Help to Buy ISA transfer in problem with Barclays

jonnybravo147

Hi

I transferred my Nationwide HTB ISA to Barclays HTB ISA. It was opened when they first came out and paid into regularly. I thought the transfer went ok, NW sent the closing statement and Barclays got the balance.

But Barclays has rejected all but £1200 because it seems to think I opened a new account and you're allowed only £1200 as the initial deposit. I have a copy of the application (done in branch) and it says a full ISA transfer in.

Is this a mistake by Barclays? Have others done a transfer to Barclays successfully or not? Will it be easy to fix? I've never had a problem with transfers before so kinda worried I've lost over £1k on this.

TIA
John

ValiantSon

It sounds very much like Barclays have made a mistake. Contact them and try to get them to understand. Failing that, make a complaint.

Alexland

I agree from what you say it sounds like a Barclays error. Even if the money has been returned to you the ISA rules allow an ISA to be repaired where the manager makes an error. Contact them and try and resolve. If that doesn't work then complain to Barclays. If that doesn't work complain to the ombudsman.

Alex

jonnybravo147

That's a relief.

I thought there might be different rules for transferring HTB ISA.

jonnybravo147

I saw in the T&C:
Transfers in and transfers out from and to other ISAs are allowed subject to Help to Buy ISA deposit limits.

It sounds like they're applying the initial deposit limit to transfers in. I didn't see anything like that on the HTB gov site.

It'd be nice to hear from anyone whose transfer into Barclays went okay.

Alexland

They should only apply the deposit limits if you were transferring another type of ISA into HTB ISA.

jonnybravo147

Thanks for the replies.

I've contacted them and am waiting for their ISA Team to call me, as it's the bank holiday weekend.

hlkwd1

Hi,

We are having the same problem. We went into the Barclays branch today with the hopes of transferring our Help To Buy ISA from Halifax to Barclays but we were told that they would only transfer £1,200 as per deposit limits. It would be good to know if you got this resolved? Does anyone else know for certain that the full amount currently in the Halifax ISA can be transferred? I was under the impression that you had to transfer the full amount and close the previous ISA.

Thanks.

aj23_2

Tweet them. The hate that. It wilt sorted.

jonnybravo147

Hi hlkwd1

I forgot to update this after getting my problem fixed. I'm glad I can return the favour and give help instead.

If you're transferring a HTB ISA into Barclay's HTB ISA, the £1200 limit doesn't apply because that is for new accounts. Ask the branch staff to call their ISA Team and clarify that; I suspect poor training on HTB ISAs. Then when you fill in the application, make sure you fill in a ISA transfer form for the full amount. They'll give you a copy of the application and there'll be a page for the ISA Transfer. If there isn't, tell them there is a mistake with the application.

I tried fixing my problem by phoning their savings team. First told the ISA team would call me back but never did. Next I called after 5pm, they've left but he won't give me a direct number and they don't do callbacks. Nothing happened.

I had to go into the branch where I made the application and brought all the paperwork. The same lady who did the application phoned and instant messaged the ISA Team and they passed it onto their Complex Queries team. They amended the account so I could transfer back the returned money and recalculated the interest so I wouldn't lose out. Communication was still bad. I was told I'd get a letter from the ISA Team saying when I can put the money back, but I had to go into the branch to confirm that. After getting it sorted, I said I wanted to make a complaint over how long it took, time spent from my lunch breaks, lack of communication, failure to follow ISA standards. That took another 30min appointment but they agreed, asked how much compensation I'm thinking of, I said £25-50 and they gave me £50. All together, it took 2 months after the application to fix it.

The branch staff (in Nantwich) were great, the savings team and ISA teams not so great. I think Barclays had a lot more applications because of the market leading interest rate and weren't able to handle all of them.

Mention me if they still won't believe you can transfer it all. Ask them to phone the Nantwich branch in Cheshire and speak to Siobhan.

Hope that helps.
John

jonnybravo147

No, her name was Karen.