Barclays Tax Haven ISA: Have you opened one?

jammyjoey123

We opened a tax beater with Barclays last year and the account was not opened for weeks after it should have been. And surprise surprise it looks like its going to happen again this year! And there was also a mistake on my application last year, they had me self employed.

christopherjohn

I asked them to transfer my old ISA (Cash Beater 07/08) to Icesave, when the bonus rate finished with Barclays. They did, but quoted the opening date of that account as 6th April 2008! Icesave merely returned to the funds to Barclays, where they have languished to date!

I asked them to place the funds into the new Tax Haven account - "No you can't 'cos we won't accept funds being transferred in!" However I agreed to re-open the old account (despitethe lower interest rate). Still waiting!

While on the phone (11/4/08) to complain about the above, I agreed to open a new Tax Haven account. Still waiting!

Their explanation is that they have had so many applications that they can't cope - exactly the same problem as last year!

ChrisD_2

Applied in branch 18 April. Helpful. Ack letter sent out 21 April saying a/c will be opened within 4 weeks and interest will be earned from date of opening. As cash sitting in current a/cs rang and was told interest would be backdated to date of application.

skooby_2

I completed the Barclays Tax Haven Cash ISA application though my Barclays online account on 28 March.

On Monday 7th April, I called to ISA help line on to enquire about my application. I had to try 3 times before I could get through to a customer relations officer that could give me some ‘useful’ information. The first one was taking my current account details when the line was cut off. The second was terribly unhelpful and said that “I would be notified in the post when the account is open” and did not apologies at all for the process taking so long. It was only when I got through to the third person that I was informed that the process would take 5-10 working days, that Barclays had been swamped with applications and that there was a backlog.

I wrote to Barclays on 17th April to complain about the dreadful customer service I have received over the phone. Surely it should not take me three phone calls to be informed that Barclays is struggling with the applications received and that there is a delay.

In my letter I also expressed my disappointment about the delay in opening my account. This is even more disappointing considering that this time last year I wrote to Barclays with exactly the same problems (delays with opening my Tax Beater Cash ISA).

Press reports following the launch of the product in March 2008 had reassured me that this year’s Barclays application procedure would be smoother. Barclays press department obviously did a good job bending the years of journalists as in my opinion the application process is just as bad as last year.

Last year I applied with a £3000 cheque, that could not be traced for 3 weeks causing me a lot of worry for a few weeks, this year I applied with the minimum of £1. My intention was to pay in the remaining £3599 as soon as the account was opened. Instead £3599 is now sitting in my current account earning a fraction of the interest it could have done in the Tax Haven ISA.

I have been a Barclays customer for 10 years and I am slowly losing confidence in the bank. Last year I applied for an ISA account with Alliance & Leicester (to transfer previous years allowances). I did this online and the account was open in 2 days. Why can't Barclays match this level of service?

Needless to say that Barclays has not yet replied to my letter! :mad:

oldie21

my son opened an ISA last tax year (late Feb/early March), then received an acknowledgment from an address in Leicester on 13th March. On 18th March another letter (from Glasgow) asking him to visit a branch with id (despite having already presented id & had it acknowledged on application form). The branch did not know what the problem was but copied all the id again. Another acknowledgment on 31st March from Glasgow.
Then this week came a welcome letter from Leicester showing an opening date of 22nd April!
As there was no mention of the relevant tax year on this latest letter we queried it by phone & have been assured (verbally) that the sort code shown on the letter indicates the correct tax year. They also said we were not the only ones to query the "opening date".
My son has requested internet access to the account so he can verify it has been set up correctly for last tax year and also as yet there has been no confirmation of the exact amount invested.

TORTILLATOUT

We both applied on 14 April and are still waiting after receiving 2 identical letters from a Lee Chiswell saying that our first online application was faulty. Then we received letters saying that was an error! We still wait!:mad:

christopherjohn

bob_hughes wrote: »

More interestingly there is a lot of money waiting to be transferred from my current account. It gets naff all interest in my current account nice little earner for barclays.
Second year running Barclays cannot handle demand. (sigh)

May I suggest that the funds waiting for the account to be opened are held on one of Barclays e-savings accounts which can be opened on-line and funds transferred electronically into and out of it without notice. Current interest rates are reasonable, but not as good as the ISA.

christopherjohn

skooby wrote: »

My intention was to pay in the remaining £3599 as soon as the account was opened. Instead £3599 is now sitting in my current account earning a fraction of the interest it could have done in the Tax Haven ISA.

You could transfer the funds to a Barclays e-savings account which can be opened on-line; and transfers in and out can be done electronically without notice. In fact, anyone who has a Barclays account should also have an e-savings account to keep surplus funds in, even if it's only for a couple of days.

Lokolo

skooby wrote: »

I completed the Barclays Tax Haven Cash ISA application though my Barclays online account on 28 March.

On Monday 7th April, I called to ISA help line on to enquire about my application.

You phone them up the day they start processing applications to find out when yours will be? Jeez be patient!

Spoondog_2

I applied for Tax year 07/08 back at the very beginning of April. I am a Barclays customer and received a letter saying that they are processing the application. I still haven't heard anything yet. Will this mean that I will miss out on using the 07/08 allowance?