Barclays Tax Haven ISA: Have you opened one?

ninja-lewis

Crabman wrote: »

Surely they should be compensating you for the losses you've incurred (and will incur) as a result of their incompetence.

I'd be looking for the tax-free interest for as long as you would have kept the cash in their account, e.g. you may have kept £2950 in the ISA for 10 years, so if you put that into a normal savings account with about 4% AER (taxed), they should "top-up" the interest with what you would have earned in the ISA.

That's my view anyway, what do others think?

I'm in a similar situation (lost 07/08 allowance because of bank error, awaiting final response prior to contacting FOS) albeit with a different provider. They offered me 5 years interest on my deposit (although the first time they used the rate for £1-2,999 whereas my deposit was £3000 :rolleyes2) I've turned down their offer as I believe it does not cover my loss of earnings if I had been able to keep that money beyond five years. At the moment I'm awaiting the final response letter as customer services said that was all they were authorised to offer.

In my opinion compensation is not an acceptable solution. It reeks of bribing customers to ignore bank errors and the resultant loss. The only acceptable solution should be putting matters fully right. In the case of ISAs, it's not always possible to do this (although I don't believe the bank entirely - I contacted HMRC to ask some questions who btw have a very useful ISA helpline), every effort should still be made to ensure the customer suffers no loss at all. I agree with what you said crabman; it's pretty much what I intended to ask the FOS to do.

babsx

I've written back to Barclay's refusing their kind offer on the grounds already mentioned in earlier posts and told them it's now in the hands of the FOS...will report back when I get a response from them.

10_66

Savannah02K wrote: »

I'm assuming you can't split your yearly ISA allowance between 2 providers - yes?

Yep, you're correct. The only way around it is if you transferred to another provider first, then added the balance of your allowance.

explorer2190

I wonder how many people are having problems with the Barclays TAX HAVEN ISA.

In April this year I contacted Barclays to open the above Isa. I had to make an appointment at the branch to open it. I brought full ID which was checked and the account was submitted. (The terms stated that due to demand there was a delay, but interest would be applied 14 days after application).

The £3600 lay dormant in my current account. Over the next month I made repeated calls to customer service (Long waits for call to be answered) and kept being assured delays would not affect my interest. I informed them I would be away from June for one month.

Got back July and had letter stating account not opened due to insufficient documents provided at application.

More calls then appointment at Branch. Staff did not need any more documents but stated it was an IT fault where branch computers were not compatible with the HQ.

Details submitted again. Two weeks later same letter sent again as above stating insufficient details provided.

Several phoncalls again and complaint made. I was also informed account would be opened but interest owed would be in a cheque. NOT kept within the ISA wrapper.

I made formal complaint about delays in account opening/visits to branch. Time wasted on phoncalls that took ages to be answered and loss of Isa wrapper for interest earned.
I got a generic letter within the required 7 days, ignoring my complaint but apologising for delays in opening Tax Haven accounts.

Long phone calls again today. Was told I could wait up to 20 weeks for a response(This is not uncommon).

My questions are

1. Have other people had long delays in opening accounts
2. Had problems waiting a long time to get the call answerd by customer service/complaints
3 Had the interest earned during the delayed opening, paid outside the ISA
4 Are people still waiting for specific complaints to be properly answered after being sent a generic response to satisfy banking rules.


Is Barclays playing a clever game using generic letters to satisfy regulations
Is it always difficult to get a reply from customer service on the phones.

Milarky

If this is typical of the experiences on the other thread (which doesn't link btw) why hasn't Barclays been fined by Ahab's corpse (the Regulator)?

oldfella

my experience of Barclays response to complaints has been good - but not related to Tax Haven.

suggest you write another formal complaint about their failure to respond to your first complaint, and demanding say £100 to cover your time, phone calls, letters etc.

basill

explorer2190 wrote: »

I was also informed account would be opened but interest owed would be in a cheque. NOT kept within the ISA wrapper.

I had the same experience as everyone else, there is a huuuge thread on this!

Barclays offered me a £10 check for phone calls etc and when that didnt arrive a £30 one. After a couple of weeks I asked where the £30 was.
The idiots had simply added my £30 gesture to an already fully funded ISA taking it over the limit.
I have now had it sorted out and have a letter to show the IR if they ever complain.
Time taken to open an ISA? Four and a half months!

Barclays? Never again.

B

explorer2190

Thanks for your responses. I shall look for the thread mentioned

iolande

Barclays have sent both me and fiance our forms back stating that they didn't receive the correct information

its almost 5 months since we went in and were told that we had opened an account

so now I am ISA-less, and also very angry

no one wants to help use and the FSA are always too busy to take calls or return them
sigh

potato_pizza

I opened a Barclays ISA for the new tax year on the 14th of April and was assured repeatedly that, despite the delays in opening the account, the interest would be backdated to the date of opening. I then got my first statement saying it had only been backdated to 14 days after I opened the account. As such I contacted the FSA who advised me to make an official complaint, which I did, by phone. To call Barclays Customer Services I used a free-phone number which I found on 'Say No To 0870', it is: 0800 435872. This worked fine as they then transferred me to the ISA department where the operator logged an official complaint. 2 weeks later I have had a letter to say the interest will now be backdated to the date I opened the account. By doing it this way I did not have to fork out on phone costs and postage costs which I really resent paying.