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

DawnW

Mine eventually, after weeks of waiting, got opened ok with £100. However, paying the other £2900 seems to be proving equally challenging and I hope they honour the interest from the day the cheque is handed in at the branch (with no receipt by the way), as they previously stated. Why do ISAs suddenly seem to pose such a challenge for these huge banks? After all, the tax year has ALWAYS begun and ended just as it now does

harryhound

Remember you are dealing with Barclays an organisation that dates back to the slave trade.

When Julius Caesar, one of the first Continentals to try and boss us around, set up his revolutionary calendar, he slipped up with the number of leap years.

The medieval year used to start in March (9 months before Xmas geddit;) ), but the date was slipping and by 1752 Xmas was really in January (So its not just global warming than means we don't get a white Xmas any more).
So our Government BELATEDLY introduced the new calendar for Britain & the colonials (Hi USA) and 11 days disappeared.
Obviously "Hector" and his colleagues at HMR&C must have had a discussion: "That's agreed then; no way are we letting the punters off a week and a half of tax".

I suppose the we should be thankful that Barclays has not loaded the old version of their program, the one that used to put two dates on their letters? :rolleyes:

Harry.

More about our "cultural heritage" here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_Days

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_XIII#The_Gregorian_Calendar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_reform#Reform_of_lunar_and_lunisolar_calendars

bristolleedsfan

call this morning out of the blue started off. "im calling people who applied for ISAS in march/april" i thought shes gonna ask me if ive been disadvantaged by barclays inefficient processing of these applications. :rolleyes:

she then said "would you be interested in being contacted by one of our financial advisors" i replied, id be more interested in having my complaint answered first.:cool: she replied "i wasnt aware u had made one", i explained after three email chasers recieved letter through post dated 250507 promising a answer or update asap, but no later than 21 june 2007 which is in 3 days time ( issue of being disadvantaged by not being able to top up isa till middle of may due to barclays inefficiency and fact barclays kept accepting applications even though they were aware that they had a backlog.)

next time i get a call from barclays ill be on my guard :cool:

bristolleedsfan

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

I don't suppose they will increase the rate on this ISA following the bank move recently? Still waiting for a written response to my complaint about slow opening and not backdating interest. Barclays - they make me mad

any progress on your complaint out of interest

helenyw

helenyw wrote: »

At least that's more than what I got today. I was told that I would hear something by 22 May (7 weeks after I applied for this blasted ISA for 2006/07 year), "but whether that's an update or a confirmation that your account has been opened, I can't tell". I shall follow



and complain about this, especially about the shirty A****** Ben that got annoyed with me for asking one too many questions about my application!

I finally got a letter from customer services saying that unfortunately they lost my application and my cheque. I called the person who wrote the letter and I have to say she was apologetic and genuinely wanted to sort this out. She said she'd personally follow the application through to make sure the account is opened, and as I lost out on the 2006/07 allowance, she'd get a cheque for £200 sent out as compensation for the lost interest (although the true cost of the lost allowance is greater), and she will make sure that the interest is also backdated. So, is this the light at the end of a long saga?

abunchofletters

Hi guys,

This tax year I opened a Barclays Tax Beater ISA, paying in £1,000 with the application. I then went into the branch last week with another cheque for £1,300. The lady behind the window didn't know much about paying in... the resulting advice was to send off the cheque and the paying in form from the ISA's welcome pack in the accompanying postage-paid envelope.

A few dates:

• 4th May - Went into Barclays to open account with £1,000 cheque
• 25th May - Received a letter stating my account was opened on this date. Online statement confirms that was when the first cheque was cashed.
• 31st May - £4.15 interest. Sounds like it was backdated correctly...
• 14th June - Went into the branch/posted off the £1300 cheque
• 20th June - Online statement seems to suggest the cheque has been cashed tonight and will update my account balance in the morning.

This seems like a slightly long-winded way of paying in - waiting for the post to arrive, then processed, then the cheque to clear [plus I'm out of envelopes...]. So what I would like to know is the methods of paying in and of those the best/quickest. I noticed the ISA comes with a sort code and 8-digit account number, but from perusing the Barclays website it seems that I am unable to directly transfer money from another bank account.

On another tangent, after I have paid in the next £700, I will be maxed out. I'm in my first job post-graduation, have the A&L current account and a Morgan Stanley cashback credit card. Any ideas on what I should do next? I figure a proper Savings account would be prudent as the A&L high interest only applies to the first £2,500 in credit. How good are the shares-based ISAs? Pensions? I don't know much about the latter except for my dad telling me wages paid into them don't get taxed. Any other ideas...

Note: If the last paragraph should be in another thread, point me in the right direction and and I'll edit this.

CVID

Postal payments

I don't know if this has been posted before. Have just got off the phone from Barclays.

1.They do not send acknowledgements of payments sent to them but you get 2 statements per year.

2.They will give an account balance, including interest, by phone. Avoid their 0845# by ringing 0151 252 6311

3. They give no address in their welcome pack for postal payments! You should send such NOT to Leicester but to:

Barclays Savings
PO Box 75
LIVERPOOL
L69 7HG

kingsand

You can pay money (cash or cheque) over the counter at any Barclays Branch. Use the sort code and account number given in your ISA paperwork. Do not believe staff when they say you cannot do this. I have had formal confirmation from the compaints department that you can do this and eventually my local branch got hold of someone who confirmed this. The person who dealt with my complaint was Linda Daley so that is a contact name if you need one. Apparently Barclays own instructions to the branch say do not accept cash but this is wrong and I think applied to older ISA's not the Tax Beater. You may have to stand your ground but once authorised it is no longer a problem. Anything that meant I didn't have to open a Barclays Current Account was worth it!!!! Plus, I do like proving I am right!!!

bristolleedsfan

helenyw wrote: »

I finally got a letter from customer services saying that unfortunately they lost my application and my cheque. I called the person who wrote the letter and I have to say she was apologetic and genuinely wanted to sort this out. She said she'd personally follow the application through to make sure the account is opened, and as I lost out on the 2006/07 allowance, she'd get a cheque for £200 sent out as compensation for the lost interest (although the true cost of the lost allowance is greater), and she will make sure that the interest is also backdated. So, is this the light at the end of a long saga?

u appear to have done very well with the 200.00 compo because 3000.00 invested for a year @ 6.75% interest is 202.50 interest for the year,if was in a non isa ( u lost your isa allowance for 2006/07 year) taxed at 20% would result in tax of 40.50, someone will say u also lost the allowance for future years as well re 2006/07 years, theve effectively compensated close to 5 years of isa allowances for tax year 2006/07 + u can gain interest on the 200.00 if u wish.

if ive missed something apologies.

TomsMom

abunchofletters wrote: »

Hi guys,


So what I would like to know is the methods of paying in and of those the best/quickest. I noticed the ISA comes with a sort code and 8-digit account number, but from perusing the Barclays website it seems that I am unable to directly transfer money from another bank account.

From Barclays website regarding their Tax Beater Cash ISA:

If you have received your account details you can add to your initial deposit by transfer from another Barclays personal current or savings account in your name at any of our branches, by phone and by post. Alternatively you can send us a cheque in the post using the freepost envelope provided in your Welcome Pack.

I know it doesn't mention BACS transfers from other banks, but both hubby and I successfully did BACS transfers from our A & L current account into our Barclays Tax Beater ISAs. BACS set up 15th May, we have print outs from Barclays branch showing new total on 18th May.