Did you move your Tessa money? Poll discussion

Confess to not having moved it in 5 years, thought it was fixed rate. Due in August and as it is 5.55% and an expected rate rise is due will leave it until then.
Thank you for the alert.

I had an original Tessa in a Building Society, where the interest went down and down. There was a penalty to move it and so I complained to Moneybox on BBC. They did a feature on it and to cut a long story short, the Ombudsman eventually got involved and I was able to move it to get a higher interest rate, plus I got compensation for loss of interest for the time I was unable to move it. I changed it to a Toisa and last year converted it to a separate fixed rate cash ISA. When it matures, I shall combine it with my other ISA unless I can get a better rate with a fixed rate ISA with the same society. I've moved my ISA several times for more interest, but each time, there was so much hassle and uncertainty, with one society saying one thing and providing one sort of form and the receiving society saying another and having yet different forms, that I have now got the whole lot in a sort of 'Loyalty Bond' ISA with the Buillding Society I bank with and which increases the interest the more you have in the Bond. However, I have noticed that now this Building Society (Nationwide - I might as well tell you) has now got a new fixed rate cash (instant) ISA that pays more interest than their Loyalty ISA Bond, even though you have to give quite a lot of notice to withdraw! So much for loyalty! Grrrr.

Why does the poll not allow you to answer the poll question ?

Did you move your Tessa money into a Toisa/Cash ISA

There is no slot for:

"I had a Tessa but I stupidly forgot to transfer it to a TOISA within the six month deadline and so lost the tax free interest like a complete muppet."

A - "I've not got any money in a TOISA" - will have been ticked both by people who had TESSAs and people who never had TESSAs.

I'm afraid the poll as it stands is invalid .

I had a Tessa with the Birmingham Midshires as it was, and that expired about 5 years ago. I then moved the money over to the Portman who were offering good rates on notice ISAs at the time.

Although there are better rates around, I first saw of a penalty to transfer to another provider, even if the notice is served out. As I am still unsure when I'll get on the housing ladder, I thought it would be better to keep it there, rather than pay £30 to take it out.

Then there was the talk about the merger with Nationwide, and since that deal is in process, I'm keeping my money there for the time being. Maybe once it becomes part of Nationwide the Portman might remove the fee for transferring to another provider, or even better, pay a market leading rate.