Barclays Tax Haven ISA 2008/09

merlinthehappypig

My son opened his Tax Haven ISA 10 days ago.

He had a letter last week confirming the application and another today confirming that the account had been opened and giving all the account details, so they are doing better than last year, at this stage anyway.

Uruk_Hai

I've been reading some of the posts and I'm starting to wonder if I've done the right thing, I've already applied for a tax haven ISA for the year 2008/2009 and given Barclays a cheque to start the account with. I was told that the money may take upto 15 days to transfer from my account into the tax haven but even if it takes that long it wil still be march when the money goes into the tax haven, could this be a problem or am I as useual worrying about nothing ?

JTC_2

Hi,
I have a question about Tax Haven ISA.
Is this account accept additional deposit?
I do not have GBP　3600 yet,so I would like to deposit GBP 2000 in first and GBP 1600 in later of the same tax year.
Is it possible? Anyone know?

10_66

Yes, once opened you can add to the account (up to the max allowed).

Crabman

Uruk_Hai wrote: »

I've been reading some of the posts and I'm starting to wonder if I've done the right thing, I've already applied for a tax haven ISA for the year 2008/2009 and given Barclays a cheque to start the account with. I was told that the money may take upto 15 days to transfer from my account into the tax haven but even if it takes that long it wil still be march when the money goes into the tax haven, could this be a problem or am I as useual worrying about nothing ?

Have you already used this year's £3000 ISA allowance?

It looks like Barclays are taking payments for next year's ISA allowance now - I was asked today when opening the same account if I'd like to use next year's allowance too. Not sure how they're working it though if you have it in writing that they're using the 08-09 allowance then you shouldn't need to worry

Uruk_Hai

Thats what must be happening then as I've already used up all of this years allowance so I'm guessing any money I've paid in can only go towards the 2008/9 allowance, silly me :rolleyes:

Eydon

Hi,
My situation is that I currently have a Barclays Openplan Offset Mortgage which is currently running at full offset (i.e. I'm paying no interest on it). The rate is set at 0.75% above base, so that's currently 6%.

My plan therefore is to immediately open two Tax Haven ISAs for 2007/08 (one for me and one for my wife) and put in £3000 each. Then open two more for 2008/09 and fund them both with the maximum £3600 - all the money coming from the offset savings.

Then, as long as the Tax Haven ISA rate is more than my mortgage rate, keep them outside the offset arrangement. But if the Tax Haven rate drops below the mortgage rate to move them all back into the offset arrangement.

My thinking is that I lose nothing (either our ISAs will be earning more interest than we are paying on the mortgage, or they'll be offsetting against the mortgage), but the advantage of moving the money into ISAs now means that I can always transfer them later into other ISAs offering even better rates.

I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts.

P.S. I have checked with Barclays and they say that you can move your Tax Haven ISAs in and out of your offset arrangement whenever you want - but obviously you get no interest on your ISA while it's offsetting.

PParka

Eydon wrote: »

My plan therefore is to immediately open two Tax Haven ISAs for 2007/08 (one for me and one for my wife) and put in £3000 each. Then open two more for 2008/09 and fund them both with the maximum £3600 - all the money coming from the offset savings.

Hi Eydon,
I'm doing a very similar thing. I've opened two Tax Haven ISAs for 2008/09 (one for me and one for my wife). The max of £3600 will go into each.
These won't be offset while the interest rate is higher than the mortgage rate.

I did the same last year with the Barclays Tax Beater ISAs, but as soon as the 1% bonus stopped, I started offsetting them against the mortgage.

It a doddle to do if you use online banking. Just go to "Service my mortgage" and you can offset (or un-offset) the ISAs as often as you want.

The only trouble with being fully offset is Barclays keep contacting me to 'discuss my mortgage arrangement' I don't think they like the idea that I'll be paying no interest for the next 20 years!!!!

BallandChain

I went into Barclays and set up my ISA and said I wanted one for this current tax year and one for 2008/09. Apparently the lady I saw said that I don't need to open two Tax Haven ISAs, I can add £3,600 after April 5th to the Tax Haven ISA I opened today for this current tax year. I hope that's right as she didn't really explain anything to me. Most of my info has come from this site, so thank God I wasn't completely in the dark.

As I'm a non Barclays customer she told me I couldn't register for online (to check my ISA a/c) and she put info on the computer screen but didn't print it off for me. I had to fill in a small form and it said it was for tax year 2008 so I'm hoping she's got the right tax year too! (I tried to crane my neck to look at screen and couldn't see which tax year she had filled in although I told her it was for this one 2007/08.)

She told me I'd get a statement but when I read the booklet she gave me (terms and conditions booklet inside the cover was missing) it says you only get one statement a year, thought that maybe it might be monthly statements as interest is added monthly.

Also as I don't need to open another ISA for tax year 2008/09 as I can add to the one I just opened she said I can't add to it until after April 5, yet some people on here are opening up their 2008/09 ISA already from what I've read on here. Just a little confused as I thought I could have handed over a post dated cheque to save me calling in again. Can anyone shed any light on all this? Thanks.:o

Just to add she told me the application would take a week, I am leaning towards 2 weeks as I read on here it goes to their Liverpool office, something she didn't tell me, but luckily I was aware of beforehand.

Lokolo

A lot of people opened their ISAs last year and so their 1% bonus is coming to an end. If they opened another one they then get 1% bonus for a year on their new ISA.