Paid in - has she??

srcandas

My partner is spanish. She is UK based, works and pays tax in UK.

She applied for a Northern Rock E-ISA and sent £5000. They then said her Spanish passport was not acceptable and that she would need to get it certified by an Embassy or see a lawyer (certainly at more expense than 5 months interest).

We canceled the account.

We have received a statement saying account closed. It says £6.26 has been paid gross interest.

Has she now lost her ISA allowance for this year? Who if anyone can we appeal to (as other organisations do accept EU passports).

cheers :beer:

Lokolo

How long was the ISA open?

With £6 interest I suspect it was open for a good few weeks, and you only have 7 days cancellation period before it counts towards the subscription.

You should have let them cancel the account, not you cancel it.

srcandas

Lokolo wrote: »

How long was the ISA open?

With £6 interest I suspect it was open for a good few weeks, and you only have 7 days cancellation period before it counts towards the subscription.

You should have let them cancel the account, not you cancel it.

Tx. Sadly they refused to cancel it. I tried writing to them requesting cancellation (with the documented reason) but again they refused and insisted it was done online.

I could argue that the account should never have been open as my partner did not meet the conditions (as she refused to show required documentation).

The account was open for 23 days in total.

Lokolo

It maybe worth calling HMRC ISA Helpline for an answer then, 0845 604 1701 (you could most probably get a saynoto0845 number but it's locked for me at work!).

The only thing is, you may encounter the problem again trying to open one elsewhere..... does she not have a drivers licence with a UK address on it?

srcandas

Lokolo wrote: »

It maybe worth calling HMRC ISA Helpline for an answer then, 0845 604 1701 (you could most probably get a saynoto0845 number but it's locked for me at work!).

The only thing is, you may encounter the problem again trying to open one elsewhere..... does she not have a drivers licence with a UK address on it?

Lokolo many thanks for advice and tel no.. I'll give HMRC a call when the strike is over.

Other orgs seem to have no trouble and are amazed it is an issue. The AA and Fidelity for example. Her license is also Spanish as she doesn't drive here (thinks we drive on the wrong side of the road. I explained we drive on the right side ... well not right but left .... and it fell apart from there :rotfl: )

:beer:

bigfreddiel

I thought that all you need to open an ISA is your NI number - who cares what passport you have - somme people don't even have one!

hope that helps

Mikeyorks

srcandas wrote: »

Has she now lost her ISA allowance for this year?

No.

But you do need to ensure you have the documentation issue sorted before you start again. Provided the NR account is fully closed (and HMRC consider a £zero balance = fully closed) you can open a fresh one elsewhere. You just treat it as though the original was never open and start afresh. It's called 'self transfer' .... HMRC tell you you can't do it - then tell you the acceptable criteria! You can only do it once in a tax year.

This is their example. It's a bit outdated despite sitting in a Guidance document only refreshed for Junior ISAs last month. But it's context is fully up to date - only the Year / allowance is a bit ancient :-

HMRC_Guidance_to_ISA_Managers wrote:

Mrs Cooper subscribes £3,000 to a cash ISA with Anybank plc on 20 April 2008. She closes it on 30 November 2008, then subscribes to a second cash ISA with Betterhomes Building Society on 3 December 2008. The subscriptions to the second cash ISA are valid.

srcandas

bigfreddiel wrote: »

I thought that all you need to open an ISA is your NI number - who cares what passport you have - somme people don't even have one!

hope that helps

bigfreddiel we have spoken to 5 suppliers and all use very similar if not the same one item from list A/ and two from list B method. So a copy of a passport, a utility bill and a bank statement would suffice. There are options beyond a passport such as a driving license (and in the case of Northern Rock an EU passport with a signed certification from a lawyer or an embassy ).

Many thanks Mikeyorks sounds like we may have success . I'll certainly try.

srcandas

well I spoke to HMRC at some length and they insisted that we could not open another ISA this tax year. It looks like my only recourse is the bank omdudsman.

Serves me right I guess for trying to do business with people who know how to bankrupt a bank. As NRock is now sold I guess I have to let it go and just enjoy any good news like Sir B fires Northern Rock managers.

Thanks for listening and the advice :beer:

Mikeyorks

srcandas wrote: »

well I spoke to HMRC at some length and they insisted that we could not open another ISA this tax year.

Big mistake I'm afraid. Just as the Banks - the quality of the advice on offer 'via the phone has deteriorated significantly. You need to just do it ..... as it's been within the rules since 2003. The customer facing advice still says you can't do it .... but the underlying legislation and the guidance to ISA managers qualifies that you can.

A selection of recent (ish) posts - most with links :

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=48768473&postcount=513

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=48824181&postcount=519

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=48847399&postcount=523

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=30430447&postcount=11

http://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2009-09-25/could-you-cash-isa-loophole 'second loophole'

Lokolo

Mikeyorks wrote: »

Big mistake I'm afraid. Just as the Banks - the quality of the advice on offer 'via the phone has deteriorated significantly. You need to just do it ..... as it's been within the rules since 2003. The customer facing advice still says you can't do it .... but the underlying legislation and the guidance to ISA managers qualifies that you can.

A selection of recent (ish) posts - most with links :

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=48768473&postcount=513

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=48824181&postcount=519

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=48847399&postcount=523

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=30430447&postcount=11

http://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2009-09-25/could-you-cash-isa-loophole 'second loophole'

See I wonder about this. Surely the banks send details of an ISA subscription to HMRC. So in this case if scrandas opens a new one with say Halifax, both them and NR will send info saying "scrandas has deposited £5k in NR and £5,340 in Halifax"?

So not sure how they would recognise that a self transfer has taken place (unless they also send closing balances).... and then if so, why only limit self transfers to one a year?

---

On a side note, scrandas, I would personally have ignored HMRC from the first place and opened a new ISA. HOWEVER, if things end up going wrong you will get a warning letter from HMRC (which the thought does scare some people off!)

If you do go and open one elsewhere and use your allowance there, please update in 6 months to say whether you got a warning letter or any sort of communication from HMRC, would be interested.