natwest isa 7.32%

Stevenic

Yesterday morning Natwest sent me the paperwork I was required to sign but upon reading it there were 4 mistakes. Both my work and home phone numbers were incorrect, my residential status said 'Living with Parents' which hasn't been the case in many years but worse of all the amount to be transferred was wrong. No doubt there will be plenty of bank workers looking for new employment soon, I just hope that Natwest replace the incompetent fools that they have now.

The_Enforcer

From the NatWest website:

"I have paid £700 of my current tax year allowance into a Cash ISA with another provider. Can I open another Cash ISA with NatWest and pay in the remaining £2,900?

No, due to Cash ISA Regulations you cannot have more than one Cash ISA in a tax year.
However, you can pay the remaining £2,900 of your allowance into your existing Cash ISA with the other provider and then transfer it over to us."


My situation is that I presently have a "frozen" ISA with Icesave, made up of mostly previous years' ISA deposits + interest, which I transferred in from a Coventry BS ISA and TOISA, but also with £2,100 of this year's allowance + interest also paid in.

Assuming I get access to these funds in the near future and they retain their ISA status, as promised by the UK Government, I am going to have to transfer them into another ISA before I can start gaining interest again.

However, the above suggests that once I transfer these funds, I am going to be unable to pay the remaining £1,500 of this year's allowance into the new ISA, even though it would be my only ISA.

Have I understood that correctly, as I read on another ISA thread that it was possible to make deposits to different ISAs within the same tax year, following the total transfer of funds from one to the other?

Many Thanks

Paul_Herring

The_Enforcer wrote: »

From the NatWest website:

"I have paid £700 of my current tax year allowance into a Cash ISA with another provider. Can I open another Cash ISA with NatWest and pay in the remaining £2,900?

No, due to Cash ISA Regulations you cannot have more than one Cash ISA in a tax year.
However, you can pay the remaining £2,900 of your allowance into your existing Cash ISA with the other provider and then transfer it over to us."

Or do it the other way round, and transfer the £700, then top up the Natwest one with £2,900

However, the above suggests that once I transfer these funds, I am going to be unable to pay the remaining £1,500 of this year's allowance into the new ISA, even though it would be my only ISA.

Have I understood that correctly,

No.

as I read on another ISA thread that it was possible to make deposits to different ISAs within the same tax year, following the total transfer of funds from one to the other?

An "open (cash) ISA" for the purposes of HMRC, is an account with a financial institution with contributions from the current tax year.

You are allowed only one "open ISA" per tax year.

If you wish to transfer an open ISA, you must transfer all the funds contributed in that tax year.

You can apply for as many ISA accounts as you want, but only one may contain your ISA for the current tax year. Contributions must be made to the account holding the open ISA.

Natwest's example is over simplified.

tweet

"For cash ISAs, an individual can invest up to £3,600 a year, and can only invest with
one provider in any one tax year."

From the HMRC ISA FactSheet http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/isa-factsheet.pdf

I take it then, Paul Herring, HMRC mean one 'open/isa-holding' provider (at a time) per tax year?

I really did think - and was told by both Natwest and Alliance & Leicester - that you could only subscribe to your ISA through one provider in any tax year, not just one 'open' ISA provider; I guess I've misunderstood that too?

Paul_Herring

tweet wrote: »

I take it then, Paul Herring, HMRC mean one 'open/isa-holding' provider (at a time) per tax year?

With emphasis on the bold bit, yes.

I really did think - and was told by both Natwest and Alliance & Leicester - that you could only subscribe to your ISA through one provider in any tax year, not just one 'open' ISA provider; I guess I've misunderstood that too?

Bear in mind that the people you talk to in these branches are rarely trained sufficiently, especially in the border cases of the products they sell. And they rarely get their points across succinctly.

The_Enforcer

The cynic in me also believes that it is convenient for the banks to make us think that we can't pay cash into another 'open' ISA at different times within the same financial year. When I filled in the transfer of paperwork from Icesave, I recall a question/statement relating to not having already paid into my existing Coventry ISA in 08/09.

My next two questions would be:

At which point does my Icesave ISA cease to be 'open'? Clearly I can't open this NatWest ISA, as this can only be done by transferring the funds in, which I can't access at present. However, what is there to stop me from opening a Post Office ISA, which requires a minimum £1 deposit, and to start paying in the remaining £1,500 in there?

Baldur

The_Enforcer wrote: »

what is there to stop me from opening a Post Office ISA, which requires a minimum £1 deposit, and to start paying in the remaining £1,500 in there?

If you have already contributed (paid new money into) to a Cash ISA this tax year, you cannot even pay the £1 minimum into a different Cash ISA - suggest that the cynic in you reads & digests the HMRC ISA Guidance Notes, particularly Chapters 3, 4, 5 & 6.

Paul_Herring

However, what is there to stop me from opening a Post Office ISA, which requires a minimum £1 deposit, and to start paying in the remaining £1,500 in there?

Because at that point you will have two 'open ISA's' making one of them void.

There's nothing* to stop you opening an account with them and not depositing any money with a view to transferring your ISA when it's released, then topping it up of course.

* Presuming you get to deal with a CSA that can handle a request that isn't catered for on the forms, or the account actively precludes you doing such a thing, but then those sort of accounts don 't normally take transfers anyway.

Milarky

Just to point out that although my ISA was 'opened' in-branch when I applied on 2 October, I now have a statement saying it was 'opened' 9 October - also with a nil balance. (And still the money's not left the other end...)

Update:

Signed for account in NatWest branch: 2 October
NatWest 'opened' account with date of: 9 October
Cheque sent from YBS with date of: 16 October

[NB YBS are 'good' in ISA transfer terms- with a reported 'turnround' time of 7 days, so it is evident that NatWest sets the account opening date coincident with the date they request transfer]

So far, therefore, one development a week. Ideally Natwest will have the cheque now but I supsect I won't get interest starting until Tuesday.... .. But an encouraging start none-the-less

Further update:
YBS cheque posted to NatWest account with date of: 22 October [total: 3 weeks]

Hopefully this includes two-day clearing (and the cheque was actaully presented on 20 October at NatWest - four days inlcuding a weekend after it was 'sent' by YBS.) In practice if an account is closed at the 'end' of a working day the cheque won't be in the post until the next morning. I have stipulated for my next requested transfer to NatWest that the: "transfer is made on a MONDAY (to avoid crossing the weekend)" Hopefully NatWest will present this cheque on Wednesday and the possible lost interest is down to a minimum (as I see it) of four days.

CelticStar

Is it safe to transfer to this ISA considering that RBOS has had to have money injected from the Government - does this make it more or less safe to transfer to it do you think?