Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

penintok

Hello!

The Abbey Direct ISA (Issue2) appears to be exactly the same in terms of rates (i.e. the bonus 1% giving 6.25% for 13 months) and other features with the Alliance & Leicester ISA, yet it is not mentioned at all in the Top ISAs article in the site.
Why is that? Is there something wrong with it? Anything not immediately obvious in the terms and conditions and on their site?
I am thinking of opening an ISA with Abbey and also transferring my existing ISA into it mainly because of convenience: I have a local Abbey branch close-by whereas not an A&L branch and I don't drive:o But the fact that it is not mentioned at all in moneysavingexpert.com makes me a bit hesitant...

Does anyone know?
Many thanks

Baldur

Hi penintok

The major difference which jumped out at me when I checked the two is that the Abbey account actually drops after the '1% bonus period' by not 1% but 1.5% if you have less than £9,000 in it, while than the A & L is a straightforward drop of 1%, however much is in the account. See :

http://www.abbey.com/csgs/Satellite?c=GSDetalleProducto&cid=1157695656129&idParent=1157695655413&pagename=Abbey%2FGSDetalleProducto%2FGS_DetProducto
and
http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.asp?page=current-rates&type=TaxFree

Someone putting less than £9,000 into the Abbey account would be receiving at least .5% less at the end of the bonus period than someone with the A & L account - if they both left their funds in those accounts, as many people appear to do (probably through lack of knowledge, for 'an easy life', etc.)

Martin tends to show accounts which are straightforward, so that people aren't misled by convoluted or easily missed terms - A & L's account is straightforward, Abbey's is not (as your query shows).

King_Weasel

boobbby wrote: »

... it is not possible to have £50,000+ in an ISA

Yes it is.

welsbyc

I am so angry at Barclays Bank and their INCOMPETENCE that I just HAD to warn others. :mad: [/font]

Mid-March, my husband and I personally went into our local Barclays branch (Chepstow branch - AVOID!) to open two Cash ISAs for tax year 07/08. A member of staff setup our details on their systems, took our cheques for £3,000 each and got us to sign the relevant form. She specifically asked what tax year the ISAs were for. We specifically stated they were for tax year 07/08.

A week later, I got a letter confirming that my Mini Cash ISA would be opened for tax year 07/08 but there would be a short delay due to high demand. So that seemed fine. However my husband got a letter saying his Cash ISA would be opened for tax year 08/09. Obviously my husband got on the phone to Barclays straightaway to tell them of their error. He was told it would be rectified and he would receive confirmation in the post. He didn't get confirmation in the post so spoke to them a number of times by telephone and was assured that it had been changed to 07/08. He even got his mum (armed with written authorisation from him) to go into the branch to check and they confirmed it was setup for 07/08!

Today, our money has still not been taken from our bank account. So I phoned Barclays to ask how long it was going to take. Barclays told me not to worry as my interest would be backdated to 7 April 08 as my ISA is for the 08/09 tax year. I nearly fell off my seat. I told them that that was incorrect, the application was for 07/08 and even my confirmation letter from Barclays states that! However I have been told that on their system (and on the application that the branch staff had filled out) it says 08/09. Barclays have now logged it as an official complaint.

I then told them that this was bizarre because my husband had the same issue, but his confirmation had stated that his investment was for tax year 08/09 so he was able to phone them straightaway to get them to rectify it. What then happened really shocked me. The person I spoke to obviously couldn't discuss my husband’s account with me but he did take a look at my husband’s account and "strongly" advised me to get my husband to call them. In other words, they HAVEN'T rectified his Cash ISA tax year DESPITE numerous phonecalls checking and re-checking.

The incompetence amazes me. What makes this worse, is that a friend of mine had a bad experience with Barclays setting up a cash ISA for her a few years ago. She ended up losing that year's ISA allowance due to their incompetence. Are myself and my husband going to be in the same situation? It looks highly likely

The person at Barclays I spoke to today told me that they have been having numerous problems with incorrect letters being sent out. This might explain why I got a seemingly ‘correct’ confirmation letter, even though they are now telling me that even their confirmation letter is incorrect.

Moral of the story -DON'T USE BARCLAYS.

Now I'm off to write a letter to either the Sunday Times Money section or the Guardian.

Catriona.

Katey_Dog

I agree, Barclays have messed up our ISA's from last year.
My husband and I both took out Barclays Cash Isas for 2007/8.
We both decided to transfer when the Isas mature in May (to get the bonus), and wrote to Barclays to tell them to await transfer details and why we would be leaving. The letters were clear and explicit that they should wait. Oh no, they decided to send us a cheque then and there, thus breaking the tax-free status of the Isas. We have returned the cheques and asked that they re-instate the Isas and await transfer details as requested. Sent seperately with certificate of postage two weeks ago, We still await a reply.
DO NOT USE BARCLAYS FOR ISAS!!

Crabman

Barclays have made a mess of a few accounts this year - search the ISAs board and you'll find quite a few more posts on the subject! I opened my ISA in the branch soon after it was announced by Martin as the new best-buy.

They've still not cashed the cheques and even returned the cheques to me by accident a couple of weeks ago. I'm assured by the branch it will be classed as 07/08 as the application has been 'electronically date-stamped' so hopefully yours will be the same.

penintok

Baldur wrote: »

Hi penintok

The major difference which jumped out at me when I checked the two is that the Abbey account actually drops after the '1% bonus period' by not 1% but 1.5% if you have less than £9,000 in it, while than the A & L is a straightforward drop of 1%, however much is in the account. See :

http://www.abbey.com/csgs/Satellite?c=GSDetalleProducto&cid=1157695656129&idParent=1157695655413&pagename=Abbey%2FGSDetalleProducto%2FGS_DetProducto
and
http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.asp?page=current-rates&type=TaxFree

Someone putting less than £9,000 into the Abbey account would be receiving at least .5% less at the end of the bonus period than someone with the A & L account - if they both left their funds in those accounts, as many people appear to do (probably through lack of knowledge, for 'an easy life', etc.)

Martin tends to show accounts which are straightforward, so that people aren't misled by convoluted or easily missed terms - A & L's account is straightforward, Abbey's is not (as your query shows).

Thank you very much Baldur
I hadn't noticed that! I will keep it in mind.
Cheers!

lustydog

My wife and I have taken out isas with The Halifax for the past 3 years.
I realize they are not the best, but are fairly well up.
The money is invested at a fairly low risk level, and at a recent financial review appeared to have made little interest in that period, due to the fairly volatile nature of the stock market.
My worry is that there will be much more of a slump due to the world economy
going belly up. I realize that stocks and shares are fairly long term investments to give time to level out the troughs and peaks, but at 70+ I may not have the time to take advantage of this process, and need to ensure that our investment is secure for my wife's benefit should I drop off my perch before she does.
I therefor considered putting money into a bond with N.S. & I. which will always track at about 2.5% above inflation. My financial advisor suggests that I leave them where they are, but he would ,as a. He works for the Halifax
and b. is about 35 years old and c. He may be wrong.
Any suggestions please
Regards Lustydustydog

Baldur

lustydog wrote: »

My financial advisor suggests that I leave them where they are, but he would ,as a. He works for the Halifax
and b. is about 35 years old and c. He may be wrong.

Bank 'financial advisers' (basically glorified salespeople, in my experience) are not the best people to seek financial advice from, they can usually only offer products from their own institution's very limited range.

welsbyc

Having worked for a bank as a 'Financial Planning Manager' in the past, I can only agree with one of the previous postings that banks + advice = sell, sell, sell. They are hugely sales targeted. That's why I quit the bank! Anyway, you really should see an independent adviser rather than your bank. Banks can only sell a narrow number of products and the chances are you can do better elsewhere.

I can recommend Hargreaves Lansdown www.h-l.com who I believe now offer advice over the phone as well as face-to-face. I also worked for them in the past and although I didn't enjoy being an employee, they DO provide great service for their customers.

Catriona.