Hello Drumster.

Could you plesae advise me to the guaranteed rate of 6.5% for the Barclays tax haven account as thye have advised me that the rate was not a fixed rate as such and I subsequently received a variable reducing rate from April 08 to April 09, thanking you in anticipation,

ted_one

i eventually received £100 from abbey & £50 from lloyds, by way of compensation, plus backdated interest from both. took a lot of time & effort, but ultimately rewarding.

hi cheese, i transferred my tax haven isa with barclays earlier this year to nat west as the rate was better, i have never done it through in branch i have applied online and i cant see why you are spending too much time with the bank, try abbey, nat west and a few others who are offering more than 2.5%

Hello fellow Barclays grievance candidate

I am writing in reply to your statement regarding the differennt rates of 6.5% for existing savers & 6.25% for new savers. as I was undeer the impression that the 6.5% rate was guaranteed for the 12months on the 1% offer, could you please advise me of the date that you were given for the change of rate for new savers

Kindest Regards ted_one

Selection of the Current Best Cash ISA accounts (March 08)

Financial Institution Interest Rate Fixed Period Minimum £ Comments Ruffler Bank 6.14% 30 day £9,000 Would need to transfer a cash ISA to meet opening requirements of £9k(down from 15k) Lloyds TSB 6.50% 1 year Fix £9000 Requires a balance of over £9000 for 6.5%, £3000 only pays 5%. So a Transfer in ISA. Remember to move at end of term as the variable rate is low (5%) Principality 6% Instant £1 Keep a sharp eye out for any change in rates. Nationwide 6.15% 1 years £1 Longer fixes at same rate available Halifax 6.20% 4 years £3,000 For a good long-term fix - Short-term fixes are no longer competitive. Northern Rock 6.10% 1 year £500 Probably the safest Place for your money as the bank is now owned by the government Abbey Direct ISA 6.25% 1 year £1 Issue 2- Includes 0.5% bonus for 12 months Barclays Tax Haven ISA 6.50% Instant £1 Includes a 1% bonus for 12months - No Transfer in.

Best of the above:

Instant Access

Many Instant access accounts such as Kent Reliance and National Savings have left the table due to the impact of rate cuts. However Barclays re-enters the arena with a whopping 6.5% instant access account and hopefully Barclays will this time show itself to be more competent in opening accounts than last year. Barclays - Don't Let Us Down This Year !

Fixed Rates

There does not seem to be an alternative for NEW ISA's to Barclays guaranteed rate of 6.5%, which beats all the fixed rate deals for £3k deposits, but no transfer

Hello axisme

Could you please advise me of any further information with regarfd to the above, as I was under the impression that the rate was guaranteed, and would it be possible to scan a copy of the welcome letter you received when you opened the ISA

Selection of the Current Best Cash ISA accounts (March 08)

Financial Institution Interest Rate Fixed Period Minimum £ Comments Ruffler Bank 6.14% 30 day £9,000 Would need to transfer a cash ISA to meet opening requirements of £9k(down from 15k) Lloyds TSB 6.50% 1 year Fix £9000 Requires a balance of over £9000 for 6.5%, £3000 only pays 5%. So a Transfer in ISA. Remember to move at end of term as the variable rate is low (5%) Principality 6% Instant £1 Keep a sharp eye out for any change in rates. Nationwide 6.15% 1 years £1 Longer fixes at same rate available Halifax 6.20% 4 years £3,000 For a good long-term fix - Short-term fixes are no longer competitive. Northern Rock 6.10% 1 year £500 Probably the safest Place for your money as the bank is now owned by the government Abbey Direct ISA 6.25% 1 year £1 Issue 2- Includes 0.5% bonus for 12 months Barclays Tax Haven ISA 6.50% Instant £1 Includes a 1% bonus for 12months - No Transfer in.

Best of the above:

Instant Access

Many Instant access accounts such as Kent Reliance and National Savings have left the table due to the impact of rate cuts. However Barclays re-enters the arena with a whopping 6.5% instant access account and hopefully Barclays will this time show itself to be more competent in opening accounts than last year. Barclays - Don't Let Us Down This Year !

Fixed Rates

There does not seem to be an alternative for NEW ISA's to Barclays guaranteed rate of 6.5%, which beats all the fixed rate deals for £3k deposits, but no transfer

Kindest Regards ted_one

The Tax Haven account doesn't get any better:

I suffered the full interigation including them wanting to know details about my children? and I opened a Tax HAven ISA

A couple of weeks ago. According to the terms & conditions point 2.2 'you can pay a cash amount into any Barclays Branch in the UK'. .......HOWEVER YESTERDAY I LEARNT THIS IS NOT TRUE!!

I went to my local branch yesterday with a large amount of cash. I asked if they would pay it into my ISA account and I was told that they couldn't accept cash into the branch!? I could only pay into my ISA by transfering money from my current account with them (which I don't have) or by way of cheque, which they will have to send to their head office to deal with!?!

I wrote a cheque out and had to make an inconvenient trip to another bank to pay it into my current account where it will sit for the next 3 days earning zero interest.

I telephoned Barclays this morning who confirmed that my local branch was correct and the terms and conditions were incorrect!?!?!

Apparantly because you can only pay £3600 into the account the branch can't see how much you have in so can not pay anything into the account incase you have reached your limit. OK -Fair enough so why can't they call head office to confirm the balance??

Crazy! !! Very missleading terms and conditions by Barclays!

- is this allowed?

I don't think that I'll be opening any more accounts with Barclays and will be transfering my ISA very soon. For the extra % I don't think it is worth the hassle!!

I had the same delay with them last year. Money still sitting in the account for a couple of weeks. Queried it with them and they told me it was due to so many people taking up the deal and that the interest would be back dated to the date I applied to the application form. And it was.

i have now had a letter from barclays, offering me £60 compensation & interest backdated to the start of the tax year. this seems to be as good as it gets, so i am accepting.

still waiting to hear from lloyds & abbey, so let's hope they are going to respond in a like manner.

My wife's had the same incompetent hassle........she finally threatened to take Barclays Plc to the Small Claims Court for misappropriation of her money and to involve the press in following her claim......a week later her ISA was opened, interested backdated to the 7th April and £100 compensation......try it, if it doesn't work for you all at least it'll be a laugh.......

I've now received 2 poorly written replies to my complaint, neither has addressed any of the issues I have raised.

Barclays have asked me to give them more time, as apparently my issues will be addressed (Why they haven't been able to do this from the start only they know)

following a call to barclays (09/06/08), during which i was given a reference no. & promised full interest from the date of my isa tax haven application, i am now in receipt of a letter advising me that it will be backdated to 14 days after my application. another example of their people saying what you want to hear & then doing something else.

still waiting to hear from lloyds team in birmingham, about long delay in transferring into my isa, although did get a letter from another office, advising that my query is being examined by them.

no reply (as promised) from abbey, from phone call of 09/06/08. they also assured me full interest would be backdated to date of application, when i called into the branch.

just changed b & b e-saver account for the fourth time in a year, as they are up to their old tricks of reducing interest on e-saver accounts & then bringing out a better offer.

halifax poised to drop interest rates again on their web saver with card to just over 4% following chicanery with rates previously (suddenly gave a better rate if you had a card web saver than the one without card).

in my experience, they are all as culpable:- badly trained staff. too many gimmicks. too much sharp practise. then they take ridiculous risks with their (our) finances. little wonder they are in a mess

Graeme,

I honestly think that this has been a poor judgment call up to now.

The key question appears not have been put to Barclays during the interview and that question has been noticeably avoided subsequently. I don't know why anyone can't ask this whether it be an organisation or an individual. The backdating principle is so paramount to the successful operation of the ISA environment and equitable to both provider and customer. I have to be frank, even as a supporter and user of MS, that remaining silent on this does not stand you in good light. It certainly does not look good alongside trying to win customer goodwill. As stated previously, most customers will just put up with it,but as the Drumster rightly points out this will be a thin end of the wedge if Barclays gets away with it. It has nothing to do with the number of people who can be bothered to complain.

It is preposterous and probably illegal for Barclays to penalise its own customers by an interest loss of 14 days simply because they themselves can't meet demand.Not only that, the same customers often have no idea whether their funds are safe,lost or being processed.In some cases Barclays have actually had the use of that money on which to earn overnight banking rates.It really is a Sheriff of Nottingham type scam.Why are they backing down when challenged on individual cases? Why are MS happy to pursue it individually if you don't support the overall principle?

I am afraid that it is so frustrating that the ISA environment has fallen into disrepute over the last few years that I have taken this issue up with the FSA. I don't know where that will go but I am happy that to say that at least I have tried.My conscience wouldn't be so clear if I was just letting it happen !!

If MS don't want to bother with it anymore then that is your choice but a poor one in my humble opinion.I hope you will reconsider.

To be honest, backfoot, I think it’s a case of “damned if you do and damned if you don’t”. Clare has offered to help with individual cases if she can - and that offer still stands.

Unfortunately, to date that offer has resulted in only a handful of responses and I’m sure you appreciate that as a result, exerting any significant pressure or influence becomes extremely difficult. There's very little we can do if we don't have a significant amount of evidence to back it up.

We need you - all our members - to help us to determine whether something is of sufficient importance that you want us to get involved. While a public response to an individual case is unlikely, if a wider problem exists with a product or a provider, we’d like to know and we’ll endeavour to find out what is going on, if and when we can. At the end of the day, to get more involved, we need specific case details – not given over a public forum – to be able to do that.

I’m afraid I don’t see us making any further comments on this thread unless we have something significant to report.

Many thanks,

First let me say I find moneysavingexpert posts very difficult to navigate. Having said this a MSE employee says this at the start (I think) of the Tax Haven post: "Barclays set a 14 day timescale for opening these accounts, and if it takes long than this, any interest will be backdated to the 14 day point once the account is fully open." They certainly didn't set the 14 days at the start and it was NEVER in official literature at the start or any time to my knowledge. This from Martin Lewis' website who was such a vociferous champion of refunds on bank charges. I AM BAFFLED why Mr Lewis has taken a such a soft line on this 'backdating' matter where the principle at stake is certainly equally important as 'bank charges'. Please appreciate that if Barclays gets away with this 'backdating' issue this opens the floodgates for other institutions. FROM NOW ON THE CAUTIOUS SAVER SHOULD CONTACT ANY SAVINGS INSTITUTION AND ASK THEIR POLICY ON THE 'BACKDATING' ISSUE BEFORE SAVING WITH THAT INSTITUTION.

ALLEGATION

Remember there was no thought of Barclays doing this for TAX BEATER last year. I think some smart 'bum' at Barclays saw all the cash piling in and sitting in current accounts earning no or nominal interest and thought that'll help the credit crunched banking sector for a period. Even if the help was relatively modest, please remember what we have been through AND what Barclays for one has been hiding since the start of TAX HAVEN to now - have a look at the share price then and now!

The APR on the Barclays Tax Haven ISA is 6.25 - (14/365*6.25) = 6.0 % not the 6.25% advertised. A significant difference.

Both Barclays and MS are misquoting the rate in their advertising of the product.The matter has been raised with the FSA.

Perhaps both parties would like to review their position? A similar ,but even longer thread, amounting to 27 pages appears on Money Saving Expert. They even have a poll showing the time delays to open the ISA and also voluminous complaints about the backdating issue. For MS and Barclays to claim this isn't a significant issue is absolutely crass.It is also shameful to make individual customers make claims to receive compensation.Interestingly we have now seen that Barclays back down when challenged which must be precedent setting.They cannot treat customers differently in similar circumstances.

I wonder if the FSA has the sort of clout that Ofwat exercised regarding Severn Trent falsely quoting regulated figures ?

Any further comment from Clare or an update on ongoing discussions?