Barclays Tax Haven ISA: Have you opened one?

arforum

Applied 9th April - still not open

Lokolo

Spoondog wrote: »

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?

Not unless they don't open it until April 5th 2009....

tasterealale

I applied for a Tax Haven ISA and handed in a cheque for £3600 on 3 April. My cheque is still not cashed and my account is not open.

I have telephoned the Barclays ISA centre (kept on "hold" for absolutely ages) and was told my application has been received and that interest will be backdated.

However, my assumption is that interest will be backdated to 3 days after my cheque was received, ie, 6 April (which is the earliest date that the new ISA can run from). I don't like the suggestion that interest will only be paid 14 days after they received the cheque?

piotremm

I applied on March 31 at the local branch. It was insisted that I have adequate funds in my current account to cover the transaction. This I did the same day. As of today, April 30, these funds have not been transferred. I emailed Barclays several days ago, complaining but have yet to get a response. It is evidently a sprat to catch a mackerel but they won't catch me again. It is little surprising that there is not a large measure of trust in many of the institutions in this country. One has only to experience the 4 business days that have to be allowed for an electronic transfer to take place.

Lokolo

tasterealale wrote: »

I applied for a Tax Haven ISA and handed in a cheque for £3600 on 3 April. My cheque is still not cashed and my account is not open.

I have telephoned the Barclays ISA centre (kept on "hold" for absolutely ages) and was told my application has been received and that interest will be backdated.

However, my asupmtion is that interest will be backdated to 3 days after my cheque was cashed, ie, 6 April (which is the earliest date that the new ISA can run from). I don't like the suggestion that interest will only be paid 14 days after they received the cheque?

I think the reason its taking so long is because all the people that are working there are always on the phones because people keep phoning to complain. :rolleyes:

And I assume that you will be paid interest from the 20th if its the 14 day guarantee thing.

Lokolo

piotremm wrote: »

I applied on March 31 at the local branch. It was insisted that I have adequate funds in my current account to cover the transaction. This I did the same day. As of today, April 30, these funds have not been transferred. I emailed Barclays several days ago, complaining but have yet to get a response. It is evidently a sprat to catch a mackerel but they won't catch me again. It is little surprising that there is not a large measure of trust in many of the institutions in this country. One has only to experience the 4 business days that have to be allowed for an electronic transfer to take place.

They can't take the money when they have nowhere to put it, your account won't have been opened yet, you will get a letter to when it has been.

sharpharp

i'm still waiting for my barclays to transfer out, I sent in transfer form first week of march, and despite several calls they still haven't transferred my isa out. They don't even have a mechanism to acknowledge isa transfer form requests, pathetic

chissy252

Took my cheque for £3600 to local branch last Thursday 24th April. Received letter today saying they expect account to be opened within approx FOUR weeks!!

skooby_2

Lokolo wrote: »

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

Lokolo, how was I meant to know that they only started processing my application 10 days after I applied?

I applied for the account online and I expected this to be open by the start if the new tax year. I don't think is unreasonable especially as other banks provide a much better service to existing customer (i.e. Alliance & Leicester).

Barclays better get its house in order, otherwise customers will not bother applying next year. It would have been wiser to move the money into A&L ISA issue 4 (6.25% gross p.a./AER) as this would have saved me a lot of hassle and paid interest from day 1 of the 08/09 tax year.

Luckily my £3599 are sitting in an A&L current account, which pays interest. Much better than any Barclays current account or e-savings account. Allthough I would like to stress that 'where my money is sitting right now' is not the issue here. What is at fault is Barclays inability to cope with demand for its ISA product and dreadful customer service.

Lokolo

skooby wrote: »

Lokolo, how was I meant to know that they only started processing my applications 10 days after I applied?

Because you can't open an ISA for the 08/09 tax year before the 08/09 tax year has begun...?