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Another Help To Buy ISA issue - bonus rejected because of Barclays!

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User1312
User1312 Posts: 101 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
We're completing on Monday. Last week we went into Barclays to close our HTB ISA's, me and partner both did it with the same clerk at the same time - closed our accounts and in the process the remaining balance was transferred to other accounts.

I received my closing statement on Tuesday, which shows my closing balance and my bonus application went through via solicitor. My partner received his statement yesterday and the bonus has been rejected. The bonus management people have said:

"The attached document does not confirm that the account has been closed. It also states that the customer has withdrawn the funds prior to closure, leaving a balance of 0."

I've since checked and there is a difference between his statement and mine - his doesn't say 'closing balance £xxx' like mine does.

I'm completely panicking now because that's £1000 of funds we were expecting.

Our solicitor has asked for this extra £1000 today because he can't complete on Monday using the bonus funds, and he said 'we'll have to sort it {the bonus issue} out after completion'

We gave exactly the same instructions to the clerk, and if he did mine correct why hasn't he done my partners? The only difference between our accounts is that I still have a savings account with Barclays, and my partner was closing his last account with Barclays, but the clerk didn't say we had to do anything differently.

Can this be sorted by speaking to Barclays? And can it also be sorted after completion or will we have missed the boat to be issued the bonus anyway??

Has anyone else experienced this and was successfully in overturning the decision after completion?

So upset!!!
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  • gettingtheresometime
    gettingtheresometime Posts: 6,911 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post I've been Money Tipped!
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    I think that you need to speak to Barclays in person at the branch you used.


    Having said that though the priority would be to get the money to the solicitor today
  • User1312
    User1312 Posts: 101 Forumite
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    We can't get to the branch it's on the other side of the country - we were on holiday when we closed it and they said it didn't matter which branch we closed it at. Will speak to Barclays but they'll probably need to speak to my partner who won't be free until tonight, and i'm worried that after completion we won't be first time buyers anymore so they'll say no anyway!!
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,427 Forumite
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    edited 8 September 2017 at 1:14PM
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    http://www.barclays.co.uk/journal/help-to-buy-isa-guide/

    When you’re ready to buy

    What do I need to do?

    All you’ll need is a closing statement from your Help to Buy: ISA provider. You’ll get this when you close your account. Make sure you don’t just withdraw the money from your account, or you won’t get your closing statement and, consequently, you won’t get your bonus.

    You can only use your bonus for your property purchase; you can’t use it to pay for additional costs, such as your conveyancing, house survey or stamp duty.

    After you’ve closed your account and started the process of buying your first home, your conveyancer will need to claim the bonus within 12 months. If you don’t reach completion on your purchase, you can reopen your account and deposit your cash back into your ISA in full.

    The clerk was presumably aware of the above as your account was correctly processed - you'll need to take it up with Barclays.
  • User1312
    User1312 Posts: 101 Forumite
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    yes i think he was aware but has made a mistake. I don't know if there's "proof" though! Will see what Barclays say but I bet they'll say it shows on their system as a withdrawal
  • gettingtheresometime
    gettingtheresometime Posts: 6,911 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post I've been Money Tipped!
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    User1312 wrote: »
    We can't get to the branch it's on the other side of the country - we were on holiday when we closed it and they said it didn't matter which branch we closed it at. Will speak to Barclays but they'll probably need to speak to my partner who won't be free until tonight, and i'm worried that after completion we won't be first time buyers anymore so they'll say no anyway!!



    I think I'd be inclined to go into a branch this afternoon and explain the situation & raise a formal compliant. (Can you get your partner to write permission for Barclays to speak to you?)


    The problem in leaving it until tonight is that the branch is likely to be closed and then nothing can be done until Monday.


    But as I said the £1000 would be my priority
  • User1312
    User1312 Posts: 101 Forumite
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    Thank you. I'm going to try speak to Barclays on the phone first and if not, go to a branch and try adn get my partner on the phone although I don't know how he'll verify his identity.

    I have transferred the £1000 to the solicitor - it was money put aside to do essential work on the house + my overdraft...!
  • User1312
    User1312 Posts: 101 Forumite
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    I have found this on the conveyancer guidelines:

    Closing Balance” means:
    (A) the closing balance of a Help to Buy: ISA; or
    (B) where the closing balance of a Help to Buy: ISA is zero, the balance of the Help to
    Buy: ISA immediately before the last withdrawal of remaining funds held in that Help to
    Buy: ISA, prior to the Help to Buy: ISA being closed,

    as shown in the Closing Documents for that Help to Buy: ISA.
  • User1312
    User1312 Posts: 101 Forumite
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    Quick update on this in case anyone comes across it in the future.

    Barclays admitted it was and 'administrative error' to the bonus commission. The bonus people emailed my solicitor the day before completion saying they're happy for us to get the bonus but it would need to be referred to HMT for review. So we still completed the next day, and they issued the bonus following HMT approval. I'm not exactly sure when the bonus came through (i.e. whether it came just in time for completion or was issued retrospectively) but at least we know these decisions can be appealed especially if it's not our mistake!

    We just received a cheque to cover us for the extra money we paid to solicitor when this issue came up :)
  • MrCH
    MrCH Posts: 105 Forumite
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    Can I ask what the timeframe was between paying out your deposit and getting the H2B ISA bonus please?
  • User1312
    User1312 Posts: 101 Forumite
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    MrCH wrote: »
    Can I ask what the timeframe was between paying out your deposit and getting the H2B ISA bonus please?

    Hi do you mean the timeframe between closing the account and receiving the bonus? We closed the account on Fri 1 Sept and completed on Mon 11 Sept - we received our closing statements and bonus within that timeframe but obviously we had the delays because of the error explained above.
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