Cash ISA Discussion/Question

colinr_3

Thanks for the reply. Its one of those issues that makes me worry I've got the gist of it all wrong! When I want to start paying into the ISA I've left for a year, should I then just start paying money in and then at that point they should give me a certificate to sign showing I'm attached to that ISA account for that tax year or send one through the post?

colinr_3

So is this having to reapply for a left ISA just another bureaucratic layer to make it annoying if people want to do this or are there more serious implications or penalties? Is there some way of the government closing the fund and being able to take the money for themselves because the ISA has been left for a while, or will this money always belong to the individual. If its just a case of filling a form in each year I'm fine with that!

jthoma24

Abbey might have the best interest rates, but I sent them a cheque for £3,000 at the beginning of October, and to date have heard nothing from them. I contacted them this week (kept thinking I was going to get something from them in the post), and was informed they HAD received my cheque, had banked it, but somehow HADN'T opened an account for me. I was requested to check with my bank when the cheque was cashed, given someone's name to ring back with the info, but when I tried I was told they cannot transfer calls. It has taken me 4 calls so far to sort out, and I'm still not sure what is happening. I expect to have the backdated interest -- and possibly compensation?????

Walletwatch

You are right in demanding that the chq deposit be backdated. Was it a postal ISA that you opened? Have myself opened one and one for my wife as well, and on this occasion, they agreed to accept cash from me, but am worried abt next year. ???

jthoma24

Yes it was an Abbey postal ISA, and although I am sure it will get sorted out, I was not impressed with the way their staff handled the problem. To date I have heard nothing from them. Hope I won't have to chase them again! I am looking for a better rate to transfer existing ISA's from the Principality Building Society, but will give Abbey a miss obviously.

deemy2004

Abbey might have the best interest rates, but I sent them a cheque for £3,000 at the beginning of October, and to date have heard nothing from them.  I contacted them this week (kept thinking I was going to get something from them in the post), and was informed they HAD received my cheque, had banked it, but somehow HADN'T opened an account for me.  I was requested to check with my bank when the cheque was cashed, given someone's name to ring back with the info, but when I tried I was told they cannot transfer calls.   It has taken me 4 calls so far to sort out, and I'm still not sure what is happening.  I expect to have the backdated interest -- and possibly compensation?????

Interest should be backdated to the date it was cashed. So if its cashed then your home and dry,as it will be backdated.

Walletwatch

Of course, it's not clear from the post that the debit to your account is visible, in which case, as Deemy says, the cheque has been presented, so there is no reason why one should allow this explicit exploitation of the float by Abbey !!!

diggingdaddy

I'm thinking of moving my mini cash isa after the new year for a better rate as advised by Martin. What sort of timescale would you expect from the changeover from IF to Abbey and would there be any loss of interest during the changeover? In other words say IF closed the account by sending a check directly to Abbey (if that's how it's done), the time involved before Abbey deposited the check would be lost interest, or would it? any loss would have to be taken into consideration against the extra quarter percent being offered as it would take almost 6 months to break even and would be even worse if they dragged their heels! What do you reckon?

deemy2004

I'm thinking of moving my mini cash isa after the new year for a better rate as advised by Martin. What sort of timescale would you expect from the changeover from IF to Abbey and would there be any loss of interest during the changeover? In other words say IF closed the account by sending a check directly to Abbey (if that's how it's done), the time involved before Abbey deposited the check would be lost interest, or would it? any loss would have to be taken into consideration against the extra quarter percent being offered as it would take almost 6 months to break even and would be even worse if they dragged their heels! What do you reckon?

The transfer process for competant banks & BBS usually takes less then 2 weeks. And during the transfer process, you will lose about 5 working days i.e. the time taken to clear the cheque recieved by Abbey from IF.

So yes it would take about 6 months to recoup the 5 days lost interest based on a differntial of 0.25%

diggingdaddy

Thanks Deemy, will probably leave it and see how things pan out.