Barclays Tax Beater Cash ISA - experiences so far (merged)

RobLondon1984

Does anyone know how the bonus of 1% works? As its 5.31% tax free plus 1% gross bonus rate for 12 months. Does that make the interest 6.31% or 6.11% with 20% tax deduction on 1%.

Thanks for any replies

exel1966

Tax Deduction ? It's an ISA, it's ALL TAX FREE.

morg_monster

johnmoney05 wrote: »

You better not to close it....because your £1200 might count this year allowance if they did open your ISA.

I'm not just going to close it - you can cancel within 14 days of opening without affecting your ISA status for the year.

LittleVoice

morg_monster wrote: »

Barclays have my £1200 deposit for this years ISA which I gave them on the 5th April (they knew it was for thes year.) The cheque hasn't been deposited yet according to my current account balance. I have decided to open an Egg one instead and cancel my Barclays one under the 14 day rule (which I assume I can't actually do until they open the account?).
What Barclays telephone number do I need to cancel the ISA when the time comes?

Play safe - if there's a 14-day cooling off period, write to cancel for them to receive cancellation within 14 days of the 6th - ie on or before this Thursday, whether or not you have account details.

MiserlyMartin

This problem with Barclays is proving to be very inconvinient. I have the £3000 for the ISA sitting in my Flexaccount earning an amount of interest but I also have many other bills and things to pay for and I need to cover this. If I don't leave about £6000 in total there, the cheque will bounce past my overdraft when Barclays finally draw it, who knows what excessive charge I'd have to pay if it got drawn the same day mortgage and other bills leave the account.

Problem is Nationwide don't pay any interest over £3000, so backdated interest had better happen at Barclays.

My financial life is effectively on hold until Barclays draw that Cheque.!!

fablad75

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

This problem with Barclays is proving to be very inconvinient. I have the £3000 for the ISA sitting in my Flexaccount earning an amount of interest but I also have many other bills and things to pay for and I need to cover this. If I don't leave about £6000 in total there, the cheque will bounce past my overdraft when Barclays finally draw it, who knows what excessive charge I'd have to pay if it got drawn the same day mortgage and other bills leave the account.

Problem is Nationwide don't pay any interest over £3000, so backdated interest had better happen at Barclays.

My financial life is effectively on hold until Barclays draw that Cheque.!!

I'm in the exact same situation as you, except that I'm with Alliance and Leicester (lousy interest over £2500). Good thing is that if they DO backdate the interest as promised, that means we're earning interest on the same amount for these couple of weeks!

ED

MiserlyMartin + fablad75 - valid point about current account balance limits @ the high rates offered by Nationwide BS and A+L, etc. The enhanced £5,000 balance of Lloyds TSB for 4.17% gross interest is one attraction, I suppose.

Wish I hadn't rushed to take out the Barclays Tax Beater and transfer-out of many past years' Cash ISAs to another provider. With the 0.30% Inflation rise announced today (3.1) perhaps May 10th will see a 0.50% Base Rate rise.

Perhaps the Inflation shock rise (+ Pound worth more than 2 US Dollars) is keeping many of the IFAs and other financial workers too busy to participate on MSE!

ric2003

Don't let barclays branch staff mess you about!

I went into the branch today to open the isa, with my application form printed from the internet with proof of address and id, etc.

The woman at the counter dissapeared for ten minutes then came back and said they couldn't accept a mobile phone bill as proof of address. I was annoyed at this because it didn't say that on the application form - just 'proof of address', and why would a mobile bill be different from a gas bill?? She went to speak to the 'manager' (he looked about five years old with spiky hair) and then suddenly a mobile bill was ok. I think she just said that to get rid of me because they were busy.

The guy who processed the application said the cheque might not be accepted because it was only for the minimum deposit of £1 (I want to make sure the account is open before parting with any more than that), he thought the minimum was £10 - I've just checked on the website and, sure enough, the minimum opening balance is £1.

I was in the branch for about 30 mins altogether. No wonder they are busy if it takes that long to open an account!

ysatiss

I applied for one for the 06/07 tax year on the 5th of april and gave them my cheque. I asked if I could give my cheque for the 07/08 tax year and they replied that the money had to be sent by bank tranfer and couldn't be a cheque. At the time, I thought that was even better as I tend to do everything online. Now I'm getting impatient... I withdrew 3k twice (once per tax year) from my -not tax free- savings account and am earning no interest. No doubt that the 06/07 will be backdated but I got confirmation from their call centre (the one in India, because the ISA department is too busy) that they would NOT backdate the interest for 07/08. I was told that I "should receive something for the end of the month". I'm going to go to the branch and give them a cheque... See if that works.
I used to have an ISA with them up until a couple of years ago. I cancelled it because they were useless (refused to let me withdraw 2k because I had a french driving licence and ID but no passport... Apparently, an ID card is not a valid ID???!). Now I remember why I left! They have the best rate by a mile, but god they're rubbish at customer service!

hereford_2

fablad75 wrote: »

I'm in the exact same situation as you, except that I'm with Alliance and Leicester (lousy interest over £2500). Good thing is that if they DO backdate the interest as promised, that means we're earning interest on the same amount for these couple of weeks!

I just opened a premier direct account and they automatically opened a Saver Plus account that I didn't ask for as I'd already just opened a Direct Saver (5.8%) at the same time as I opened the premier direct. However I looked up the Saver Plus and it does pay 4.8% interest, which is certainly better than the 0.1% you get if you leave anything over 2500 in the premier direct account. So good on them for that. I can move money between the 2 accounts using internet banking, and its a nice buffer for the direct saver to stash cash short term and not have to suffer the direct saver penalty of losing a months interest for making a small withdrawal.

I have to say I was quite impressed. I've also got a LLoyds Classic Plus account which as somone pointed out pays 4.25% or thereabouts on amounts upto £5000. However using the premier direct in combination with the saver plus beats this hands down, at least at the moment anyway.