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

suttonsaver

The papers arrived today - for my 07/08 ISA. They confirm that my initial deposit of £10 was credited on 30/4 (by transfer from Barclays current account), even though I made my online application on 29/3.
No matter though, in my case - backdated interest would have amounted to £0.04p so I guess Barclays don't bother with (nominal) backdating to 6/4 for such a small sum.
Dead easy and quick to do an online transfer (from Halifax current account) to make my investment up to £3,000. Why bother with going into branches, paying in cheques or cash, etc? Far too much aggravation ...

simongregson

Mine is now open - time taken about a month. No postal confirmation yet, but the cheque has been debited and after a 10 minute wait on hold I got their telephone banking to confirm. So no need to have 3 grand in my current account any more!

Indispensable_Hobbes

My cheque has been debited from my account today

suttonsaver wrote: »

The papers arrived today - for my 07/08 ISA.
Dead easy and quick to do an online transfer (from Halifax current account) to make my investment up to £3,000. Why bother with going into branches, paying in cheques or cash, etc? Far too much aggravation ...

Lady in the branch said i wouldnt be able to make a bank transfer from my a&l current account as they wouldnt be able to monitor what was credited to the isa. i thought this was a bit odd since i didnt have a current account with a&l last year and they accepted payments from my firstdirect current account.

anyhoo... ...did barclays issue you with a sortcode you can use?

Woodyrocks

I went into the branch and can confirm that you can pay cash/cheque in at the branch by just filling in a slip and account details, going to the counter and NOT mentioning ISA.

Sam_84

I posted a message about no action from Barclays a couple of days ago after ringing the complaints line. Lo and behold, the cheque that they have been sitting on has been cashed! I hope that they have sorted out how to get the the backdated interest right.

Does anyone know _exactly_ how they calculate the backdated interest so that we can all check the calculation? It gets pretty complicated very quickly. For example, it's going to make a difference what value date they use for the deposit (and how many days before they start crediting interest) and also the interest basis they are using (what with the account being paid interest monthly and it compounding up to the 6.5% and all). Perhaps if there is anyone on here who knows for real what's being done, they might be kind enough to post an example calculation. Or if there are any Barclays people, they might be kind enough to post an example?

Cheers

Sam

suttonsaver

jenyking wrote: »

My cheque has been debited from my account today



Lady in the branch said i wouldnt be able to make a bank transfer from my a&l current account as they wouldnt be able to monitor what was credited to the isa. i thought this was a bit odd since i didnt have a current account with a&l last year and they accepted payments from my firstdirect current account.

anyhoo... ...did barclays issue you with a sortcode you can use?

jenyking - yes, I got a sortcode and account number (online) from Barclays on 30/4. That's how I knew the ISA had been opened, and the value date. (The papers received yesterday merely gave me the same info again). So I was able to do the BACS transfer from Halifax on 30/4.
Your experience in the branch only confirms my belief that you should do all you possibly can online and not rely on duff info from clueless branch staff.

Sandie1

Went into my local branch and thought all was sorted. How wrong I was. After numerous phone calls and a 6 week wait I finally received my paperwork today. The incompetence of this bank is beyond belief. They have opened it for the wrong tax year despite me saying in every phone call it was for the last tax year. Even Barclays own telephone staff can't get through to the Savings department! I have had to generate a complaint but they went to great pains to tell me that it would take 48 WORKING hours to respond. How are they allowed to get away with it?

Sandie1

SarahNeedle1872

Woodyrocks wrote: »

I went into the branch and can confirm that you can pay cash/cheque in at the branch by just filling in a slip and account details, going to the counter and NOT mentioning ISA.

How funny is it that in order to give ur money to this bank, u have to wait umpteen weeks and then NOT tell them what the money's for. I love Barclays!!!

OGM

Been waiting over a month and a half now for my ISA to be opened, tried calling the ISA helpline today only to get a recorded message telling me they were too busy to take my call, and then it hung up! Furious I called the general Barclays complaint line and the woman on the phone told me she was having the same problem - no one can contact the ISA people, and her own personal ISA has yet to be opened so she lodged a complaint against Barclays herself! Ridiculous that its got to the point where even their own employees are against them!

Woodyrocks

Sandie1 wrote: »

Went into my local branch and thought all was sorted. How wrong I was. After numerous phone calls and a 6 week wait I finally received my paperwork today. The incompetence of this bank is beyond belief. They have opened it for the wrong tax year despite me saying in every phone call it was for the last tax year. Even Barclays own telephone staff can't get through to the Savings department! I have had to generate a complaint but they went to great pains to tell me that it would take 48 WORKING hours to respond. How are they allowed to get away with it?

Sandie1

Hi Sandie, I can understand your frustration, infact we all can. I just wanted to ask you what date it says on the paperwork you received as I thought for a fearful minute that they had opened mine for this year but have since found out that April the 5th means it was opened for last year.