ISA help, did I miss the cut off or not??

HotPotato

Hi all,

leaving things as usual to the last minute, I opened a NatWest Isa online on the 30th March, and on the forms asked that the full allowance be transferred in. I then went abroad and got back 2 days ago. I checked online, and they've opened the account, but didnt transfer any money into it!

I then found a load of forms and other general account rubbish, saying that the money would be transferred once I had signed the forms. I bank anyway with natwest and have internet banking, so it all should have gone through fine online!

I called them and got put through to about 7 different departments, before someone said that they will get back to me, which I'm still waiting for.

My question is this, can ISA deposits be 'backdated'? Can the bank let me use up last years allowance, due to an error on their side? Or am I out of luck?

opinions4u

HotPotato wrote: »

I then found a load of forms and other general account rubbish, saying that the money would be transferred once I had signed the forms.

So it wasn't all rubbish.

My question is this, can ISA deposits be 'backdated'?

Only in genuinely exceptional circumstsances where the provider is willing to have HM Revenue and Customers crawl all over them after the event. You ignoring "rubbish" would not encourage them to call this exceptional.

Can the bank let me use up last years allowance, due to an error on their side? Or am I out of luck?

It looks like your error to me.

HotPotato

by rubbish I meant the general account opening literature, rates, T&Cs, the 'guide to keeping you informed'.

I had actually stopped by my branch that day, and asked to open an ISA, but couldnt when I found out that you needed an NI number, which I didn't know. They said, no problem, you can do 'the whole thing online anyway, and it only takes a couple of minutes'.

To me doing the whole thing online, means exactly that, not doing things online, waiting for mail, and then signing forms.

opinions4u

HotPotato wrote: »

by rubbish I meant the general account opening literature, rates, T&Cs, the 'guide to keeping you informed'.

So pretty important stuff relating to the running of accounts.

I had actually stopped by my branch that day, and asked to open an ISA, but couldnt when I found out that you needed an NI number, which I didn't know. They said, no problem, you can do 'the whole thing online anyway, and it only takes a couple of minutes'.

Given the importance of the tax year end, making absolutely sure it was funded (as will no doubt be explained in the T&C that you ignored) is absolutely your responsibility.

To me doing the whole thing online, means exactly that, not doing things online, waiting for mail, and then signing forms.

So when your online receipt appears, you know this is done. But you never got one and did nothing about it until it was too late.

By the way, there are 365 days in a typical tax year, why did you leave it until day 359?

I'm afraid you dropped the ball on this one.

Pursue a complaint with them by all means, but I don't think your case is strong.

agsnu

Yeah NatWest's account opening procedure is a mess when it comes to initial deposits... But I don't think it's an error, perhaps just misleading. I'm not sure what you can do about this, though. The official guidance is that a cash ISA subscription happens:

• by telegraphic transfer – if the investor instructs the manager to transfer funds,
the date on which the instruction is received and accepted by the ISA manager,
provided that the cash transfer takes place in due course. If the investor
transfers the funds directly, the date on which the subscribed funds are
received by the ISA manager.

Natwest will undoubtedly not treat the instruction as accepted until you sign and return the slip.

HotPotato

Just a follow up to this, I recieved a few letters from NatWest saying they have received my complaint and are investigating -I didnt even know I'd filed a complaint per se.

However this morning I just got a note from them saying that they are backdating my deposit of this tax year, to the last tax year, paying me interest on it, and allowing me to deposit an additional £3600 this year.

Job done and excellent result!