DWP claiming we have hidden ISA accounts

RowPer

Hello all!

There is a question in here somewhere, I'm sure; but I half need to get this all out somehow. Cause I'm irritated.


brief back story, partner is disabled, I am her carer, we are in debt, it is managable, just about, but we're 'on the line'.


had an phone interview with the DWP as our account has been flagged by "a financial body" stating that we have two ISAs with an amount of money in them that I could only dream about.

After we'd finished laughing at the pure instanity of it we were asked to prove the accounts weren't ours; absolutely fair enough. We were given two weeks and told that Barlclays would give us this info no problem. DWP were kind enough to give us the last 4 digits of each account and how much was in them. Again being told that is all Barclays would need and could be done over the phone. So as soon as we were off the phone, we were back on again this time to barclays.


Of course they can't find any accounts over the phone with "such a small amount of info" so we were directed to go to our local branch.


So we go to our local branch, we left the house straight to the branch. We explained the situation, and they were able to do a search on all the postcodes we had lived at since we were 16. However, again, they were unable to search for the specific account DWP gave us with the limited information given to us by the DWP. They were unwilling to write a letter confirming that we did not own any other ISAs as they "did not have the facilities".


They were however able to raise a "concern" about our accounts, which would enable one of their departments to do a trace on our names, showing all accounts both open and closed with us that were/are held with them. We were told it would take up to two weeks to get an answer.


Got the answer today. A letter, dated June 9th, from Barclays stating that they are unable to carry our our request without us filling in a "right to access", directing us to the barclays website. We filled in the information requesting "all information about what accounts (we) hold with Barclays, both joint (if any) and solo and what accounts have been closed.
The letter informs us that the request usually takes 30 days for them to prepare.




It's frustrating that DWP gave us 2 weeks initially and incorrect directions as to how to go about it, for something that clearly takes up to 30 days and could have been started had we been directed the first time to the Barclays website and "Data Request".





We don't have any accounts with Barclays, unless it is some crazy thing that was set up at birth that nobody knew about; and even then, nobody in our families history would have had the ability to put that much aside.


We were told by the DWP lady that it could just be an error, a number wrong or something. But what an error, and how much red tape just to get a simple answer even after I've proved I'm me; I'm not even confident that the Data Request will actually contain what It needs to contain.


I suppose my question is, is this a common thing to happen with DWP?



I tried searching the net for DWP unknown hidden ISA, that sort of thing but can't seem to find anyone else with the same issue.



Pardon for the huge rant, I do feel marginally better now. Am I missing somthing here? Should it really be this difficult to get your own account information?? Should DWP be telling people they can find out if they are attached to an account after giving them only the last 4 digits; surely they must know Barclays would laugh in the customers face and say even if they could find out from such limited info they wouldn't be able to because of "data protection"




Pardon for the huge rant, I do feel marginally better now.

Topcat1982

Did you ever have a loan with Barclays and a PPI refund?

RowPer

No, just our two credit cards (both taken out in the last two/three years) and our car loan which was taken out in 2015.


Had a PPI refund from lloyds once. Wasn't anything significant though, something like £500.

Topcat1982

I saw it on a thread before:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Novembermoon
Hi, this is my first post & I would appreciate any help at this moment as I am really depressed & anxious about this matter.
I am currently on JSA and had a Customer Compliance Telephone Interview from the DWP, I assumed it was a random check to see if my situation had changed at all.
However during the interview I was told that I had 2 Barclays Bank accounts with a large sum of undeclared capital!
As far as I am aware I do not bank with Barclays, although I have done years ago & I definitely do not have any savings.
They claim that the GMS matching service has informed them via HMRC that these accounts are in my name matching my personal National Insurance Number with these said savings in.
I have since been to my local Barclays branch who have been unable to locate them as currently active accounts,however they have advised me to claim through mylostaccount website in case they are lost or dormant accounts, I have made these claims which I was told would take up to 12 weeks for a reply!
The account numbers they have provided me are a combination of letters & numbers which are not in the current Barclays account numbers formats, any ideas on this?
If these accounts are as they say there with the savings in them I would gladly want to be the first to know,yet they say they can not supply any other information with regards to them??
They have requested my current Lloyds Bank accounts for the past year which I have sent, but I have informed them I have no access to these Barclays accounts they require.
Also what worries me is on my current accounts I have PayPal transactions from EBay sales of my personal belongings which I have had to sell over the last year to pay my cards, debt, loans, car expenses etc which I obviously had in my life before I was signing on as I do NOT want card companies & other debts not being paid due to the fact that the JSA is not enough to pay them.
I have also had to borrow money from friends & family to pay these & still having to do so.
I have never in my life even had a parking ticket or broken the law in any way whatsoever.
I would greatly appreciate any help & advice from anyone who may have shared the same experience or can let me know what to do or expect with this situation. This seems to have affected my health and I am in a depression with anxiety attacks & I am currently unable to sleep properly.:(
Thank you for any advice you can spare....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Diary


The original post rang 'alarm' bells with me as the account number we were given by DWP was in a format Barclays have never used as an account, exactly the same scenario as the OP's experience. We were told by DWP compliance our total savings that year must have been in excess of 100k because of the way the interest is accrued during the life of the PPI.

Although the OP didn't think it to be the case with her problem I hope my post will help others in the same situation.

You were spot on.. It was PPI, shame ,I was looking forward to a windfall :(

RowPer

Interesting, but doesn't seem to fit our issue as there is no past PPI stuff. We didn't start with Barclays until around 2015, and then only with the credit cards (which I'm happy to say are paid off, now) and the car loan which will be paid off in December.


It's kind of a lose lose situation really. Either the accounts are nothing to do with us and this has been a waste of time and effort coupled with stress.


or they are real accounts which were set up when we either of us were born and were never told about, and we would now owe *alot* more money than is in the ISAs.

seashore22

Whose name is supposed to be on these ISA's? If it's both of your names then unlikely to be something from before you met each other.

RowPer

I wish the DWP were a little more forthcoming with their information. They wouldn't (or perhaps couldn't) say whose name the accounts are in, only that the accounts were in either one of our names, or jointly.

badmemory

I know it is ISAs the DWP are talking about & they are obviously not taxable - but banks are now obliged to notify HMRC of any TAXABLE interest gained. Just wondering if they get notified as a side issue of ANY interest someone may earn even if it isn't taxable. Anybody know the answer as it could resolve this if they do?

RowPer

I don't think it would resolve this for us, as we have no savings anywhere so no interest is earned at all, we're in a good amount of debt.


To be sure if we had anything close to the amount of money they are claiming we have we wouldn't be in debt and selling off limbs to make ends meet! Haha.

dippy3103

RowPer wrote: »

I don't think it would resolve this for us, as we have no savings anywhere so no interest is earned at all, we're in a good amount of debt.


To be sure if we had anything close to the amount of money they are claiming we have we wouldn't be in debt and selling off limbs to make ends meet! Haha.

Have you had loans from the bank? That may be your explanation.

xylophone

either one of our names, or jointly.

You can't have a joint ISA account.

If they are ISA accounts then each one must be in a sole name and would also show the NI number of each person.


It is conceivable that there are ISA accounts held with Barclays in the same names as yours but what about the NI numbers?

If these are accounts other than ISA accounts interest must be reported to HMRC.

Have you each checked your personal tax accounts?

https://www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account