Transferring an ISA query 26 August 2010 at 12:28PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in ISAs & Tax-free Savings 3 replies 752 views

poppycod

Hope someone understands ISAs enough to answer this query.

I have held an ISA with one building society for about 8 years or so. I havent paid any money into it since before April so I have not used any of my allowance this tax year yet.

I have noticed that my ISA has currently got a very poor interest rate so I was hoping to start a new ISA with this years allowance.

Can I start a new ISA with my £5000 or so and then this year also transfer my existing ISA funds into this one?

Or do I have to transfer all my existing ISA funds first and then put in my £5000 later?

Its the order I am confused with.

KingL

You can do it in either order. It will probably take a month for the transfer to go through, and it may well take a week or two to set up the new one, so you could pay into the new one asap if you want to start earning interest on your £5100 for this year.

If it is a fixed rate you are opening, be careful that it isn't taken off the market before your transfer arrives. Halifax guarantee you safe ground for 60 days to allow the transfer to arrive. There's no guarantees with other most other providers. There's nothing much you can do about this, but you could ask them the question when you open the new account.

poppycod

KingL wrote: »

You can do it in either order. It will probably take a month for the transfer to go through, and it may well take a week or two to set up the new one, so you could pay into the new one asap if you want to start earning interest on your £5100 for this year.

If it is a fixed rate you are opening, be careful that it isn't taken off the market before your transfer arrives. Halifax guarantee you safe ground for 60 days to allow the transfer to arrive. There's no guarantees with other most other providers. There's nothing much you can do about this, but you could ask them the question when you open the new account.

thanks very much - very quick too!

Funkyfreddy

poppycod wrote: »

Hope someone understands ISAs enough to answer this query.

I have held an ISA with one building society for about 8 years or so. I havent paid any money into it since before April so I have not used any of my allowance this tax year yet.

I have noticed that my ISA has currently got a very poor interest rate so I was hoping to start a new ISA with this years allowance.

Can I start a new ISA with my £5000 or so and then this year also transfer my existing ISA funds into this one?

Providing the ISA you choose allows transfers in. Not all do.

Even then there is nothing stopping you opening an ISA now with this years ISA allowance (£5,100) and also transferring your existing ISA into a different one with a much better rate.

FF