Barclays to Virgin ISA transfer rejected

youngretired

Complaint raised and sent to Savings Team. Barclays has now said reason for decline was I hadn't authorised early closure charges. I said that I requested it to transfer upon maturity so no early closure charges would be made.

I know on the transfer request (as I took photos as proof) that you have 2 options, 1 wait until fixed period ends or 2 transfer asap and accept closure charges. I ticked 1, but obviously if I had ticked 2 then I was accepting to pay charges.

I have asked for proof of what Virgin sent them, as they are implying that Virgin had requested for it to be transferred asap. 

Virgin sent the request on the 4th, does anyone know if banks send requests straight away for future transfers or do they wait until closer to the maturity date? 

gwapenut

Skipton sent mine straight away because I got a decline a few days before maturity. Like you, I ticked to wait for maturity but was declined because an instant transfer would have incurred charges (which is why I didn't request an instant transfer). 

My Barclays "Premier" customer helpline told me, quite aggressively, that I was grossly misunderstanding the complexity of ISA transfers if I thought that was an acceptable way of requesting an ISA transfer a few days before maturity. They were not interested that such ways were industry standard. This was part of the gaslighting I was complaining about here and I personally think they need a damn good slap from an ombudsman. They're making the rules up as they go along.

masonic

gwapenut said:

My Barclays "Premier" customer helpline told me, quite aggressively, that I was grossly misunderstanding the complexity of ISA transfers if I thought that was an acceptable way of requesting an ISA transfer a few days before maturity. They were not interested that such ways were industry standard. This was part of the gaslighting I was complaining about here and I personally think they need a damn good slap from an ombudsman. They're making the rules up as they go along.

All grist for the mill. You might wish to DSAR a recording of the call and any other relevant info.

youngretired

I thought last night that Virgin would have had to have sent the request to Barclays asap, as unlike other companies they don't ask for the maturity date on their requests just that it's within 6 weeks. I did a tansfer in September from Santander to Virgin the same way and that went through perfectly fine. 

masonic

youngretired said:

I thought last night that Virgin would have had to have sent the request to Barclays asap, as unlike other companies they don't ask for the maturity date on their requests just that it's within 6 weeks. I did a tansfer in September from Santander to Virgin the same way and that went through perfectly fine. 

There is no need to specify a date when selecting the 'wait until maturity' option, and I would consider it better practice not to ask for one and rather have the old provider determine when it can be transferred penalty free - avoids 'next working day' type issues. A specified date is not supposed to be used by the gaining provider as a delay to forwarding the request to the old provider, this should still be done promptly. You might find the following interesting, it was in relation to a provider who rejected a transfer request rather than pending it due to a misunderstanding of the 15 day time limit for transfers to be executed:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80292802/#Comment_80292802

youngretired

I read this too on the government site about the 15 working days for cash ISA to cash ISA transfers and wondered if this is why Barclays are declining (mine fell on the 15th working day from acc opening).

I couldn't find the snippet you included on the other forum, but did find this under guidance  so you would have thought if that is why Barclays are declining then they should tell Virgin to resubmit and not decline or at least contact the customer. 

masonic

youngretired said:

I read this too on the government site about the 15 working days for cash ISA to cash ISA transfers and wondered if this is why Barclays are declining (mine fell on the 15th working day from acc opening).
<snip>
I couldn't find the snippet you included on the other forum, but did find this under guidance < so you would have thought if that is why Barclays are declining then they should tell Virgin to resubmit and not decline or at least contact the customer. 

This would only come into play if you failed to tick either of the "1 wait until fixed period ends or 2 transfer asap and accept closure charges" boxes. I suspect you would not have been capable of submitting the request if you'd left them both unticked.

It looks like the second document was moved since my earlier post, it can now be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/697181/Appendices.pdf

youngretired

I contacted Barclays via live chat today, as they said on the 29th to contact them on Tuesday for an update only to find out that they hadn't raised my complaint as a complaint, but sent it as a feedback of my dissatisfaction.

I phoned the complaints team in uk and gave them the reference number I'd been given and was told that no action would unfortunately have been taken with this and apologised.

I will try and talk to the ISA team tomorrow and then raise a complaint again and this time be complaining about the live chat on the 29th not raising my complaint. 

xylophone

According to the Times's Money page  agony aunt (Dec 23) the financial ombudsman received more complaints about Barclays than any other financial institution in the first half of 2023.  

The journalist  cited the case of a reader who was having trouble with transferring funds  out of his Barclays Stocks and Shares ISA (all contributions prior to tax year 23/24) to a  Barclays 4% Fixed Rate Cash ISA (£25,000 ) and a Barclays Easy Access Cash ISA (£20,000). I have to say I'm mystified as to why he wanted the Instant Access ISA at 1%.

The Barclays system appears to have accepted both (correctly)  last May as transfer of "old" money but then the reader found that  in June, the Fixed Rate ISA  was closed and the money transferred to his current account on the basis that he had contributed to more than one cash ISA in the tax year.

In fact he had no intention of contributing to  an ISA in the current tax year.

In the end, after endless back and forth with Barclays and no resolution in sight, he appealed to the journalist.

Barclays claimed that their system "had done the right thing" but then after the journalist's intervention came back two months later  with "sorry the customer had cause to complain, confirmed that the issue had been resolved, credited the money  to the Fixed Rate ISA account   (plus interest of £139) and  made him  a compensation payment of £100.

flaneurs_lobster

My Barclays --> VM cash ISA is pending. The transfer amount is just under £10K. Is there any reason why I should not fund the new ISA with £10K cash from elsewhere, or might this cause complications to the (fragile) transfer process?