Barclays Tax Haven ISA: Have you opened one?

fionajd

I applied for a 07-08 Isa with Barclays before the new tax year began ...When it came through it was for the tax year 08-09 ..I complained , naturally ..This is their reply

"Despite our best efforts , for some customers we have not been able to open their Isas in time and I regret to inform you that yours was such an application .As a result your Tax Haven ISA cannot now be opened even though you applied before the end of the tax year .
iappreciate that we have let you down and I understand the implications of you missing out on the opportunity to invest in an ISA for the last tax year .With this in mind I enclose a cherque for £220.This assumes maximum deposit would have credited a full year at an interest rate of 6.5% equating to £195 to cover any lost interest , plus £25 to cover any additional expenses"

I guess if they just send out "compensation" cheques like this they'll avoid people complaining to the FOS..I will NEVER use Barclays again

BruceyBonus

fionajd wrote: »

I guess if they just send out "compensation" cheques like this they'll avoid people complaining to the FOS..I will NEVER use Barclays again

I had to complain to the FOS before I got my £220 cheque!

mrsplinter

mrsplinter wrote: »

I applied for the ISA on 24 April online, having already had a current account with them for 11 years. I quickly received the standard letter about a four week delay. After four weeks were up I complained, then I received another letter telling me my complaint will be dealt with by 20 June. Last week I rang the complaint line and got a useless operator who told me nothing could be done until my complaint was resolved. Today I rang the savings line and was told my ISA could not be opened as my address was marked 'gone away' because post had been returned. This is strange since I moved house 18 months ago, my address is correct and I have since received statements and letters about my ISA application and complaint in the last few weeks. I was told I had to go to my local branch and have the 'gone away' marker removed. I did this today, they rang someone and apparently my account will be opened in 1-2 weeks with backdated interest. I will believe it when I see it.

Success! Seven weeks after applying my ISA is open. Now just need to see whether I get backdated interest. My initial credit was only £1, so I hope that don't base the interest just on that sum as I am now going to try and make a much larger deposit.

Baldur

mrsplinter wrote: »

Success! Seven weeks after applying my ISA is open. Now just need to see whether I get backdated interest. My initial credit was only £1, so I hope that don't base the interest just on that sum

If you've only had £1 in the account, what else would they base the interest on?

msaquib

Hi,

I just opened up an Barclays ISA account. The account is showing up on my online banaking. The problem is that I cannot make tranfers from my Barclays Current account to my ISA. Anyone else having this problem?

Thanks
MS

testpie

msaquib wrote: »

Hi,

I just opened up an Barclays ISA account. The account is showing up on my online banaking. The problem is that I cannot make tranfers from my Barclays Current account to my ISA. Anyone else having this problem?

Thanks
MS

If by can't you mean that the only options are voodoo chanting or using the telephone system (the branch told me no and you can't transfer money into it online), then yes.

smurfkate

I applied at the beginning of April, in branch as I dont have any other Barclays account (I do have insurance with them so not a total stranger to them) However, my account is still not open, I got the standard sorry for the delay letter and today have had a letter asking me to take my ID and proof of address in to the branch AGAIN.
Starting to think that Barclays are pretty incompetent....
ALSO you can't transfer in any of your existing ISA's which is a bit rubbish really.:mad:

peas

I applied on the phone for a Tax haven ISA on 7th april. Hubby applied in branch a week later and his account was opened about a month later. Mine however got lost in the ether somewhere.
I phoned customer services a couple of times and I have to say they were extremely helpful. They were surprised that I have had to wait this long and actually dealt with it there and then. i got the account opened a couple of days later.
Having said all that I don't know if the money is in the ISA yet, I don't have on line banking with Barclays.

who do I have to speak to to ensure that I get all the interest backdated - customer services said it would be but I just want to double check.

Trying_to_be_good

Trying_to_be_good wrote: »

Ha - one week on, and still no ISA. Called 'help' line again, they STILL can't see any reason why it's not opened, but have now printed the application to fax to Glasgow to have it opened, interest to be backdated to 5 Apr, formal complaint raised.

Fingers remain crossed, but will start looking at the market for an alternative place to invest my money. At least it's for a 2007/08 ISA so they can't say I'm out of time...

Ha - another week on and STILL no ISA. But I today received a letter dated 4 Jun (i.e. two days before the phone call when they told me nothing was wrong) saying they don't have enough address info on me. Strange, as they have my mortgage, and I've lived here for over 3 years.

So, they've added more details to the complaint, 3 months and counting now.

freeasabird

freeasabird wrote: »

Last week I got two letters from Barclays: one to say my complaint is being looked at and they will now get back to me on 11th June! The second letter said that they received my cheque for the 08/09 year (even though the letter that I sent with it clearly states 07/08) and as I didn't put any money according to them in the 07/08 year; I will have to fill in a new application for an ISA if not, they will send back my cheque and inform the Inland Revenue that I may have to pay tax on it. I rang the customer services department who said they would let the department that sent me the second letter know about the situation and they will call me later in the day. That was Friday and I'm still waiting. Now I cannot open a 08/09 account somewhere else until I sort this mess out. There are so many complaints about this ISA that I think Martin should approach Barclays on our behalf to deal with this. I'm so fed up with this; I will never do business with Barclays again.:mad:

I got another letter this week saying that my complaint is still being looked at. I want my money back and I will never, ever do business with Barclays again. CAn someone help me sort this out? :mad: :mad: