Cancelled ISA Transfer 20 February at 11:17PM in ISAs & tax-free savings 11 replies 462 views

Ocelot

A bit of a strange one.

Received a letter today from Secure Trust stating they have cancelled my ISA transfer from Barclays, as Barclays 'have advised they are unable to proceed with the transfer as the account status doesn't permit transfers'.

The Barclays one is a 3 year fixed rate expiring on 2 March, and I have a 30 day window to fund the new ISA, stating that I would like to wait until the term is complete before transferring the funds.

Anyone else had anything like this? I understand a cash ISA can always be transferred, even if it is in the middle of a fixed term (which this one is not). Indeed I have done this many times.

xylophone

The Barclays one is a 3 year fixed rate expiring on 2 March, and I have a 30 day window to fund the new ISA, stating that I would like to wait until the term is complete before transferring the funds.

When you completed ST's Isa Transfer Form, did you tick a box to this effect?

masonic

There are legitimate circumstances where a financial institution could freeze any account, but it seems rather unlikely in the case of a fixed cash ISA. Whatever instruction you gave, this doesn't seem like the right outcome. Perhaps you need to find out from Barclays why they are not accepting the instruction. Presumably you have sufficient time in which to await maturity and then start an immediate transfer?

Ocelot

xylophone said:

The Barclays one is a 3 year fixed rate expiring on 2 March, and I have a 30 day window to fund the new ISA, stating that I would like to wait until the term is complete before transferring the funds.

When you completed ST's Isa Transfer Form, did you tick a box to this effect?

I did indeed.

Ocelot

masonic said:

There are legitimate circumstances where a financial institution could freeze any account, but it seems rather unlikely in the case of a fixed cash ISA. Whatever instruction you gave, this doesn't seem like the right outcome. Perhaps you need to find out from Barclays why they are not accepting the instruction. Presumably you have sufficient time in which to await maturity and then start an immediate transfer?

Yes, will phone Secure Trust and then Barclays if no joy, forgot today. I have until 2nd March until it turns into an instant access ISA paying 0.5%. Would have liked to have transferred it to the Barclays 2 year 4.1% one, but wasn't given any options other than 'go into a branch and see your options'. This happened 2 weeks into the transfer process.

gwapenut

Barclays have today rejected my transfer to the Skipton. The Barclays ISA matures on 8th March and I instructed to wait for maturity. 

Barclays also rejected my other partial transfer to M&S, but M&S kept this to themselves and proceeded to liaise with Barclays to resolve it, without troubling me. Top marks. I only know because I phoned M&S to doublecheck after hearing what Barlcays did to the Skipton transfer.

Barclays allege it is because both providers submitted requests for immediate transfers whilst ticking the box to not incur any penalty. Common sense to me would indicate that when an ISA matures within 2 weeks, and the ISA owner has indicated to wait for maturity, this means to wait 2 weeks rather than reject a transfer. Or is that naive and Barclays are acting properly here?

Ocelot

I phoned both banks, and in my case, it was due to Secure Trust accidentally putting a number instead of my surname during the transfer. Barclays didn't tell them that, so they didn't know, so the error I got was a generic one. They are trying again.

In your case it sounds like someone also made an error in the transfer process. There would be no reason to reject the transfer even if you wanted it to be done straight away, unless it wasn't a cash ISA or unless the maturity date of the Barclays to Skipton ISA was after the funding window.

Ocelot

This is still going on. Sec Trust reinitiated the transfer, and Barclays texted me today saying it's going through (fixed rate expired a few days ago). Seems to be taking a long time compared to recent ISA transfers, which have only taken a few days.

Hopefully Sec Trust will extend the funding deadline as now 30 days.

seasickmick

It seems that Barclays ISA department and their IT system are struggling. In the past few months I have made three cash ISA transfer requests (using Barclays online form) from Skipton BS into Barclays 1 and 2 Year ISA's.

The first transfer went through in three days without hitch. The second transfer (using exactly the same details) was refused by Skipton as Barclays somehow had supplied an old address on the transfer request. Following a call to Barclays customer service they acknowledged they had used an incorrect address and then processed the transfer manually, after which it went through in three days.

The third transfer made at the beginning of February was  refused by Skipton as Barclays had once again used an old address, this was again acknowledged by Barclays customer service who pushed the transfer back to their ISA department. The transfer still hasn't gone through and Barclays use of incorrect details is now the subject of a complaint.

On both occasions when the the transfer requests were declined Barclays initially blamed Skipton for the problem  and in a letter received in the last few days from Barclays they say -

"...please contact Skipton Building Society ... They will be able to give you more information on why they are unable to process your cash ISA transfer and will be able to correct or update any information they hold for you and your cash ISA."

This despite the fact that  on two occasions they (Barclays customer service) confirmed they had sent the wrong information to Skipton and I have confirmed with Skipton that all the details they hold for me are correct.

Now awaiting outcome of complaint.

gwapenut

The guy I spoke to, part of the Premier team,. was quite bolshy with me because I dared suggest Barclays might be at fault. Not a Premier service at all. And I can;t go into a branch because unlike the other main banks, they';ve shut all the branches around me!

Ocelot

I actually received an unsolicited text from Barclays today, apologising for how long the process was taking.

My main concern was the ISA rates plummeting before I could transfer to a new fixed rate, but doesn't seem to be happening yet.