Yahoo Finance 'Has Barclays lost the six-figure sum in my wife's Isa?'
My wife is in a care home with advanced dementia and could die at any time. I have power of attorney. I am 89 and slowly dying of heart disease.
Several months ago the investments in her Barclays Stockbrokers Investment Isa, which I accessed online, began to show widely varying incorrect amounts. Sometime after that I found I was unable to access the cash manager facility for the account.
I complained and subsequently emailed Barclays Stockbrokers via its secure messaging. Later, wishing to simplify things for my wife’s executor, I visited Barclays and opened an Instant Cash Isa in my wife’s name. I asked to transfer the stocks and shares Isa, holding a six-figure sum, into it.
Now I find the new cash Isa has a £0.00 balance and it’s all very worrying.
GA, Herts
You emailed the bank and were told this would be sorted out. Nothing happened and you emailed again.
Then you phoned and were again told things would be resolved. Again they weren’t.
Meanwhile, a pending fee of £204.06 needed paying. You found you couldn’t move money into the account using your debit card online. This was all happening while Barclays Smart Investor was replacing Barclays Stockbrokers. The cash manager function you had used to move money from your wife’s account did not exist on the new platform.
Moreover, after the migration you are no longer permitted to transact for your wife online, only on the telephone. This is why you couldn’t pay the fee.
My involvement led to the cash Isa issue being escalated and the money being correctly transferred. Barclays has sent you a cheque for £100 and a hamper, which you have accepted.
A Barclays spokesman said: “We sincerely apologise to Mr A for the delay in completing his request to transfer his wife’s investment Isa to a cash Isa. “It does not reflect the level of service he should rightly expect from us.”
