ISA interest..please tell me this isnt so??!

Consumerist

ranciduk wrote: »

. . . or do i now have to wait until next April before im allowed to move it to another bank?

No. You can transfer it to another ISA manager as soon as you like - providing the new ISA accepts transfers in. As it is the current year's ISA, you must, however, transfer the entire value. I don't see that as being an issue in your case.

Clarification:
Contibutions in the current tax year must be transferred as a whole. You cannot split these contributions between ISAs. Previous years' contributions can, however, be split up between different ISAs when transferred.
.

ranciduk

hmm

thanks!

Mikeyorks

ranciduk wrote: »

or do i now have to wait until next April before im allowed to move it to another bank?

You can move it any time you wish. But as you're clearly tied in to ISAs ..... very seriously consider a fixed rate one in order to prevent the same problem you've just had repeating itself?

If you fancy Santander (most people don't .. as their CS is poor and not improving) you can get a 2 year fix at 3.5%. Or 2.75% easy access ..... which rate (on transfers in over £9k) will be held for 12 months. You can't have the 3.2% ..... as that doesn't allow transfers in.

rb10

Mikeyorks wrote: »

If you fancy Santander (most people don't .. as their CS is poor and not improving) you can get a 2 year fix at 3.5%.

But the Halifax 2-year fix at 3.5% would be far more sensible, as it takes about a minute to change the existing account over to this one by phone, which is rather better than the few weeks that it would take to transfer it to Santander.

Then you can forget about it until April 2012.

ranciduk

thanks for all that people

very helpful

im guessing for ease it would be better to bite my tongue and stick with halifax like rb10 has suggested

i did rather think moving it to another bank would be hassle after hassle!

p.s. "But the Halifax 2-year fix at 3.5% would be far more sensible, as it takes about a minute to change the existing account over to this one by phone"

if i do ring up - what do i say i want to do?! im really not up on all this stuff and i want to know what i should be asking for so i dont get it all wrong

rb10

ranciduk wrote: »

p.s. "But the Halifax 2-year fix at 3.5% would be far more sensible, as it takes about a minute to change the existing account over to this one by phone"

if i do ring up - what do i say i want to do?! im really not up on all this stuff and i want to know what i should be asking for so i dont get it all wrong

Just say that you've got an ISA with them that pays a low rate of interest, and you want to change it over to the [2-year fixed rate ISA]*.


* Or whichever you decide to go for.

ranciduk

okay

thanks again!

ranciduk

rb10 wrote: »

Just say that you've got an ISA with them that pays a low rate of interest, and you want to change it over to the [2-year fixed rate ISA]*.


* Or whichever you decide to go for.

hello again!

ive just been reading about that account on their website:

Minimum opening balance - £500
Maximum balance - up to £5,100 in any one tax year
No withdrawals allowed - you can close your account at any time but you will lose 180 days interest
No additional deposits - after account opening

Re: the bit that ive highlighted above, does this mean i wont be able to put another £5.1k in next April?

ViolaLass

No, you won't, this is standard with fixed rate accounts. But next April there will be nothing to stop you opening another ISA and putting your £5100 in that. Then, when the fixed rate expires you can put that and the £5100 plus your 2012 amount in one fixed/variable (your choice) ISA.

With regards to you being cross with Halifax, while I understand why, it is worth remembering that the banks are not there to make you money or do you a favour. It is in their interest to pay you as little as they can get away with so that their profits are bigger, and it's in your interest to pay attention to interest rates so that they get away with as little as possible (because you've moved to a better paying account).

amcluesent

Of course, the banks 'punish' transfers out of ISAs by keeping your money in limbo for weeks on end!