Barclays Tax Haven ISA: Have you opened one?

mgh

Hello all. Sorry to raise this again but I wondered if anyone is still having major trouble with the opening of their account. I opened my account in a branch on 1st April for 2008/9 and it still has not been opened. That is 11 weeks!

I have complained, they promised an answer within 4 weeks and I've received another letter today stating I won't receive an update on my complaint for another 4 weeks. I still haven't received an acknowledgment letter stating they've received and started processing my application.

Am i alone with this now or is anyone else still having problems? Does anyone have any advice for me? Many thanks

MrAnalogy

Just to let you know you are not alone. Just received my third application rejection on Wednesday! Applied in branch on 10th April with my Wife. Both rejected in May, probably due to our Post Code not being on the Barclay's database (although strangely on virtually all other company databases in the country!). Brach contacted - applications and cheques sent back to ISA centre with a covering email from the branch advisor.

Second rejection arrives for both of us - we both go in to branch - driving licences photocoped and appended to original applications with cheques and returned again.

Strangely on Wednesday my Wife's application had been accepted, but mine had not! Thought I would try the ISA centre (on geographic not 0845 number) and by some miracle got through in about 1 minute (rather than the usual 20 or so). Spoke to somebody there, who thought that the problem was still the Post Code. Updated it on there system then and there and offered to open the application with £1 from my current account. I declined, preferring to return my original application and cheque to them to avoid complications when they deal with our outstanding complaint (allegedly before the 25th June) and request for full interest to be backdated to the date of application and be placed in the account (i.e. the situation we should have been in if the application had been handled properly).

We are waiting developments with interest!

Best Regards, and Good Luck to all those who still have outstanding issues.

msaquib

testpie wrote: »

Give it a try with a small amount - I'd imagine the worst that can happen is that it gets refunded if it can't be transferred, and even if it does go amiss, it's only a small amount anyway.

If this works, you'll only be able to do it from a non-Barclays account: if you try to use the "Pay someone" facility on Barclays Online (it doesn't list the account in the "Transfer to account" screen) it will just give you an error stating you cannot pay yourself.

Just tried to transfer £1 from Natwest to Barclays ISA and the money was there immediately. For some reason when I contacted Barclays Savings this morning they said that it is not possible to transfer from an external account because they cannot control yearly allowance of £3600.

MS

fablad75

mrsplinter wrote: »

I see what you are saying, but the account has only been open for 24 hours. I have been deprived of the opportunity to deposit in an isa for seven weeks. So I feel entitled to ask them to backdate the interest on the amount of my second deposit.

I would be very, very, very surprised if they agreed to this.

Your money wasn't in the account, and was (presumably) gathering interest in another account all this time, so you would essentially be trying to collect interest twice on the same amount.

In any case, there is no way of proving conclusively that you would have put this amount into the ISA in the first place.

chartreuse_2

SWMBO and I went into Barclays' Biggleswade branch yesterday to open one. The bored girl on the desk said, in a couldn't give a toss tone of voice "Oh you'll have to make an appointment in the week." We explained that we both work and this was the only opportunity. No good: "She's fully booked today."

This really annoys me. I know, from having asked at another branch, that Barclays schedule 30 to 40 minutes for these ISA opening sessions so that they can "give you a full financial review". We don't want an over priced loan or rip-off insurance, we just want to open an ISA. That shouldn't take more than 10 minutes tops.

And what on earth would be the point of taking half a day off work to open one? The lost wages would be massively more than any tax saving on the interest! I've already opened an ICESAVE ISA and I imagine SWMBO will do the same. That's two customers Barclays have lost.

chissy252

mgh wrote: »

Hello all. Sorry to raise this again but I wondered if anyone is still having major trouble with the opening of their account. I opened my account in a branch on 1st April for 2008/9 and it still has not been opened. That is 11 weeks!

I have complained, they promised an answer within 4 weeks and I've received another letter today stating I won't receive an update on my complaint for another 4 weeks. I still haven't received an acknowledgment letter stating they've received and started processing my application.

Am i alone with this now or is anyone else still having problems? Does anyone have any advice for me? Many thanks

If what I was told yesterday is correct, then anyone who makes an official complaint has a "stop" put on their application until their presumably overworked complaints department sorts it out! The interest will be backdated eventually (to what date is debatable) but obviously if your cheque is raised from a low interest bearing account, it won't be earning much for you lying around.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=11712775&postcount=458

Smartinvestor

Why would you want to add to your account?

Most of us wish we'd never opened one at all!

izzysdad_2

I opened 1 online last Thursday (12/06/08) and recieved an e-mail the same day saying thank you for applying and you'll hear from us shortly regarding your application, I've not had anything through the post yet but just logged onto barclays banking and it's showing up on my portfolio so i presume it's ok to start putting money into it, if it is i've had no problem opening 1 :j

cs27

msaquib wrote: »

Just tried to transfer £1 from Natwest to Barclays ISA and the money was there immediately. For some reason when I contacted Barclays Savings this morning they said that it is not possible to transfer from an external account because they cannot control yearly allowance of £3600.

MS

Out of interest has anyone tried to set up a Standing Order payment into their ISA using Barclays online banking. I just wonder whether it would work? You could use a slightly different varient of your name, e.g. Initials and the word ISA for the account name, as it is the sort code and number which matter.

If anyone has please let us know.

Thanks.

chissy252

Today we have received letters asking us to go into our local branch and produce photo ID!
We took both passports and driving licences with us when we applied on 24th April. 3 phone calls I made last week and I asked every time if there were any hold ups with our accounts,answers were always no.
My first and last time dealing with this set of lying, ineffecient shower.