Cash Isas Transfer discussion

Kazza242

Hiya,

When a mini cash isa is transferred to another provider, the account balance and interest (accrued up to that point) is transferred across. Although many cash isa's pay interest once a year, they actually calculate it daily. Therefore, when you transfer, you will receive the interest your mini cash isa has accumulated for the time it has been in the account.

There is no need to wait until April to get the ball rolling. You can transfer your isa any time during the year. Although, if you are intending to transfer, doing so now is a good time, as from March onwards isa providers become very busy with opening new accounts and handling transfers.

catsilversword

I'm sure you know this already, but if and when you do transfer, you need to contact the company you want to transfer your ISA into - DON'T WITHDRAAW THE MONEY YOURSELF as you'd lose your tax-free status. :j

codetown

I have the same intention to transfer an ISA and here some questions:
- I would like to transfer from Nationwide Instant Access (now at 4.5%) to A+L. Any fees or catches in doing this move? [i seem to recollect the A+L ISA had some fees, maybe to get out of it?]
- How does the trnasfer work out? How many days of interest are effectively lost?For a 6000 pounds I would get on A+L ~26 pounds a month, while on Nationwide ~22.5 pounds. So the loss should be recoverable within 1 month if the transfer effectively takes only 3 days.
- I also have a second separate ISA with Nationwide (as at a certain point I was eligible for the member's ISA which was more advantageous). The sum of the two was obviosly below the maximum allowed. I assume there is no problem in maintaing one ISA with one provider (nationwide) and one with another (A+L).

isasmurf

codetown wrote:

I have the same intention to transfer an ISA and here some questions:
- I would like to transfer from Nationwide Instant Access (now at 4.5%) to A+L. Any fees or catches in doing this move? [i seem to recollect the A+L ISA had some fees, maybe to get out of it?]

No fees. A&L dropped their fees (and that was for transferring out of their ISA).

- How does the trnasfer work out? How many days of interest are effectively lost?For a 6000 pounds I would get on A+L ~26 pounds a month, while on Nationwide ~22.5 pounds. So the loss should be recoverable within 1 month if the transfer effectively takes only 3 days.

It seems to depend on the providers you are transferring to and from. The only time I have transferred the money left my old ISA and was put into the new ISA on the same day and no interest was lost. Other MSE seem to have varying experiences.

- I also have a second separate ISA with Nationwide (as at a certain point I was eligible for the member's ISA which was more advantageous). The sum of the two was obviosly below the maximum allowed. I assume there is no problem in maintaing one ISA with one provider (nationwide) and one with another (A+L).

As long as you only put money into one ISA no problem at all.

Deemy

isasmurf wrote:

No fees. A&L dropped their fees (and that was for transferring out of their ISA).

.

LOL... I bet the crafty buggers will reinstate the fee in April 2007

Wirenth

A quick (daft) question...

I'm also debating about transferring to an A&L ISA. I've got a TOISA and and ISA with IF (rate now dreadful), anything stopping me from transferring them both into ONE ISA account?

eilz

So if my isa pays its interest annually, say its 5th of April(in my case), I should wait till that date and then start transfering my isa to say A+L or other provider.

Is this correct?

zag2me

No, you can transfer it anytime.

eilz

but if i did it sooner than 5th apr wouldnt i lose the interest accumulated for last year?

codetown

ISA interest is calculated daily and then applied to your case annually. In case of closure of account (or transfer) the provider has to apply to your account the accrued interest when you leave. Same applies to fixed-term saving accounts.
This is the norm, but some accounts might have special penalties for closure (or some loss of days' worth of interest).