Oxbury Bank - Months of Apparent Inadequacy

RichTips

This post is a combination of a bit of a rant and a warning prompted by what I consider a bizarre systemic inadequacy on the part of a financial institution tasked with safeguarding money.

Since the end of the 2023/24 tax year in early April, I've been waiting for a Certificate of Interest from Oxbury Bank for my savings account that I can use as evidence of interest income when submitting my tax return. This is a standard document issued by financial institutions and one that, according to the Oxbury website, they "endeavour to provide...within two weeks of the end of the tax year". Yet here we are, almost three months since the end of the tax year and they have not been issued.

Finding the long absence of an email from Oxbury announcing the availability of my Certificate of Interest odd, in early June, I contacted them by phone to inquire what the reason for the delay might be. I was shocked to discover from the customer care agent that the release had been delayed due to calculation errors resulting in incorrect figures being generated but that, to paraphrase, "this was being worked on". And yet, almost a month later and almost an entire quarter since the end of the tax year, they have been unable to pull together the wherewithal to do the maths.

At this point I am incredulous that something that proclaims itself a bank cannot pull together the resources necessary to carry out an elementary banking task. What on Earth are they doing with their time if not balancing their books and correctly accounting for outgoing payments? They, to my knowledge, have not even bothered to proactively reach out to customers to inform them of the issue. Goodness knows what those responsible for these documents think they're doing.

Given the inadequacy of Oxbury in this regard, I will not be opening further accounts with them and could not recommend others consider doing so. The only reason I haven't closed my existing account is a very real expectation that this would result in a further delay in getting what the website suggests I was due months ago.

Zopa_Trooper

I had a 90-day notice account with them for a few months, It closed yesterday when they paid me the full balance plus interest. I found them to be excellent in every respect. Speak as you find I say.

nottsphil

RichTips said:

This post is a combination of a bit of a rant and a warning prompted by what I consider a bizarre systemic inadequacy on the part of a financial institution tasked with safeguarding money.

Since the end of the 2023/24 tax year in early April, I've been waiting for a Certificate of Interest from Oxbury Bank for my savings account that I can use as evidence of interest income when submitting my tax return. This is a standard document issued by financial institutions and one that, according to the Oxbury website, they "endeavour to provide...within two weeks of the end of the tax year". Yet here we are, almost three months since the end of the tax year and they have not been issued.

Finding the long absence of an email from Oxbury announcing the availability of my Certificate of Interest odd, in early June, I contacted them by phone to inquire what the reason for the delay might be. I was shocked to discover from the customer care agent that the release had been delayed due to calculation errors resulting in incorrect figures being generated but that, to paraphrase, "this was being worked on". And yet, almost a month later and almost an entire quarter since the end of the tax year, they have been unable to pull together the wherewithal to do the maths.

At this point I am incredulous that something that proclaims itself a bank cannot pull together the resources necessary to carry out an elementary banking task. What on Earth are they doing with their time if not balancing their books and correctly accounting for outgoing payments? They, to my knowledge, have not even bothered to proactively reach out to customers to inform them of the issue. Goodness knows what those responsible for these documents think they're doing.

Given the inadequacy of Oxbury in this regard, I will not be opening further accounts with them and could not recommend others consider doing so. The only reason I haven't closed my existing account is a very real expectation that this would result in a further delay in getting what the website suggests I was due months ago.

You don't need to supply Certificates of Interest to HMRC to 'use as evidence of interest income when submitting your tax return'. This is because Oxbury informs HMRC of the interest amount. Any interest adjustment will be applied to this tax year in any case, so just declare the  amount that was paid last year.

masonic

RichTips said:

Since the end of the 2023/24 tax year in early April, I've been waiting for a Certificate of Interest from Oxbury Bank for my savings account that I can use as evidence of interest income when submitting my tax return. This is a standard document issued by financial institutions and one that, according to the Oxbury website, they "endeavour to provide...within two weeks of the end of the tax year". Yet here we are, almost three months since the end of the tax year and they have not been issued.

These are only required where tax was deducted at source so that you can account for tax already paid against your tax liability. Deduction at source no longer happens for interest on deposit accounts. The figure for interest credited on these certificates is not suitable for use for tax calculations on savings accounts where some or all of the interest isn't accessible within the tax year in question.

nottsphil

Zopa_Trooper said:

I had a 90-day notice account with them for a few months, It closed yesterday when they paid me the full balance plus interest. I found them to be excellent in every respect. Speak as you find I say.

So in which tax year are you declaring the annual interest paid last year? If it's credited to the account, we are told that it should only be declared in this year because it wasn't accessible due to you not giving notice until c. 31st March!
Maybe it's dependent on the date that annual interest is credited to an account, so if credited on 31st January it's assessed in the current year but if credited a month later it belongs in the following year because it is not accessible for 90 days.

masonic

nottsphil said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

I had a 90-day notice account with them for a few months, It closed yesterday when they paid me the full balance plus interest. I found them to be excellent in every respect. Speak as you find I say.

So in which tax year are you declaring the annual interest paid last year? If it's credited to the account, we are told that it should only be declared in this year because it wasn't accessible due to you not giving notice until c. 31st March!
Or maybe it was credited to your account on 31st December and you immediately gave notice to withdraw a larger sum. Can you then say 'I was only withdrawing from the capital Mr Taxman, not from the interest so please assess it in the following year (when I will only be getting state pension + savings interest!)'

If it was only open for a few months, and interest is credited annually, would there have been any interest paid in the last tax year? I don't know whether this account pays annual interest on the anniversary of opening the account or on a fixed day each year, and the details are hidden behind a log in prompt.

For those holding the account for more than a few months, the bit in bold is not quite correct, as it implies the decision to give notice after receipt of the interest would make a difference. It would arise on the earliest date it could have been accessed, which would be in the last tax year if it was credited between 7th Jan 2023 - 6th Jan 2024.

allegro120

nottsphil said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

I had a 90-day notice account with them for a few months, It closed yesterday when they paid me the full balance plus interest. I found them to be excellent in every respect. Speak as you find I say.

So in which tax year are you declaring the annual interest paid last year? If it's credited to the account, we are told that it should only be declared in this year because it wasn't accessible due to you not giving notice until c. 31st March!
Maybe it's dependent on the date that annual interest is credited to an account, so if credited on 31st January it's assessed in the current year but if credited a month later it belongs in the following year because it is not accessible for 90 days.

This account pays monthly interest, so any interest credited between 06/04/23 and 05/04/24 counts towards last tax year and anything after towards this tax year.

nottsphil

masonic said:

nottsphil said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

I had a 90-day notice account with them for a few months, It closed yesterday when they paid me the full balance plus interest. I found them to be excellent in every respect. Speak as you find I say.

So in which tax year are you declaring the annual interest paid last year? If it's credited to the account, we are told that it should only be declared in this year because it wasn't accessible due to you not giving notice until c. 31st March!
Or maybe it was credited to your account on 31st December and you immediately gave notice to withdraw a larger sum. Can you then say 'I was only withdrawing from the capital Mr Taxman, not from the interest so please assess it in the following year (when I will only be getting state pension + savings interest!)'

 the details are hidden behind a log in prompt.

.

Oxbury don't allow anybody to read the terms and conditions of an account  without a login? That's a red flag for a start in my book.
I did realise my mistake and amended my post before yours, put too late to avoid you spending your time correcting it.

masonic

allegro120 said:

nottsphil said:

Zopa_Trooper said:

I had a 90-day notice account with them for a few months, It closed yesterday when they paid me the full balance plus interest. I found them to be excellent in every respect. Speak as you find I say.

So in which tax year are you declaring the annual interest paid last year? If it's credited to the account, we are told that it should only be declared in this year because it wasn't accessible due to you not giving notice until c. 31st March!
Maybe it's dependent on the date that annual interest is credited to an account, so if credited on 31st January it's assessed in the current year but if credited a month later it belongs in the following year because it is not accessible for 90 days.

This account pays monthly interest, so any interest credited between 06/04/23 and 05/04/24 counts towards last tax year and anything after towards this tax year.

That's only correct if Oxbury permit instant access with a penalty, or interest is paid to an external account. If you must observe the 90 day notice period, then interest arises for tax 90 days after it is credited, except interest at closure which is accessible immediately.

nottsphil said:

Oxbury don't allow anybody to read the terms and conditions of an account  without a login? That's a red flag for a start in my book.
I did realise my mistake and amended my post before yours, put too late to avoid you spending your time correcting it.

They don't allow access to the details of closed issue accounts without a login. Accounts that are still available are not restricted.

refluxer

Despite the fact that interest technically isn't accessible for 90 days, you can be sure that Oxbury will be still reporting it to HMRC as being received on the day it was credited to the account just like an easy access account, so I anticipate I'll be doing the same when I have to self-assess this year, to avoid any discrepancies/headaches. 

refluxer

I did wonder why it was taking a while for Oxbury to issue their interest summaries but, to be fair, I've received them from other banks a lot later than this. 

I think the record for me last year was Shawbrook, who didn't issue mine until September. They were quicker this year, though.