Barclays Tax Haven ISA: Have you opened one?

Jherhome1

tiptoe_mouse wrote: »

Strange that they provide this method of transferring funds, but don't let you do it through online banking. That's unless I'm being dense and it's there somewhere.

Is there a simple way to find out where my nearest kiosk is? I've never noticed one in my local branch.

tiptoe

After ringing the Online Banking Helpdesk, I can confirm that you cannot transfer into the ISA through online banking. I was told it is a view only account and hence nothing can be done with apart from looking at the balance - quite dum in my opinion.
As for the kiosks I thought they were in all branches. On the branch finder, if you click on your local branch, kiosks should be listed under facilities, otherwise your branch may not have one. I think your best bet would be to ask someone who works there.
I think transfers can also be made by ringing the ISA department (check saynto0870.com - there is a cheaper number there) if it is easier for you.

tiptoe_mouse

Jherhome1 wrote: »

After ringing the Online Banking Helpdesk, I can confirm that you cannot transfer into the ISA through online banking. I was told it is a view only account and hence nothing can be done with apart from looking at the balance - quite dum in my opinion.
As for the kiosks I thought they were in all branches. On the branch finder, if you click on your local branch, kiosks should be listed under facilities, otherwise your branch may not have one. I think your best bet would be to ask someone who works there.
I think transfers can also be made by ringing the ISA department (check saynto0870.com - there is a cheaper number there) if it is easier for you.

Seriously dumb. Why on earth restrict online banking in this way. The only reason I can think of is to prevent accidental transfers (since you wouldn't necessarily be able to reverse them - eg if I withdraw from a fully subscribed ISA by accident I wouldn't be able to replenish it) but then surely there's the same risk with the kiosk. Truely daft.

Thanks for the link to the branch finder - after working my way through several local branches I eventually found one in the town near my work that has a kiosk. Pity I have to pay to park round there.

Cheers,

tiptoe

testpie

I just checked my account today (as per usual) and found out they've paid me backdated interest as well - even though I didn't send any form of complaint in, which is quite impressive when you remember this is Barclays we're talking about.

carpy

can people who have had the full £3600 in their ISA from the 6 April (either for real or back-dated as such) post what interest they've had credited so far?

it would be interesting to compare notes because mine doesn't add up right so i wonder what everyone else has got?

Baldur

carpy wrote: »

can people who have had the full £3600 in their ISA from the 6 April (either for real or back-dated as such) post what interest they've had credited so far?

it would be interesting to compare notes because mine doesn't add up right so i wonder what everyone else has got?

Zero - my current tax year's Cash ISA is of the 12-month fixed-rate variety - <edit> oops, forgot the this was a Barclays-specific thread!

TomsMom

carpy wrote: »

can people who have had the full £3600 in their ISA from the 6 April (either for real or back-dated as such) post what interest they've had credited so far?

it would be interesting to compare notes because mine doesn't add up right so i wonder what everyone else has got?

OH and I each had the full £3,600 in from 9 April with a verbal confirmation from local Barclays financial chap that interest would definitely be added from the next day when it would be received at the ISA centre.

When we enquired about this, after reading on here that Barclays were only backdating to day 15, we were promised it would be backdated to day 1 as originally stated.

It took about 5 weeks to open our accounts and after chasing the local chap we have each had a cheque for £20 to cover the lost interest. There was never any mention of adding it to our account, he offered a cheque and we were happy with that, and the cheques were received a couple of weeks ago.

obsessed_saver

So, if I were to walk into Barclays tomorrow to open an account...... would you think I'm mad? Or should I go to HSBC instead? Though HSBC requires a current account to be opened...

TomsMom

obsessed_saver wrote: »

So, if I were to walk into Barclays tomorrow to open an account...... would you think I'm mad? Or should I go to HSBC instead? Though HSBC requires a current account to be opened...

Don't take this as gospel but it looks as though now the initial rush has died down a bit Barclays seem to be getting the ISAs opened a lot quicker than before (a couple of posts in this thread I think).

BUT, after reading all these sorry tales do you really want to risk it? Mine's coming out when I can find a better rate that takes transfers in and I'll not use Barclays again.

Have you checked out the ISA best buys to see if there's one that suits you better? If it's new money rather than a transfer you might find a better rate.

obsessed_saver

That's what I was hoping... that the initial rush has died down by now.

I have looked at the best cash ISAs for new money, and it's tied at the top between HSBC and Barclays at 6.25%. Next one down is Icesave at 6.1%.

MrAnalogy

With regard to the back-dating of interest (assuming that it happens!) - if the money is not credited to the account but issued as a cheque, what is the tax position on it please?

Is it classified as interest income, and therefore taxable at either basic or higher rate as it is outside of the ISA "wrapper"?

Or is it considered to be withdrawal of capital from the account (i.e. it should have been in the "wrapper", but has in effect been "withdrawn")?

If the situation is the former then the interest paid should reflect the potential tax liability (not to mention that that amount of interest/capital is forever lost to the ISA account).

Obviously the ideal (and fairest) solution would be that back-dated interest should be added to the actual account (i.e. being put back to the situation you should have been in in the first instance) but this does not seem to be happening in all cases.

Best Regards