Bank late to open ISA

Mike-hbgt

Hi,

I attempted to open an ISA with Barclays 2 weeks before the deadline. I had made an appointment with my local branch and also registered for online banking. I obtained my pin sentry in good time and applied for the ISA online, and cancelled my appointment with the local branch.

I have now received my ISA package from Barclays, and I see they have the Date Opened as 7th April - so it looks like i've missed the boat.

I'm absolutely furious as of course i could have opened the account at my local branch and would have done so had i been informed that their online service would be so slow that i would not be able to register in time. There is no acknowledgment in the letter from Barclays as to whether i have indeed made the 6th april deadline, nor any acknowledgment that indeed the deadline exists. I feel i have been well and truly conned yet again.

They're not answering the phones of course and i notice that their phonelines are only open during normal office hours so i can't even try late at night or something like that. I dare say i won't be the only one to be caught like this, question is, is there anything at all i can do about it?

alijolly

No advice but I am interested in any answers. You are definitely not the only one DH and I opened ISA's online before the deadline both requesting 07/08. Mine went through no problem on 28th March DH just received his letter today - opened 7th April. This is particularly annoying as we had other plans for our 08/09 allowance which it now looks as if are scuppered.

bristolleedsfan

Last year opening dates were dates they were opened, however accounts were backdated where appropriate so while im not saying what is the position in your cases what was discovered last year was that Barclays were very good at backdating accounts.

In addition where Barclays messed up and some people lost their 2006/07 ISA allowance, Barclays paid compensation to the value of approx 5 years of 3000.00 ISA allowances. ( 200.00)

I agree it would be better if Barclays avoided confusion by stating what theve done more clearly. In the ISA sub forum people have stated that branches have assured them that full backdating will take place even Barclays dont specifically state backdating has occurred.

ariba10

Someone in our family had the same problem with the Midland last year but as I told them .

There are 52 weeks in the year. Why wait untill the last two?

Mike-hbgt

ariba10 wrote: »

Someone in our family had the same problem with the Midland last year but as I told them .

There are 52 weeks in the year. Why wait untill the last two?

Because i'm not financially minded and i didn't really know about it until recently. Plus i only recently acquired the cash which has come from a bereavement.

If i was too late, that's not a problem. But to take the money and then not give me what i want is fraud, or theft, in my view.

alijolly

ariba10 wrote: »

Someone in our family had the same problem with the Midland last year but as I told them .

There are 52 weeks in the year. Why wait untill the last two?

Because until then we didn't have any spare money to save! An unexpected bonus from work was paid in March, so we wanted to use uplast years allowance as well as this.

Murtle

Speak to them, in previous years the paperwork has said x date but the account was opened in the correct tax year. You can ask them to send you a letter confirming it to. They take ages to process all their documents for some reason even when they capture all details direct onto the PC someone, somewhere else still has to approve them.....

M

steady__eddie

Barclays have acquired a reputation since last year for being victims of "unprecedented demand", I suggest that this is a euphemism for gross incompetance.
Last year OH opened her ISA on the 18th of April but they must have been in time travel mode because they recorded it has being opened on the 5th of April (previous tax year). Telephone calls and letters over the last 11 months have not resolved the situation and now HMRC are in hot pursuit.
I would suggest that a letter is likely to get more results than 'phone calls even though it hasn't in my case but at least you have proof that you have registered your complaint.

Barclays Savings
P O Box 75
Liverpool
L69 7HG