Re-investing/transferring old ISA's

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Hi, I wonder if any informed soul can help me understand the options my wife and I have with older 'matured' ISA's please.

As seems the case with a lot of accounts those days, interest rates are 'bumped up' for a period before reducing to a margin just below '!!!!!! all %'.

We have two ISA's from the previous years (cash, not fixed rate) where this is about to happen. The advice on this site and Lloyds Bank, which is encouraging us to 'transfer our old ISA's appears confusing. As we have already used our full allowance this year, does this still allow transfer of the 'old' ISA's to, say a 1 or 2 year fixed rate (or even a flexible but better rate) or is it simply 'tough' and we're locked into leaving it in a 0.5% rate unless we move it to a non-ISA account. Martins advice appears to indicate we can still transfer and protect old ISA savings and achieve a better rate...have I misunderstood this?

Many thanks

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  • Archi_Bald
    Archi_Bald Posts: 9,681 Forumite
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    You can transfer your ISAs any time you like (T&Cs of your specific allowing). Transfers do not count towards your annual allowance.
  • bowlhead99
    bowlhead99 Posts: 12,295 Forumite
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    As this site and Martin and Lloyds bank and HMRC and probably everything else you read is telling you, the £15k per person annual limit is for NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS of new money going into an ISA. It is an annual allowance of how much you can contribute into an ISA from the outside world, each year.

    If you want to move your previous years' contributions to somewhere more competitive, you can certainly do that. Tell the new ISA provider the details of your old account and they will go and arrange the transfer without it ever leaving the 'protected' ISA status. This is not a new subscription. This is just moving money around that was already subscribed into an ISA some other year and already has ISA status.

    Obviously, this only works for accounts that accept 'transfers in' which some of the better paying ones don't.

    Depending on your tax bracket, you might well find that at the moment, the best rate on savings can be found outside ISAs, even after paying tax.
  • ISAClueless
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    Perfect, thank you...it seemed too good to be true. That is exactly what I thought, then doubted my interpretation.

    Many thanks again
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