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

gelato_cat

Hey all

So, I rang the helpline this morning to close my Barclays ISA. Got through, told the guy I wanted to close it. Gave him my account number, sort code, name, date of birth and mother's maiden name.

He had a look at his screen and chuckled. "Ho ho ho," he said. "There was a small bunch of about 500 accounts which were closed in error and yours was one of them."

How weird is that?

To recap, I visited the branch on 5th April, the guy confirmed that my account was opened on 12th April, then closed on 14th April. On 26th April I received a letter dated 19th April saying my account was open. I guess this whole rigmarole explains why my £1 cheque hasn't been cashed thus far.

I asked if he could send me a letter confirming my account was closed and he said that it would be sent out by the system within 10 working days of closure (in my case, it should be here soon). When I queried the timescale, he said it was due to the sheer volume of work over there.

So, I'm going to wait a week for this letter to come through and ring them again if it's not sorted. Hopefully (several fingers crossed) the account has actually been closed and I won't need to do anything further (ISTR someone - Kitty? - saying that their bf's account had been closed by mistake, maybe he was in the same boat as me).

Having read today's posts about the interest I am very glad to be shot of Barclays!

Suze

morg_monster

My 2p worth...

Have posted on here earlier but my story was, handed over £1200 cheque and form for 07/08 ISA in branch on April 5th, CS person said it would go in the pile and be dealt with. As per the usual story, heard nothing. After seeing this thread I change my mind and decide to cancel & go with Egg. On a poster's advice I send a letter cancelling the ISA within 14 days of the day I went into branch, rather than waiting until the account is opened.
<insert 12 days of life here>

Now I see people are getting their accounts opened, but my money is still sitting in my current a/c and I never heard anything back about the cancellation letter. I decide to call the 0800 number that another helpful poster gave and see whats going on. The lady I spoke to was very nice, she took my name and address but found no record of me on their systems which means the account was not set up yet. She said, it should have been opened by now, so she has attached a query/complaint to my file and sent it to the ISA department for them to confirm if it will ever be opened. She suggested cancelling the cheque but when I pointed out that would cost me £10 she said that Barclays would refund that if it was their error, but since I'm not sure it is their "error" yet I'm going to sit tight and hope I hear from the ISA dept.

For me, Barclays still have a chance to come out of this with their rep not entirely in tatters - IF they manage to call me by the end of this week! After that I will consider it totally tattered, call and confirm that I can get a refund of the charge and then cancel the cheque. I will miss out on some interest doing it this way but frankly it'll be worth it to be shot of the whole sorry mess.

Then just have to wait til May 10th to decide which ISA I'll go for instead!

oscarhugo

oscarhugo wrote: »

Barclays has finally cashed my cheque! Now just waiting for some sort of acknowledgement from them [the Royal mail's not yet arrived today].

My ISA is finally open - according to Barclays on-line banking; no communication from them so no idea whether they've backdated the interest or not. Have been credited with £13-odd interest as of today.

Claire_Jones_3

I've just phoned the 0800 number Simongregson provided (thanks very much!!!) and my ISA was opened on 20th Apr and should have paperwork through soon. They confirmed the balance and the amount of interest over the phone and were really helpful (1st so far!)

Its a good job the telephone operator was pleasant, makes up for the delay and she confirmed interest had all been backdated to beginning of the month and the allowence used for 06/07 as I wanted! Lets see about moving some more funds and then getting that backdated as well as I've had to wait to be able to transfer the next £3k.

gaetss

Well, went on the 14th of april, been there for 20 minutes (2 applications), but it looks like it's still not opened. They say it could take up to 3 weeks due to the high demand, so we're waiting a bit more.

MiserlyMartin

My £3000 is finally in. They have applied £12.97 interest. How can I accurately work it out? I reckon it should be nearer £15.

Edit: I think thats about right for 25 days interest 6th-30th April

annie53_2

Handed in my application to small branch of Barclays on 12th April with cheque for £3000 - no hassle, but also no receipt. As of today, the cheque still hasn't gone through my bank account & still no correspondence from Barclays. I will switch accounts as soon as my 12 months bonus rate finishes - if it ever starts!!!

carpy

i've just done a quick calculation and about £12.90-£13.00 seems about right for the full £3k from 6th-30th April

doesn't explain my £0.52 interest though........i'll give them a few days to put right......then i'll be letting them know my feelings!!!!

out of 'interest' (sorry!!) those that have the correct amount of interest, what date have you got for the deposit of your £3k?

my online statement show £3k going in on 30th April, obviously not cleared as balance shows just the £0.52. maybe they will backdate the interest once the £3k has cleared and shows on my balance???

SarahNeedle1872

I went into my branch two weeks ago with a completed form and a cheque for £10 (I wasn't THAT brave), and sat through the customary 20 mins interrogation (age, height, shoe size, sexual preference etc). Then I was told that there was a backlog of applictions because of the popularity...
Two weeks later, my cheque still hasn't been cashed, and I'm still waiting to be able to put in the lump sum I want in there. I see from Martin's article that they are going to back date the interest (no mention of this from the advisor at the time! She did give me the Customer Service phone number tho) How do I prove which day I took my form in? I am a previous non-Barclays customer.

thumshie

carpy,
Actual depost was 2nd(2nd application :mad: ), Online shows the deposit of 16th. Interest works out at 26days.

Sarah,
Without a receipt(which they tended not to isuue) the only possible way would be to request to see the original application. Mine got sent back due to them loosing my cheque and it was date stamped by the glasgow office- though that might not be date of receipt but 'process'. Don't know how likely it is they'll let you get a copy....