Stocks and Shares ISA

mo-greer

Does anyone know if you can have moe than one ISA? I have a Stocks and Shares ISA with Scottish Friendly which is worth about £2500. I have not paid anything into this ISA for about 4 yrs so it is lying dormant atm.
Can i have another ISA with another company and start paying into this on a yearly basis and still hold this 1st ISA without paying into it?

Lokolo

Yes you can.

mo-greer

So i can have 2 ISA's at one time as long as i am not paying into one of them - is this the case?

Lokolo

You can only pay into one each tax year. So the first one you pay into from April 6th, is your ISA for the year.

xrjtg

You can also transfer current and previous year's ISAs to new providers if you find a company with a better selection of investments or lower charges.

mo-greer

Thats okay i think - i have one with Scottish Friendly which i have had for about 5 years and i have not paid anything into it for the last 3 yrs (i had it wheh i was married).
I now hold on with Lloyds and each year they pay a some into it on my behalf and i was sure i told them i had another 'dormant' one but have suddenly come across the paperwork for it and had a panic incase it was illegal to have 2 like this!
Do you think i should do something with this 1st ISA at the moment? Can you cash them in or should i merge it with the other one (is this possible?)
Thanx!!

Lokolo

It depends what the Scottish Friendly ISA is. Is it an instant access cash ISA? A fixed term cash ISA? An investment ISA?

mo-greer

Its a Stocks and Shares ISA with Scottish friendly

Oldbiggles

The new ISA rules came into effect this year (from April 2010).
You are allowed to invest a total of £10200 each year, split between a
Cash ISA and a Shares ISA. But the maximum you can invest in a Cash ISA is £5100 per year.
You are permitted to move funds from a Cash ISA into a Shares ISA but not the other way round.

Hope this helps.

cloud_dog

Oldbiggles wrote: »

You should be able to cash it in anytime you like unless you invested into a TERM fund.
The whole idea of ISA's was that they should be Instant Access Accounts. Unfortunately Greedy Banks and Building Societies etc.
have devised ways of making more money for themselves rather than their investors. So watch out for clauses that restrict the basic concept.

ISA products are no different to non-ISA products; some have constraints some dont.

Oldbiggles wrote: »

You can tranfer previous ISA'S into the current years ISA providing it doesn't exceed the maximum amount you are allowed to save each year. See my previous comment below (Post #9)

Not quite. You can transfer as many previous years ISAs to your current provider as long as your current provider is willing to accept them.

Oldbiggles wrote: »

ps. It helps if you just click the thanks button at the bottom of the post to let people know you have read the reply.

Perhaps the OP would click thanks if they wanted to thank you.....

LongTermLurker

Oldbiggles wrote: »

You should be able to cash it in anytime you like unless you invested into a TERM fund.
The whole idea of ISA's was that they should be Instant Access Accounts. Unfortunately Greedy Banks and Building Societies etc.
have devised ways of making more money for themselves rather than their investors. So watch out for clauses that restrict the basic concept.

OP is talking S&S, not cash - if you're invested in individual shares, you can sell them when you want, though you obviously want to sell when the price is high. If you're invested in funds, the same rules apply, but you might find property funds won't actually give you the proceeds for 6 months as they're not so easy to dispose of.

But if you want to keep your investment, you're better either a) leaving it where it is, b) asking your new manager (Lloyds? I assume you mean Lloyds TSB?) to transfer it in or c) asking someone like Hargreaves Lansdown to transfer both ISAs into one with them - they'll be much cheaper.

You can tranfer previous ISA'S into the current years ISA providing it doesn't exceed the maximum amount you are allowed to save each year.

Sorry, that's wrong! You can transfer whatever you like - transfers don't affect the current year's subscription level in any way.

ps. It helps if you just click the thanks button at the bottom of the post to let people know you have read the reply.

Sorry, that's sad - the thanks button should be used to say the content of the post is accurate and useful. I always wonder about ppl who ask for thanks...