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

rrobbo

My wife rang about the Barclays ISA at the end of March and was told to come to the branch with proof of residence and ID. She did this (even though the nearest branch is 35 miles away in Belfast) and gave all the details to the assistant. The mistake on my wife's part was that she thought she'd be able to pay with her SWITCH card - they insist that the payment is by cheque. The assistant said that this wasn't a problem though and that my wife could simply send a cheque in with the provided form, which she did. This was a cheque for £3,000 for the 2006/7 alowance.

After a few weeks of hearing nothing my wife rang Barclays to be told that they were overstretched and it would be a couple of weeks before they would process it but the interest would be backdated. A couple of weeks later she rang again and was told that the cheque had been lost and that she needed to take another into the branch. She did this at which point the assistant suggested that she make the cheque for £6,000 to cover 2007/8 as well, which she did.

Over the next few weeks there were some additional calls to check the status, to be told that there was still a backlog but that both accounts would have the interest backdated.

At the end of May we then got a letter saying that the accounts hadn't been opened because the right information hadn't been provided (returned cheque enclosed). We rang the central Barclays number to find out what the problem was but they said that we needed to speak to the ISA team. We then rang the ISA team and they told us that we had to speak to the Belfast branch. The Barclays switchboard told us that we weren't allowed to speak to the branch and put us back to the ISA team. The ISA team said that they'd speak to the Belfast branch but couldn't get them to answer the phone. They said that they'd fax them with a request to call us. Later that day they rang back to say that they'd faxed Lisburn by mistake but were trying Belfast again!!

We finally got a call from Belfast to say that the application had been returned because we'd been at our address for less than three years but hadn't entered a previous address, which they hadn't actually asked for in the branch. The girl then said that this was a technicality and that she'd correct the data, resubmit it and averything would be OK.

In July we called again to be told that the account wouldn't be opened. At this point we asked to lodge a formal complaint. It turned out that the person in the Belfast office had simply changed the form to say that we had lived in our current address for over three years and the ISA team hadn't accepted this. They said that they'd obviously made some mistakes, would sort it out and all interest would be backdated. We got a letter saying that it would be sorted by 18th July. After hearing nothing we rang back on 19th July to be told that they were still running late.

At the start of August we got a call from a client relationship manager telling us that it was too late for us to open an ISA for 2006/7 now due to tax legislation. When we pointed out what a disgrace this was we were offered £210 in compensation, which represents a year's interest. On paper this may seem reasonable but we're looking at ISA's as part of our long term planning and the loss of the tax shelter is far greater than this. Assuming 6% average interest rates and 40% higher tax rate, the loss over 20 years is nearly £4,000 (admittedly that doesn't reflect erosion through inflation). Over 30 years it's nearer £9,000 (the joys of compound interest!!).

So, we've had 200 miles in round trips to the branch and 23 calls to Barclays totalling over 3 hours simply to end up with the loss of the ISAA allowance for 2006/7.

Does anyone have any view as to what reasonable compensation should be in a case like this? What's the legal position and what could the ombudsman do?

Thanks

6am

I have a bizarre situation. I requested to transfer ISA from Natwest to Barclay. In the end of May Barclay requested money from Natwest, Natwest wrote cheque and sent it to Barclay. Barclay did not open account and money "dissappeared". I made a complain, Barclay did not look into it for very long time. So after a month waiting I went to Natwest and asked them to stop cheque if possible and reopen account. Natwest stopped the cheque and eventually reopened account. I kept receiving letters from Barclays that they still looking into my situation. I went on holiday and when I returned I found a letter from Barclay where they said that they resolved my complain, opened account and credited 12K (transfered from Natwest) and also credited interest. So I now have my original 12K in the Natwest account and also 12K created by Barclay from "thin air" in my Barclay account. What would you do in this situation? Barclay really !!!!ed me off with their long complaint procedure and I do not want to help them notice their mistake.

melpomene

i opened mine with the max £3K in branch back in March, then had a letter weeks later saying i'd neglected to 'enclose' my cheque [yet returning my original cheque stapled to the letter!]. since then i've had a letter saying my account had been opened [but not with how many £s], also sooner than they could possibly have received my cheque the second time by post!!nothing since, except that my cheque was finally cashed in June.i got a letter of complaint together a week or so ago & sent it off requiring assurances. what should i do? is my money safe?!? will i get the full interest at the end of the tax year? were they perhaps swamped beyond anything they'd planned for by virtue of Martin's recommendation? this has been my first venture out of debt & highly stressful.answers on the back of a £5 note...

val_anne

Bought this isa for 2006/07 year and received confirmation late April. After reading the Financial pages of the Mail on Sunday today checked the documents and realised this Isa is for the current year and not the 06/07 year. Help what is the best way to complain to Barclays? Has anyone else been compensated.:mad:

bristolleedsfan

val_anne wrote: »

Bought this isa for 2006/07 year and received confirmation late April. After reading the Financial pages of the Mail on Sunday today checked the documents and realised this Isa is for the current year and not the 06/07 year. Help what is the best way to complain to Barclays? Has anyone else been compensated.:mad:

heres the article, while 202.00 might appear to be 1 years interest its actually 5 years compensation for loss of tax free interest.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=423513&in_page_id=7

nationwide, proud to be different. :rotfl:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=423189&in_page_id=7

mo_ro

I applied for a 2006-7 ISA and a 2007-8 ISA. Barclays has somehow lost both applications. But not before I was told to be patient and there was a backlog of applications they were dealing with. Fianlly when I called in July I was told my application never arrived from the Branch and I should apply again for 2007-8. I was livid and complained by telephone and in the local branch which lost the application. I printed the application on line and made a copy so it was dated and the branch assistant had also recorded my passport and other details on the computer system. My 2006-7 ISA was for £1000 and the 2007-8 was to be £250 a month.

Finally I got a call yesterday offering £200 compensation for the 2006-7 application and a backdate of the interest on this year's application. Today the cheque arrived. It sounds fair to me as apparently it is the interest for a £3000 ISA. Should I accept and cash the cheque?

bristolleedsfan

mo_ro wrote: »

I applied for a 2006-7 ISA and a 2007-8 ISA. Barclays has somehow lost both applications. But not before I was told to be patient and there was a backlog of applications they were dealing with. Fianlly when I called in July I was told my application never arrived from the Branch and I should apply again for 2007-8. I was livid and complained by telephone and in the local branch which lost the application. I printed the application on line and made a copy so it was dated and the branch assistant had also recorded my passport and other details on the computer system. My 2006-7 ISA was for £1000 and the 2007-8 was to be £250 a month.

Finally I got a call yesterday offering £200 compensation for the 2006-7 application and a backdate of the interest on this year's application. Today the cheque arrived. It sounds fair to me as apparently it is the interest for a £3000 ISA. Should I accept and cash the cheque?

3000 invested in an isa at 6.5% ish rate would produce 200.00 ish interest a year, had this been in a taxable savings account tax on the interest would be 40.00 ish a year, so 200.00 compensation is effectively compensating you for 5 years ish loss of tax free isa status had u been investing 3000.00 for 5 years, you said you were only investing 1000.00 for tax year 2006/07.

personally i would accept it. you are laughing all the way to the bank, pardon the pun. :rotfl:

djbd1973

My wife opened a tax beater cash ISA just before the deadline in March/April (2007), and she didn't get a welcome letter but she rang the other day and asked for some information about the account and yesterday she received a letter which stated the account rate was 6.81% and the account was opened on the 16th April with £2500. With that rate in mind, I am sure that the rate has gone up and we were quite impressed with this rate.

harryhound

So Barclays has had to call on its overdraft facility at the Bank of England TWICE in about 10 days (OK a charge of 40K is peanuts in the grand scheme of things). To paraphrase the pink newspaper this must be managerial/technical c0ck-up or the other banks don't trust Barclays enough to bail it out (as they all play pass the parcel with packages of dodgy mortgages)?
Meanwhile the share price is down 15% in about 6 weeks (& I am a shareholder - former "Woolwich" member).

Who thinks this is a buying opportunity?

Harry.

bristolleedsfan

djbd1973 wrote: »

My wife opened a tax beater cash ISA just before the deadline in March/April (2007), and she didn't get a welcome letter but she rang the other day and asked for some information about the account and yesterday she received a letter which stated the account rate was 6.81% and the account was opened on the 16th April with £2500. With that rate in mind, I am sure that the rate has gone up and we were quite impressed with this rate.

yip barclays have passed on all base rate rises. :j rate applied is 6.81%, interest is paid monthly, if monthly interest is added to the account AER is 7.03%. :j