Cash Isas Transfer discussion

Former_MSE_Andrea

Click reply to ask questions and discuss the Cash Isas Transfer article.

20 April the article above has been fully rewritten

Slimeball20

Hi,

I currently have an Abbey Postal ISA at 5.35%, but noticed that now A&L have the best payer at 5.4%. I have held my ISA since November 2004.

Looking at the T&Cs, Abbey don't charge for transferring their ISA to another, but A&L will in the future if I transfer again.

Does anyone know what the charge is for transferring from the A&L Direct ISA as I couldn't find any info on it?

I know it seems a bit silly to think so far ahead after only finding out about this ISA this morning, and the interest rate is only 0.05% more. Is it worth the hassle, since I can wait for the money by post if I wanted it.

Cheers.

Michael.

jimclark1967

A&L are currently charging £25 to transfer to a different provider so the 0.05% difference in rate isn't worth it (over a year) unless you have £50,000 in the account, which is impossible.

I also have an Abbey Postal ISA, as I'm sure do lots of users of this forum. I am staying put for now, need something more impressive than 0.05% to shift!!

lipidicman

It simply is not worth transferring for 0.05% You will lose money for the days your money is in transport, and this will be more than any gain you will make in the short term, which is all you can be certain of (ie the rates will change, so dom't say 'over 10 years I will make it back'!). Also you will be moving to an account with an exit penalty!

dawny10

Quick question... if you have already put money into an Abbey mini-cash ISA this tax year, but hold previous year's ISAs with another provider, can you only transfer into this year's ISA? - ie. you cannot open another ISA this year (e.g. First Direct 6.35%) to transfer old ISAs into because even though you are not putting more money into your ISAs overall (because you are transferring) you would be subscribing to more than one ISA in a tax year.

???

lipidicman

I dont know, I'm in the same boat. Halifax said you have to pay in to open their account - so not with them. In general though?

System

My hubby and I both have Halifax fixed rate cash ISA's at 4.7% with approx £6000 in each and are wondering whether we should transfer to another bank etc when we go to invest another £3000 for 05/06. Any advice on what our best option might be?

isasmurf

dawny10 wrote:

Quick question... if you have already put money into an Abbey mini-cash ISA this tax year, but hold previous year's ISAs with another provider, can you only transfer into this year's ISA? - ie. you cannot open another ISA this year (e.g. First Direct 6.35%) to transfer old ISAs into because even though you are not putting more money into your ISAs overall (because you are transferring) you would be subscribing to more than one ISA in a tax year.

???

In general, you can 'open' an ISA and transfer funds from previous years even though you have subscribed to another ISA during the year. Subscribing means to put new money in, therefore transferring funds does not count as a subscription.

dawny10

isasmurf wrote:

In general, you can 'open' an ISA and transfer funds from previous years even though you have subscribed to another ISA during the year. Subscribing means to put new money in, therefore transferring funds does not count as a subscription.

Thanks for that. My only problem is when you open the First Direct ISA you have to tick a box that says you haven't subscribed to any other mini-cash ISA in the current tax year. Not sure whether to tick it (which would be fibbing) in the knowledge that I am not actually doing anything wrong....

jimclark1967

dawny10 wrote:

My only problem is when you open the First Direct ISA you have to tick a box that says you haven't subscribed to any other mini-cash ISA in the current tax year. Not sure whether to tick it (which would be fibbing) in the knowledge that I am not actually doing anything wrong....

ISA regulations mean you can't save cash in more than one account at the same time during the current tax year. Previous years savings & interest, however, can be split up and transferred to whoever you like whenever you like.

Ticking the box to say you haven't subscribed to another mini-cash ISA isn't relevant for transfers from previous years so I'd put N/A rather than either ticking or leaving blank

dawny10

jimclark1967 wrote:

Ticking the box to say you haven't subscribed to another mini-cash ISA isn't relevant for transfers from previous years so I'd put N/A rather than either ticking or leaving blank

Unfortunately you can't submit your application unless you tick the box...I tried phoning but they said that I could only apply online and if I couldn't tick the boxes then I couldn't open their ISA!