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

vandanfc

hereford wrote: »

All I got was a promotional booklet and a welcome letter which included the ISA account number and a couple of paying in forms and prepaid envelopes.

Nothing to admit they had £3000 of my money. The account was opened within a few days back in March for the 2006/2007 tax year.

Is the date opened in this year or last year's tax year ?

Husband received a letter today, applied for 2006/2007 tax year but it's dated 5 april. Again no confirmation of amount paid in, no receipt from branch to confirm amount, all we have is cheque stub and bank statement.

Will have to get oh to ring when he gets back home later.

verdie

I printed out the Barclays form and then trailed down to the branch with my passport etc. The earliest appointment they had to try to extract information from me for direct marketing was two weeks time. I'm not prepared to wait two weeks to start earning interest or spend 40 minutes (their estimate) of my time suppplying information so they can try to flog more of their products - and all for an extra £20 of so a year. Not at all impressed with Barclays.

bashful

I posted this in error on the The Best Mini Cash ISA Article Discussion Area but it is clearly more appropriate here - sorry for the double post!



"Quote:
Originally Posted by jem16
The 6.31% is the monthly rate. If you keep the interest in the ISA it will become 6.5% annually as the interest is compounded over the year.

It is all tax-free, monthly or annually."

a) That is really helpful jem 16. However, I can't remember being asked whether I wanted the interest paid to me monthly or compounded - will this be a supplementary question from Barclays?

b) Also, if compounded and you have a £3k ISA, wouldn't that take it over the limit?

c) I took my application in to Exeter Barclays on 2 April and have had nothing in the post and the cheque hasn't been cashed. I want to take out another ISA for 2007-8 and assumed I could easily do this once my first ISA was registered etc. Currently that £3k is in a Halifax websaver so I am losing interest the longer this takes. I emailed Barclays earlier this week but, as expected, no reply. What best to do please - sit it out and wait the BoE base rate change?

This is my first post to any of MSE's forum. I have been getting the weekly emails for a couple of months now and find the hints and tips fascinating and useful. An awful lot to take in though and it does take a bit of time.

Best regards to all the experts and contributors on this great website!

Brian

bashful

bashful wrote: »

I emailed Barclays earlier this week but, as expected, no reply.

Whilst sending that message I received the following email from replies@barclays.com

Their email follows:

Thank you for your email.

Please contact our ISA Helpline on 0845 6030845, International +44 151 254 6144, for an update on your application, as we do not have access to customer account information at this office.

For the 2006-07 tax year, providing your application was received by the 5th April, the ISA will be opened in the 2006 - 2007 Tax year.

Applications received after the 5th April, will be processed in the 2007-08 year. We are unfortunately experiencing a backlog of applications at the moment, and will contact you shortly to confirm your application.

Interest will be backdated to the date the application was received by Barclays.

The Helpline has for the time being, extended their hours of opening to :-

Monday - Friday - 8.30am - 7.00pm
Saturday 9.00am - 2.00pm

We apologise for the delay in replying, this has been caused by the unusually high volume of applications received, immediately prior to the end of the Tax year.


Yours sincerely

Internet Care Team
For and on behalf of
Barclays Bank plc

So I phoned and after a bit of menu choosing I got through to Camille. We had a few linguistic issues what with my heavy Devonshire accent and her equally heavy Liverpudlian one however, after a bit of checking, I don’t exist on her customer system.

It seems that the Exeter Branch should have “located me” on Barclay’s customer system and, until that is done, I can’t use their helpline – dang it! Apparently I have to go back into town with some id and get someone in the branch to do this – doh!

Maybe I wait and hope I get something in the post……

B

kingsand

Compound wrote: »

Clause 2.2 of the T&C says that you can pay by cash. You need to point this out to the branch.

Tried that one - they say the cash has to go into a current account and then be transferred!! Rock and a hard place comes to mind

carpy

my cheque still haven't been paid in or certainly hasn't cleared from my A&L current account.

the clock is ticking as aren't they meant to have them all open by the end of the month?

i've tried complaining via email but just get the automated reply!!

Compound_2

kingsand wrote: »

Tried that one - they say the cash has to go into a current account and then be transferred!! Rock and a hard place comes to mind

Another phrase coming to mind is ‘Barclays contradicting themselves’ – the title of a thread on this ISA forum. I’m sorry to hear your local branch is refusing to comply with the T&C. Another branch should be more helpful, but I realize that may be impractical. Does what your cashier told you apply just to cash, or cheques too? The customer advisor at my local branch said even cheque deposits couldn't be processed at the counter - they could only be internal mailed to the ISA Office without a receipt, to be processed the next day. She said this was to ensure the annual limit wasn't exceeded - so it wasn't a cash issue.

Once my account was open, I paid in a cheque at the same branch and the cashier credited it and put it in the clearing process that day, the opposite of what I'd been told.

andyelcomb

Just been trawling this topic and have to report a very similar scenario to many previous poster.

I went into Barclays Petts Wood on 18th April with two fully completed forms, passports, utility bills and bank account statements for ID for myself and Mrs E and separate £100 cheques to open two of the Tax Saver ISAs.

Expected them to take copies of ID, stamp the application and that would be it. 10 mins and out....

Oh no, "you have to have an appointment with our financial adviser to apply" says the cashier.
"Where does it say that on the paperwork?"
"Err, don't know but that's the way it must be".
"Ok, would that be the lady sitting over there with no customers?" sayeth moi
"Yes, but you can't see her, you'll have to make an appointment and come back".
"I don't think so"
"I'll see if she can make an exception"
Get delivered to the advisor who tries to make it seem like she is doing me a favour by seeing me straight away.

I plonk the applications on the desk and she starts doing the same as others have reported - ignoring the application form and putting it all onto the computer which takes a lot longer than anticipated (see the consequences at the bottom of this post..).
Gets copies taken and all is ok until she looks at the OH's application.

"I can't accept this application unless the applicant is here in person".
"Are you having a laugh?"
"No, Mrs E will have to come in - shall I make an appointment?"
"You have got to be kidding - you have the completed application, her original passport and sole account bank statement and another joint account statement in both our names with the same address. Mrs E lives & works in Sittingbourne (30 miles away) and she is going to be seriously annoyed (polite version) about this."
"I'm sorry, but she will have to into Sittingbourne branch for this application".
"Ok, you've just lost another customer in Mrs E."

Just couldn't be !!!!!d to argue the toss.
What really put the icing on the cake was coming outside to find that the pay & display ticket I had bought had expired and I'd got a £40 fine for my troubles....

Am in the process of also transferring an ISA from Smile to Abbey - that started about 12th March when the paperwork was posted to Abbey - Smile ISA still open...
Also more recently transferring an A&L ISA in Mrs E's name to Kent Reliance and that seems to be going ok... so far.
Think I'll probably just put the OH's 07-08 allowance into the Kent account when it's open and Barclays can shove their timewasting con where the sun doesn't shine.
Tempted to cancel my Barclays ISA too when the paperwork finally does appear (not holding my breath) and stick that money with Kent as well.

Sorry about the length of the post, but I do feel a lot better now...

Andy

gelato_cat

Hi all

Got my pack from Barclays today. As others have said, all it consists of is a letter (which does NOT detail your opening balance), a booklet and a flyer about the Banking Code.

It says the account was opened on 5th April (the day I took my form into the branch) but the letter is dated 19th April and was sent first class, so it's taken a while to get here. The letter also doesn't state which tax year the ISA is for (by the time it was opened, I had already maxed out my 2006-7 and 2007-8 allowances).

I'll be ringing them to cancel this account as soon as.

Suze

PS Just checked my current account and the £1 cheque I gave Barclays hasn't been cashed yet.

Compound_2

Suzey wrote: »

It says the account was opened on 5th April (the day I took my form into the branch)

Suze, didn't you tick the 2007-8 box? How can they put a date which would make the account belong to the 2006-7 year?