Cash ISA Interest paid by cheque!

DopeyDylanH

Hi All,

I was just wondering if any of you had ever heard of the concept of a Cash ISA paying out its interest via cheque.  All my ISA's have just paid straight back into the ISA, keeping the interest tax free.

I'd never come across this way of paying interest before opening a Barclay's ISA, so had no idea any bank/institution could or even would pay interest via cheque.

Thanks in advance for any light you shine on this weird practice.
Dylan

wmb194

DopeyDylanH said:

Hi All,

I was just wondering if any of you had ever heard of the concept of a Cash ISA paying out its interest via cheque.  All my ISA's have just paid straight back into the ISA, keeping the interest tax free.

I'd never come across this way of paying interest before opening a Barclay's ISA, so had no idea any bank/institution could or even would pay interest via cheque.

Thanks in advance for any light you shine on this weird practice.
Dylan

Which account is that? I have a S&S Isa with iWeb that gives the *option* for interest and dividends to be paid away to my linked current account so perhaps by cheque is just an option Barclays offers?

refluxer

Did you select monthly interest ? Monthly interest on a Barclays Flexible (fixed term) Cash ISA can only be paid away and if you don't have a suitable Barclays account for it to be paid into, then it's paid away by cheque.

This is mentioned under 'What is the interest rate ?' which is the first box on the account summary document (T&Cs).

Consumerist

On the face of it, a little strange. It might be better to take this up directly with Barclays.

DopeyDylanH

refluxer said:

Did you select monthly interest ? Monthly interest on a Barclays Flexible (fixed term) Cash ISA can only be paid away and if you don't have a suitable Barclays account for it to be paid into, then it's paid away by cheque.

This is mentioned under 'What is the interest rate ?' which is the first box on the account summary document (T&Cs).

I did select monthly interest, but it wasn't explained by the specialist adviser setting it up that such a silly option was even a thing!  I was hoping to find out whether I was being thick, or this is the only ISA to have such a backward way of receiving interest.  The ISA has matured now, and I'll never bank with Barclay's again.

DopeyDylanH

Consumerist said:

On the face of it, a little strange. It might be better to take this up directly with Barclays.

Thanks. I have done that and I've asked the ombudsman to look into it, as I thought it should have been pointed out while I was face to face with the specialist adviser.

ColdIron

DopeyDylanH said:

refluxer said:

Did you select monthly interest ? Monthly interest on a Barclays Flexible (fixed term) Cash ISA can only be paid away and if you don't have a suitable Barclays account for it to be paid into, then it's paid away by cheque.

This is mentioned under 'What is the interest rate ?' which is the first box on the account summary document (T&Cs).

I did select monthly interest, but it wasn't explained by the specialist adviser setting it up that such a silly option was even a thing!  I was hoping to find out whether I was being thick, or this is the only ISA to have such a backward way of receiving interest.  The ISA has matured now, and I'll never bank with Barclay's again.

Hardly Barclays fault at face value. The option is set out on their main summary page. If you had selected annual interest it would have been retained within the ISA

Do Barclays even have 'specialist advisers' any more? It's a retail product. Did they even work for Barclays? Whoever this 'specialist' advisor was it seems unlikely that they would not provide you with the basic terms of the account which you appear not to have read

• Monthly interest can't be paid back into this ISA or directly into any other ISA or bond. It can be paid into a Barclays account in your name or held jointly with someone else, or we'll send it to you by cheque.

It couldn't be more plain

https://www.barclays.co.uk/savings/isas/1-year-flexible-cash-isa

la531983

DopeyDylanH said:

Consumerist said:

On the face of it, a little strange. It might be better to take this up directly with Barclays.

Thanks. I have done that and I've asked the ombudsman to look into it, as I thought it should have been pointed out while I was face to face with the specialist adviser.

Sorry, you have jumped straight to the Ombudsman before getting any sort of meaningful reply from the bank first? 

Anyway, seems someone has provided a link above.

refluxer

DopeyDylanH said:

refluxer said:

Did you select monthly interest ? Monthly interest on a Barclays Flexible (fixed term) Cash ISA can only be paid away and if you don't have a suitable Barclays account for it to be paid into, then it's paid away by cheque.

This is mentioned under 'What is the interest rate ?' which is the first box on the account summary document (T&Cs).

I did select monthly interest, but it wasn't explained by the specialist adviser setting it up that such a silly option was even a thing!  I was hoping to find out whether I was being thick, or this is the only ISA to have such a backward way of receiving interest.  The ISA has matured now, and I'll never bank with Barclay's again.

Different ISA providers have different interest options and different customers have different needs too, I guess. It's generally up to us as customers to ensure we choose accounts that meet our needs (which means reading the T&Cs for any account we sign up to carefully) but if you had someone from Barclays help to set this account up for you in a branch, then this definitely should have been mentioned. At the meeting, presumably they would either have had to read the T&Cs out to you or you would have had to read them yourself, so this should have been picked up on at this stage.

If it was overlooked at the time for whatever reason, then the time to have tried to sort this would have been when you received your first month's interest cheque - if the customer adviser hadn't done their job properly, then you might have had some form of redress but presumably the chances of that now, 1-2 years down the line, will probably have diminished unfortunately, I would have thought.

ColdIron

Immediately before opening the account there would have been a tick box asking you to confirm that you had read and understood the terms and conditions of the account

la531983

Also, no financial loss has been incurred (or has it?), yes slightly inconvenient getting a cheque but thats all it is, slightly inconvenient, just bank it using a banking app and no visit to a branch is needed.