TSB refusing me a Junior Cash ISA

dinglebert

Long story short.


My 15 year olds National Savings have come to an end. They are no longer doing the account and offered us two choices. Transfer the money to a NS&I Junior Cash ISA or take the money and invest it elsewhere.


We choose to take the money as the interest rate for NS&I was 2.5% and we could get 3.5% at TSB where we are customers and he already has an account. The amount to be invested is only £1000.


I went into the local branch yesterday for something and remember the ISA so asked if I could arrange to open the ISA, get an appointment so we could go along with son who has to be present.


They informed me that he could not have a Junior Cash Isa as he had received £250 Child Trust Fund money when he was born in 2003 and therefore the computer would refuse to open the account. I questioned this and they insisted this was correct and that he himself had this happen to another customer just a week ago.


I went next to to Bank of Scotland who said yes of course he can have an account as long as he doesn't have any other existing Cash ISA's and couldn't understand what TSB were saying.


I went home and phoned TSB to ask the same question. They again insisted they were correct. I got moved up the food chain but again they insist that he cannot have an ISA as he had the £250 15 years ago. I pointed out that when the Child Trust Fund came to an end in 2015 we had transferred the money to a stocks and shares isa without any issue and that NS&I were also happy to open one but they still said they were correct.


I tried pointing out that all children between 2002 and 2011 (I may be a bit out with the dates) had been given this money and so therefore their Cash Isa was according to them pointless to the vast majority of children.


The TSB have registered my point as a complaint.



Quick question. Am I going completely stupid or is it the TSB?

Alexland

dinglebert wrote: »

I pointed out that when the Child Trust Fund came to an end in 2015 we had transferred the money to a stocks and shares isa without any issue

A child cannot have a ISA so you must have transferred the CTF to a S&S Junior ISA.

You are trying to open a Cash Junior ISA.

Your child can have one or both types of Junior ISA and you (or others) can pay into both in the same tax year provided the total contributions into both together don't exceed the annual allowance.

https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts

Alex

dinglebert

He doesn't hold a CTF. It was stopped in 2015. At no point have TSB actually investigated this. Their response is a blanket one. You cannot open a Cash ISA if you were given the £250 from the Government as birth.


He holds a
HL Junior Stocks & Shares ISA



sorry cut and paste. with Hargreaves Lansdown which was opened with the money from the CFT closure.

Alexland

Yup in which case you are fine to open a Cash Junior ISA and the people you spoke to either misunderstood or have training needs.

Alex

xylophone

Your son had a CTF - you transferred it to a Junior ISA in 2015.

https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts

The JISA (unlike CTF) can have both a stocks and shares and a cash component but you must stay within the total allowance for the tax year.

How much have you contributed to the S&S Junior ISA in this tax year?



This will determine how much you can contribute to a cash JISA. in this tax year.

Coventry BS offer 3.6% on a cash JISA.


See https://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/consumer/product/savings/children/junior-cash-isa.html

You may pay in up to the child’s annual junior ISA allowance each tax year depending on any money you may have already paid into a stocks and shares JISA for the child. For the 2018/2019 tax year, the allowance is £4,260.

dinglebert

Yup in which case you are fine to open a Cash Junior ISA and the people you spoke to either misunderstood or have training needs.

Alex





Thanks Alex. Thought I was going mad. Its not a person who is wrong its the whole of TSB. They are quoting their own rules. I did politely suggest that perhaps someone in the bank had misread the rules but they weren't for having it.


I think they have read


You can’t have a Junior ISA as well as a Child Trust Fund.


and decided it should read You can’t have a Junior ISA as well as ever having had a Child Trust Fund.

xylophone

I did politely suggest that perhaps someone in the bank had misread the rules but they weren't for having it.

Presumably you will be receiving a written reply to your complaint.

If it is not to your satisfaction you can explain that your son now has a JISA rather than a CTF and direct TSB to the Gov guidance.

Assuming that you have not contributed more than £3260 to the HL JISA in this tax year, you can contribute £1000 to a cash JISA.

Coventry BS pay a little more than TSB - see link above.

Alexland

dinglebert wrote: »

Its not a person who is wrong its the whole of TSB. They are quoting their own rules. I did politely suggest that perhaps someone in the bank had misread the rules but they weren't for having it.

In which case it's probably a bug or unclarity in their training material / intranet knowledge base. If you really want the product I guess you could open a Cash Junior ISA elsewhere and then transfer it to TSB?

Alex

dinglebert

Update on all this. I finally yesterday got a reply to the complaint I made back in January. TSB had closed my complaint against my wishes the day after I complained. I insisted they reopen it at which point they then said they didn't have to respond in the normal time frame as it was a reopened complaint!


Their reply yesterday was to standby their staff but to claim that they said you couldn't have a CTF and a junior ISA at the same time. This was not what they said at the time. What they said then was if you had ever had a CTF then you could never have a junior ISA. This was also said by the telephone help line of TSB.


In spite of informing me that they were right they also give me £150 in compensation! Apparently partly for the distress of them being right.


I took the money. Now its back tomorrow to the TSB to open the junior cash ISA. Should be interesting.

eskbanker

dinglebert wrote: »

Now its back tomorrow to the TSB to open the junior cash ISA.

Why would you not vote with your feet and go elsewhere after they've mucked you about?

As per previous posts, Coventry BS is still the current best buy, albeit not manageable online, but NS&I are matching TSB's 3.25% now:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/junior-isa/#bestbuys

dinglebert

You answered your own question. If I can't do it online then I have to go in and TSB was offering best rate at the time and as we are known to them already less hassle.