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

thumshie

The money is not in the ether, it's still sitting in your current account, afaik they don't deposit the cheque early(infact my ISA was credited three days before my current account was debited-not exactly backdated to when i wrote it ). Barclays are not to blame if your current account only pays a measily 0.1% on some/all of it.

TheDink

My OH & I both posted our applications as existing customers on March 23rd - still the cheques haven't been cashed. Were told in branch that there has been a delay because of the number of applications, but this is getting on for a month now, and as others have said, we don't even know if the application form arrived!

bintheredunthat

Quote from Thumshie "Barclays are not to blame if your current account only pays a measily 0.1% on some/all of it." Never said they were,never said mine does !!
It's all in the detail and it's about professionalism. If Barclays were fitting kitchens - your new kitchen would be out of fashion & they would be out of business by now.
There's a good reason why Barclays is rhyming slang !!

Bargain_Rzl

thumshie wrote: »

The money is not in the ether, it's still sitting in your current account, afaik they don't deposit the cheque early(infact my ISA was credited three days before my current account was debited-not exactly backdated to when i wrote it ). Barclays are not to blame if your current account only pays a measily 0.1% on some/all of it.

But it is their fault that people's money is still sitting somewhere where the interest on it is subject to tax!

FWIW I opened mine via the online form and took it into the branch on Saturday along with my ID (not being an existing customer). Now waiting to see how long it takes.

thumshie

Bargain Rzl-it took 28days for me. That does include having to re-apply because they 'lost my cheque'. and I doubt it will be back dated, otherwise i believe the date shown against the deposit would be backdated online. All in all i work that out(for me) as a loss of £5 max due to tax, £13ish total if it was sitting in an account earning 0.1%(it wasn't).

Innys

thumshie wrote: »

The money is not in the ether, it's still sitting in your current account, afaik they don't deposit the cheque early(infact my ISA was credited three days before my current account was debited-not exactly backdated to when i wrote it ). Barclays are not to blame if your current account only pays a measily 0.1% on some/all of it.

Actually, Barclays are to blame in my case. Why? because the money is sitting in a Barclays current account earning a "measily 0.1%" waiting for them to move it to an 07/08 ISA.

I have my doubts that they will be backdating the interest and will be checking very closely this time next year to see how much interest they have credited me with.

katrose_uk

Well after nearly four weeks I've managed to track down my application and cheque for £3K that I took into my local branch for 2006-2007 (after applying online and then being told that as I wasn't already a customer I had to to a branch) and it appears that it has been returned to the branch as they didn't set me up on the Barclays systems!!:mad:

So for four weeks, my cash has been sitting in my A&L account (all be it, £2.5K at 6.1% so at least its not too bad!) but for the first time ever, I've had money to deposit in an ISA and I've more than likely missed out on my 2006-7 allowance! I have to say that the lady I spoke to at saving and investments helpline was really helpful and has told me to go back to the branch and to get them to call her direct (I have her name and extn) and that she will try and sort something out! I wouldn't mind but I could have opened a A&L ISA at the touch of a button....:mad:

Oh well, thats life I suppose! Sorry for the rant

Hope you all have better luck with your outstanding applications and I'll let you know what happens when I go into the branch!

harryhound

harryhound wrote: »

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=414162

It is two weeks now and Mrs Hound has been back to Barclays local branch three times with a wad of cash BUT they still cannot tell her the account number so she can top it up to the 3K limit for the 06/07 tax year.

Original cheque still not cashed.:eek:

Harry.

Yesterday (Tuesday) Mrs Hound got a surprise pack from Barclays: All the paperwork and the CHEQUE from about a month ago sent back.

Somehow Mrs Hound and the nice person in Barclays, who had helped her fill in the forms, had failed to notice that there is a tick box. It seems that there was a choice between "Tax Beater" and some other inferior ISA. Mrs Hound had failed to tick. Any other organisation would have phoned and ticked accordingly. (I use a Bic multi colour ballpoint in my business for correcting customer's mistakes).

So Mrs Hound gets out the car and off she goes to the local branch. It is closed for redecoration, so there is a wasted ten mile trip.

Today Mrs Hound was "in conference" all day, so I offered to check the situation for her. I wish I had not: Press button this press button that and here we are in deepest India. Interesting discussion about the geography of South Essex and then got cut off after being offered a call back.
(Just for the record - it seems that the bod in India does NOT know the caller's phone number (!?!) so cannot offer to phone back unless you have given it to them).
Frustrated call from Mrs Hound at lunch time.
Increasingly angry call from me back to India. "Just stop talking and reading your script and listen to me, this is what I want you to do:..................
Interrupting - Are you a customer?- "Just listen to me - I'm a shareholder. I own this shambolic organisation and if you keep on interrupting me I will personally go to the Annual General Meeting and tell the Chairman of Barclays of what a mess you are making of everything". That seemed to do the trick and all I needed to know was "Is the branch open and when will it close tonight?"

Well Mrs Hound managed to get into the branch before it closed and they have promised her that the account will still be opened for 06/07 and yes she will get all the interest on all the money. We will see.

(About 20 something years ago the Chancellor tried to promote the Friendly Society movement, by giving it much enhanced tax free limits. A year or so later the Chancellor realised he had made a mistake as new Friendly societies were popping up all over the place, just to cash in on the tax exemption. So he announced in the Budget that as from midnight it would be back to the old rules. One society, called the Fleet Friendly Society if I remember correctly, stayed open all night, with a Q round the block of punters throwing forms and cheques into tea chests. Obviously Fleet like Barclays had bitten off more than it could chew. Things came to a head some time later when the Revenue mounted a court case (and WON), to claim tax from those account holders, who had queued through the night. (That is from memory, but I think it is essentially correct - tax experts please chip in if I'm loosing my memory)

I would be interested to learn if there is some subtle legal difference between a Bank and a Friendly society in the eyes of the tax man. Perhaps size matters ? On the other hand perhaps it doesn't. It seems Barclays has already been turned over:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing/article.html?in_article_id=419459&in_page_id=166

Harry.

PS When should I sell my shares? (last week ?) I only got them as a result of having more than 100GBP in my Woolwich account.:D

PPS I did not like the cost of my latest haircut, so I chucked 7000 GBP into a last minute ISA with M&G (Mean and Greedy - part of Prudential) for them to put into inflation proof gilts. Excellent administration. Mrs Hound and I will compare notes this time next year.

PPPS Rant ends here for the moment.

Kazza242

Innys wrote: »

I have my doubts that they will be backdating the interest and will be checking very closely this time next year to see how much interest they have credited me with.

The Barclays Tax Beater ISA credits interest monthly, so no need to wait until next year to check whether they have backdated it. After month 1 it will be possible to calculate how many days worth of interest they have paid you.

Indispensable_Hobbes

Bargain_Rzl wrote: »

But it is I opened mine via the online form and took it into the branch on Saturday along with my ID (not being an existing customer). Now waiting to see how long it takes.

I also did this, the lady said to watch for my cheque being cashed as confimation of the account being opened incase there is a delay with the confirmation letter etc

katrose_uk
just noticed your sig... im sure A&L premier direct is the higher rate up to 2500 not 2000 ???