This years cash Isa allowance

babydoll123

I have the maximum cash Isa allowance to invest for this tax year. I currently have an Egg Isa however as the interest rate has fallen so much ( it only has the £10 in it i opened it with 6 months ago) i didnt want to put anymore money into it for this tax year. Im lookin at the Barclays Cash Isa which has a much better interest rate, my problem being i only have a small number of days to do this. Does anyone know how long the process takes providing i am accepted if i were to go into the branch this coming Monday, am i going to make it? Otherwise il have to put it into my Egg Isa or lose this years allowance. Many thanks

Nigella_2

How many ISAs can I have?

You can open one cash ISA and one stocks and shares ISA each tax year. Up to £3,600 can be invested in a cash ISA.

ISA transfers

If you have money in a cash ISA account that is no longer paying a competitive rate of interest you can transfer it without losing the tax-free status. However, you do need to be careful – if you close your existing ISA down and then look to move the money into another account you will lose the tax-break. You therefore need to make sure that your current provider treats it as a transfer and not an account closure.

JimLad

Nigella wrote: »

How many ISAs can I have?

You can open one cash ISA and one stocks and shares ISA each tax year. Up to £3,600 can be invested in a cash ISA.

Cant you open more than one ISA as long as you dont put more than £3600 in overall?

Baldur

babydoll123 wrote: »

I have the maximum cash Isa allowance to invest for this tax year. I currently have an Egg Isa however as the interest rate has fallen so much ( it only has the £10 in it i opened it with 6 months ago) i didnt want to put anymore money into it for this tax year. Im lookin at the Barclays Cash Isa which has a much better interest rate, my problem being i only have a small number of days to do this. Does anyone know how long the process takes providing i am accepted if i were to go into the branch this coming Monday, am i going to make it? Otherwise il have to put it into my Egg Isa or lose this years allowance. Many thanks

You have already subscribed to a Cash ISA (the Egg one) in the current tax year, so you cannot open & subscribe (pay new money into) to another Cash ISA until 6th April.

If you wish to use the remaining £3,590 of your 2008/9 allowance, you must pay it into the Egg ISA by 5th April. The Egg ISA can then be transferred to a new provider that accepts transfers, by completing the new provider's transfer form - they must arrange the transfer, not you.

You can then pay your 2009/10 allowance into a Barclays Golden ISA on or after 6th April. You cannot transfer into the Barclay's Golden ISA - it doesn't accept transfers.

Baldur

JimLad wrote: »

Cant you open more than one ISA as long as you dont put more than £3600 in overall?

No - you can only subscribe (pay new money into) to one Cash ISA per tax year.

babydoll123

0h right i see, sorry if i appear to be alittle stupid but i find it all very confusing. So my best bet is to transfer my £3590 into my Egg account anyway as Barclays do not accept transfers . Are there any others that would accept a transfer asap so a dont lose out on this years allowance?

Baldur

babydoll123 wrote: »

So my best bet is to transfer my £3590 into my Egg account anyway as Barclays do not accept transfers

It's not a case of 'best bet' - you MUST pay your £3,590 into Egg by 5th April before you can transfer it anywhere - the fact that Barclays don't accept transfers is irrelevant as far as that's concerned.

Where you choose to transfer it from Egg is up to you - you'll find a list of Cash ISA 'best buys' in this post - search through it for those that accept transfers.

staffie1

Baldur wrote: »

It's not a case of 'best bet' - you MUST pay your £3,590 into Egg by 5th April before you can transfer it anywhere - the fact that Barclays don't accept transfers is irrelevant as far as that's concerned.

Does that mean that if I have £1700 in my ING isa, I can't transfer it until the balance reaches £3600 (ie used up the full allowance for the 08/09 tax year)??

Baldur

staffie1 wrote: »

Does that mean that if I have £1700 in my ING isa, I can't transfer it until the balance reaches £3600 (ie used up the full allowance for the 08/09 tax year)??

No, the above poster's situation is totally different, if you read the posts - she (I assume) wants to pay in her full 08/09 allowance. Having paid £10 into Egg in the current tax year, that's her Cash ISA for the year, so she can't pay the balance (£3,590) into any other ISA and will lose the allowance if she doesn't pay it into the Egg one before 5th April.

If you want to simply transfer your ING ISA elsewhere, without adding to it (as you won't have time before the transfer completes) that's fine.

staffie1

Baldur wrote: »

If you want to simply transfer your ING ISA elsewhere, without adding to it (as you won't have time before the transfer completes) that's fine.

Phew that's alright then! Many thanks for your advice baldur :T

JimLad

Baldur wrote: »

No - you can only subscribe (pay new money into) to one Cash ISA per tax year.

But i could open one, put 3600 in, open another and transfer the 3600 over?