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Tax Beater savers should check their statements
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Barclays ISA May Come Up Short
Writes Dan Drage dan.drage@consumerchoices.co.uk
Savers who signed up for the Barclays Tax Beater ISA in April of 2007 should check their statements carefully.
The Financial Ombudsman Service, an independent body who settle disputes between businesses, has criticised the bank for ‘short changing’ their ISA savers.
The Tax Beater ISA, the most competitive on the market when introduced last spring, has attracted high volumes of criticism. Barclays themselves admitted to being ‘unable to cope’ with extra operational demand post the ISAs launch.
Customers complained of long delays in processing their applications. At the time Barclays said it would backdate all interest paid to make sure that no one lost out as a result of the delays.
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"It has now emerged that some customers have lost money because of the bank's inability to process the forms, and Barclays says it will not be refunding the money lost"
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However, it has now emerged that some customers have lost money because of the bank's inability to process the forms, and Barclays says it will not be refunding the money lost.
The problem affects anyone who opened a Tax Beater ISA during the financial year ending 5th April 2007, and injected further funds during the following financial year.
Such was the ISAs popularity; thousands of applications were left on office floors unprocessed as staff failed to come to terms with demand. A number of Tax Beater savers who paid cheques into their accounts in April subsequently noticed those cheques hadn’t been processed until May/June, losing them valuable interest.
A spokeswoman for the Financial Ombudsmen Service had the following to say:
‘It is rare for companies to offer to recompense just one group of customers following a long delay in the processing of forms. Companies that mess up generally put their customers back in the same position they would have been had the delay not happened.’
Chris Eagle, Commercial Manager at Credit Choices, wants you to get checking those statements:
‘If, as a Tax Beater saver, you’ve missed out on interest payments, lodge a formal complaint immediately. It seems that Barclays are taking a tough stance on backdated payments, but you may receive some of the money you’re owed as a goodwill gesture. Quite simply, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.’
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