Barclays to Virgin ISA transfer rejected

alibean121

refluxer said:

Judging by the complaints about them on this forum, Virgin Money struggle to even manage internal transfers so it's not surprising to hear they also struggle with external transfers. Transferring away from them can also cause issues, too. There is a long thread about Virgin Money ISA transfers and their poor customer service here.

Malchester said:

I had the same transferring from Lloyds to Gatehouse. When things hadn't happened rang Lloyds who said they hadn't received the transfer request. Rang Gatehouse who said the transfer had been rejected by Lloyds. Gatehouse sent the request again. After a few days nothing had happened so rang Lloyds again who said they hadn't received the second request. Rang Gatehouse who said Lloyds had rejected the transfer again as they couldn't locate the account. Have given up and will try again elsewhere.

I do at least know that Virgin did make the request as Barclays have written to me about it. Whether it was them that messed up a form I had correctly completed is I suppose a completely different issue. The issue with Virgin is absolutely in contacting them if anthing goes wrong as getting responses to complaints I do know is straight up impossible. Rates are down quite a bit to go somewhere else so I may persevere for a bit.

sparkiemalarkie

I was trying to transfer part of  my Matured Barclays Fixed ISA today and I wasn't allowed to.
It seems I have to wait until the ISA name changes to  Instant Access ISA before partial transfers are allowed.
Full transfers are allowed from today now that the interest has been added to the account.

HTH

sx

Descrabled

My previous experience (22-23) with transfers from Barclays was rejected when the transfer request to Virgin was to wait until the maturity date. When I made a second transfer request after the Barclays ISA had matured then the transfer went through in 2 days.

gwapenut

That other thread mirrors my own experience of transferring out from Barclays. They are incompetent and wilfully ignore the box which, when ticked, says wait until maturity and instead reject transfers before or even on the day of maturity, on the grounds that it is a fixed rate product.

I would wait until your Barclays ISA has been seen in online banking to change into the ripoff low % maturity product (it can take 1-2 days) and then immediately submit a transfer request.

You will lose a day or two, but that is better than submitting a request on the day of maturity which is then rejected a few days later, needing a further transfer request and more delay, as happened to me.

Incidentally, if you think Barclays are a gang of clowns, just wait until you try transferring out of Virgin. The ISA team is bad, but the resolution team is worse. My complaint to them took 6 months+ even to be allocated to a handler, leaving my ISA at their mercy in the meantime.

fuzzzzy

fuzzzzy said:

alibean121 said:

My Barclays fixed ISA is up and I wanted to transfer to another fix. I opened a new ISA with Virgin Money and made the transfer request as part of the account opening.

I've now noted a letter from Barclays on my online account stating they have rejected the transfer. "Unfortunately we haven't been able to validate your ISA transfer information" is all the explanation provided.

I've got a printout of my transfer request and have carefully checked the details. The name, address etc. held by both banks definitely match. Clearly I provided correct Barclays account details or they wouldn't have known who to write to... I don't see any error.

Does anyone have any clue what the issue could be? I'm a bit tempted to take the 'rejected passport photo' approach and just submit again.

When did you open the VM account? Had your Barclay's ISA already matured into easy access? I have a Barclay's ISA maturing on 19 December. I opened a VM ISA online on 2 December and filled in the transfer form at the same time. I was hoping that VM would do some preliminary admin before the maturity date and that the transfer would be quick but when I enquired in branch was told they were not allowed to set anything in motion until the maturity date, so am anticipating some delay now, especially being so near to xmas.

Very pleased to say that my ISA transfer went through today from Barclays to VM without a hitch, just 2 days after maturity.

gwapenut

I wrote last week about my foolproof plan for transferring my wife's ISA out of Barclays. Basically not submitting a transfer request until the Barclays ISA description online had transformed from fixed into easy access. 2 days after maturity, we submitted a transfer request.

I'm sorry to report that Barclays out-fooled my foolproof plan. They rejected the transfer on grounds that my wife needed to authorise it with them directly. This is an entirely new step outside the industry standard ISA transfer process, and also contradicts their own letter a day earlier confirming the ISA transfer and stating that my wife needed to do nothing more.

This stalling for time means they are now stealing her interest over the Xmas period, because we cannot authorise it, raise a complaint for the loss of interest, and resubmit the transfer request until the middle of next week 

Barclays have joined NatWest and Virgin in my banned list of ISA providers for incompetence and obstruction well below the already low bar I have come to expect with ISA transfers.

I am astonished that they they have still managed to stall for time and keep our interest earning a fifth of what it should, even though I thought I'd learned from their stalling techniques for my own maturity earlier this year.

On a paltry 1 year fix, this devalues the headline interest rate by almost 0.1% per week that they successfully obstruct the process. They really are the most cynical of the high street banks. I was luckier because the impact on my 3 year fix was less profound.

masonic

gwapenut said:

I'm sorry to report that Barclays out-fooled my foolproof plan. They rejected the transfer on grounds that my wife needed to authorise it with them directly. This is an entirely new step outside the industry standard ISA transfer process, and also contradicts their own letter a day earlier confirming the ISA transfer and stating that my wife needed to do nothing more.

This stalling for time means they are now stealing her interest over the Xmas period, because we cannot authorise it, raise a complaint for the loss of interest, and resubmit the transfer request until the middle of next week

That is very poor. But the compensation you should be able to claw out of them (when you eventually wear them down into accepting a formal complaint) will more than cover the lost interest and inconvenience.

About 20 years ago I closed my Barclays current account, vowing never again. I kept to that until a month ago when I was temped back by their switching offer. Though I've managed to sidestep any serious issues myself, I have to say from my own experience and some of the horror stories posted by others, Barclays is probably the most dysfunctional bank I know, worse even than when I left them the first time, so I'll be taking my money and running.

xylophone

They rejected the transfer on grounds that my wife needed to authorise it with them directly. 

I think that your wife will need to make a formal complaint.

https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/transferring-your-isa#:~:text=How%20to%20transfer%20your%20ISA,your%20tax%2Dfree%20allowance%20again.

How to transfer your ISA

To switch providers, contact the ISA provider you want to move to and fill out an ISA transfer form to move your account. If you withdraw the money without doing this, you will not be able to reinvest that part of your tax-free allowance again.

I have a fixed rate ISA with Barclays maturing next month and I shall follow the gov guidance above in respect of the transfer out.

If Barclays try to pull the same stunt with my transfer, I shall reference the above (and believe me my complaint will be blistering)!

xylophone

Transferring out (moving the money from your Flexible Cash ISA to another ISA provider or another cash ISA

with Barclays)

• You can transfer all of the money in your Flexible Cash ISA to another ISA provider or another cash ISA with

Barclays at any time. You cannot transfer only part of the money held in your Flexible Cash ISA.

• If you transfer out before the maturity date, there is a charge: see the ‘Charges for transferring out or closing

your ISA early’ section below for what the charge could be.

• To transfer your Flexible Cash ISA, you will need to give your transfer instructions to your new ISA provider.

They’ll tell us, either by sending us the written form of instructions you gave them or by confirming to us they

are happy to accept the transfer. We’ll send the money and the information your new provider needs within 5

working days of receiving their request, as long as the isn’t any reason to stop the transfer (for example, to

protect you from fraud or other criminal activity).

https://www.barclays.co.uk/content/dam/documents/personal/savings/9901312-ISA-Key-facts-final-v1.pdf

Your feedback

We want to hear from you if you feel unhappy with the service you have received from us. Letting us know your concerns gives us the opportunity to put matters right for you and improve our service to all our customers.

You can complain in person at your branch, in writing, by email, or by telephone. A leaflet detailing how we deal with complaints is available upon request in any of our branches, from the Barclays Information Line on 0800 400 100* or at barclays.com. Alternatively you can write
to Barclays, Leicester LE87 2BB.

If we do not resolve your complaint internally to your satisfaction, you may be able to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service at Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR

(Tel: 0300 123 9 123*) or www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk The Financial Ombudsman Service is an organisation set up by law to give consumers a free and independent service for resolving disputes with financial firms. Details of those who are eligible complainants can be obtained from the Financial Ombudsman Service.

xylophone

They rejected the transfer on grounds that my wife needed to authorise it with them directly. 

And apropos of the above, I've just received a reminder e-mail from Barclays concerning the maturity of the ISA which specifically states

• Transfer a Barclays ISA to another provider – you’ll need to contact them when your term ends to do this.