Barclays Tax Haven ISA: Have you opened one?

Eli22

Eli22
My wife and I filled in the forms at a Barclays branch and gave them cheques on the 11th April. They sent a letter to my wife (13th April - Received 25th April) acknowledging receipt. It also said "because your application is for the tax year 2008-9, we won't be able to open your account until after the 5th April" - This was in a letter dated 13th April!!
I have not heard anything from them.
The money to meet the cheques is waiting in my current account at 0.1%, having been transferred from a savings account at 6+%.

poisondwarf1

I opened mine at the start of April for the 07/08 year and the letter and pack came fairly quickly. The £3000 came out of my barclays e-saver account after about two weeks. However, Barclays are claiming that I applied for a normal cash Isa and not the tax haven one! I have put in a complaint as the rate for the normal one is something like 4.39%. I know I applied for the 6.5% Tax haven one and yesterday I spoke to an advisor and they are starting an investigation and they said the interest would be backdated along with the usual excuses about not realising how popular it would be.

antispam246

My experience with the Barclays Tax Haven ISA has been superb, which is really odd considering the trouble I've hadwith Barclays in the past, ever the pessimist.

I opened a Tax Haven ISA for last tax year 07/08 really late, approx. a week before the deadline, it opened within a week. Transfered £3000 online from my Barclays current account, it went in on the 8th Apr. This tax year I went into the branch to transfer a further £3600 into the account, the payment went through on 16th Apr. Received my 1st interest payment today which was back dated correctly as I was told in the branch.

Thanks again Martin!

skooby_2

BruceyBonus wrote: »

According to the Barclays site, the rate is now 6.25% AER
This means that National Counties Building Society's rate is now higher, at 6.26% AER. National Counties had my account open in less than a week (that included sending me a form, me returning it, then asking for ID and me sending that back).

It also has a guarantee (which Barclays don't offer): Guaranteed to be at least 0.4% above the Bank of England bank rate until 5 April 2009. After this date, it becomes a 2nd Issue Cash ISA (which currently pays 5.51% AER).

Right, this is it!
What a stupid commercial decision from Barclays. They have all these applications for ISA's sitting somewhere in their offices and they now decide to drop the rate.
Do they really think they can take their customer's loyality for granted in this way!?!? :mad: I have applied for their ISA last year and encountered the same wait as this year. Not good enough!

I am glad I opened my account with only £1. The remaining £3599 will now be transferred into the Alliance & Leicester issue 4 ISA. The rate for this account has dropped to 6.00% gross p.a./AER (variable) but at least I can transfer in and out without being charged. I think, National Counties BS charges 10 days’ interest for moving the money out.

A&L is also very efficient and I have never had to wait four weeks for an account (normal saver or ISA) to be opened - 4 days at the max.

I transferred my current account to A&L from Barclays about 4 years ago and never regretted it- I had been with Barclays for 10 years and it really did not deserve my loyality. Money in my curent account now earns interest, I received £50 because a friend recommeded me, get free European travel insurance with my current account and A&L savings accounts offer competitive rates. :T

Why bother with a chart topping account when the service is this appalling?

All I would say, is complain, complain, complain. Possibly in writing if you can. Barclays sent me £150 for last year's hassle. Let's see how much they offer this year...

Lokolo

lol.... there was a base rate drop. Darling wants banks to reduce mortgage rates because of the credit crunch, why are banks and building societies going to keep the IR's on svaings the same??

skooby_2

Lokolo wrote: »

lol.... there was a base rate drop. Darling wants banks to reduce mortgage rates because of the credit crunch, why are banks and building societies going to keep the IR's on svaings the same??

I understand that the BoE dropped the base rate and that banks drop rates on savings accordingly. It's not rocket science!

It's as a result of Barclay's terrible customer service that I have decided to drop Barclays. The change of rate is a contributing factor!

Lokolo

skooby wrote: »

I understand that the BoE dropped the base rate and that banks drop rates on savings accordingly. It's not rocket science!

It's as a result of Barclay's terrible customer service that I have decided to drop Barclays. The change of rate is a contributing factor!

But the terrible customer service was inevitable after last year and the base rate drop was inevitable because of the credit crunch.... this was obvious more than a month ago when applications opened. So why did you go and open an account?

MishterTea

I applied for the 08/09 Tax Haven just under a month ago (04/04/08) via. online banking, opening with £1. The account appeared on my online banking list today. I don't appear to be able to use the online transfer to move in money from my Barclay's current account though, is this usual?

Many thanks,
- Rich

Lokolo

MishterTea wrote: »

I applied for the 08/09 Tax Haven just under a month ago (04/04/08) via. online banking, opening with £1. The account appeared on my online banking list today. I don't appear to be able to use the online transfer to move in money from my Barclay's current account though, is this usual?

Many thanks,
- Rich

2.2 The minimum deposit is £1. Deposits may be made by transfer from another account, standing order, cheque, or by paying a cash amount into any Barclays branch in the UK.

Not sure if the transfer from another account means in branch only. But thats what I think. I can remember reading somewhere that Barclays didn't want online transfers as their system doesn't stop people from going over the limit, however, I could be wrong.

nathanhill69

Lokolo wrote: »

But the terrible customer service was inevitable after last year and the base rate drop was inevitable because of the credit crunch.... this was obvious more than a month ago when applications opened. So why did you go and open an account?

Absolutely agree with you on this

Many applicants seem to have been blinded by the headline grabbing 6.50% and missed the more important word Variable.