISA, Lifetime ISA and Junior ISA via our website. Alternatively you can download a transfer form here.
• Topping up an existing ISA
• If you wish to make an online transfer from your bank account into an ISA, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA or Child Trust Fund plans only), please contact us on 0800 101 8311 for our bank details.

Regular/Monthly Payments

We accept Direct Debits for monthly/regular payments into our ISA, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA, Tax Exempt, Saving & Investment and Over 50s plans.

Please select this option when using our online forms or complete a Direct Debit mandate form for this type of payment.

Yes, we accept top-ups over the phone by debit card for our range of ISAs and Child Trust Fund plans.

If you wish to make a top-up payment by debit card, please call our Member Sales & Services Team on 0800 988 2418.

Yes, we accept online payments via a debit card into Child Trust Fund accounts.

Alternatively, if you wish to transfer a lump sum direct from your Bank Account please contact us by email at [email protected] alternatively, you can call us on 0800 101 8311 and we will provide the details on what to do.

If you have missed a payment into your plan, please contact our Contributions Department on 0800 101 8314 and we can arrange to collect the payment by Direct Debit, or you can send a cheque, including your plan number, to us at Foresters Friendly Society, Third Floor, Enterprise House, Ocean Village, Ocean Way, Southampton, SO14 3XB.

Your plan is due to mature and you would like to find out when your last payment is, please contact our Contributions Department on 0800 101 8314 or contact us by email at [email protected].

If your plan is paid by Direct Debit, we will cancel the instruction after your last premium is collected or when you have advised us that you wish to surrender/cancel your plan.

If your plan is paid by Standing Order, you will need to cancel the instruction with your Bank or Building Society.

We understand that some members want to have online access to their savings plan and we are investing in our digital capabilities to enable this service. In the meantime, we are able to provide plan values over the phone and we also send out annual statements regarding your plan’s value.

If you wish to find out the value of your Foresters Friendly Society plan, please contact our Claims Department on 0800 101 8312.

When online access is available, we will contact our members to provide them with the opportunity to set up a secure, online account with us.

If you wish to cash-in your Foresters Friendly Society plan, please contact our Claims Department on 0800 101 8312. We will calculate the plan’s current value which can be provided over the phone and then we will send this out to you in writing.  The letter will explain the next steps if you wish to cash-in your plan.

If you have received a maturity or surrender claim form for your plan it must be signed by the Policyholder before being returned to our Claims Department at Foresters Friendly Society, Third Floor, Enterprise House, Ocean Village, Ocean Way, Southampton, SO14 3XB.

If you have returned a surrender claim form to us, your form will be processed within 5 working days of our receiving it. If you have requested payment by BACS, please note this may take 3 to 5 days to show in your bank account after your surrender has been processed.

If you have not received your money within 5 working days, please contact our Claims Department on 0800 101 8312.

Maturity letters are sent out to members roughly 8 weeks before their plan matures. The letter includes details of the maturity amount. Maturity amounts are based on the assumption that all premiums have been paid that are due.

Please contact our Claims Department on 0800 101 8312 or contact us by email at [email protected] for further information.

To notify us of the death of a policyholder, please contact our Claims Department on 0800 101 8312.