Novice saver here - some advice

pcuk1979

Hi all

So I got a new job a couple of months ago, and my New Year's resolution is to raise 40k in 3 years to fund a house deposit.

Here's where I'm at:

£4,100 lingering in a old Egg ISA from a number of years ago on a rubbish interest rate
£1,500 in a Barclays ISA from tax year 2010/2011
A newly opened Barclays ISA for tax year 2011/2012
A Santander eSaver

What I plan to do is:

Pay £500 per month into my new ISA 2011/2012. Once I reach this limit, it'll go in the regular savings account.

Move both the old ISAs into Santander account, then into a Firstsave 1 year fixed rate.

So my two questions are:

a) Does this sound like the right idea
b) Do I need to ask Santander to transfer my 2010/11 Barclays ISA into it, or vice versa. Bear in mind its an eSaver, meaning I only have online and phone account management.

Thanks

Lokolo

a) No.
b) The e-saver isn't an ISA so you would be taking money out of the ISA.

If you are wanting to transfer old ISAs you best bet is to open an ISA which allows transfers in, then transfer the old ISAs into it. For example

http://www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/cash-isas/isa-direct-reward/

This pays 3% and you can transfer old ISAs into it.

pcuk1979

OK, so if I'm transferring old ISA's to a new ISA provider, I'm not actually transferring it from one tax year to another?

So I can move old ISAs to one with a better rate within the 2011/2012 tax year, but this will not affect my ability to save 5340 of new money in the same tax year.

I'm sure these are simple questions, but it can be confusing for newbies.

Lokolo

pcuk1979 wrote: »

OK, so if I'm transferring old ISA's to a new ISA provider, I'm not actually transferring it from one tax year to another?

So I can move old ISAs to one with a better rate within the 2011/2012 tax year, but this will not affect my ability to save 5340 of new money in the same tax year.

I'm sure these are simple questions, but it can be confusing for newbies.

Correctamundo.

Your allowance of £5,340 is for new money. The money in the old ISAs is old money, so can be moved around wherever (as long as the ISA accepts transfers in, obviously you've found out the Santander one doesn't)