Already have Halifax ISA Saver Online - opening a new Cash ISA in new tax year.....

superman909

Hi there.

I transferred my last ISA's funds (a Halifax ISA Saver something-or- other, opened in Dec' 2010) to my new Halifax ISA Saver Online in Dec 2011 after my interest rate had fallen, following the 12 months of opening the first one with Halifax.

Anyway, I am getting 2.6% on this Online cash ISA with the Halifax, and obviously there are some better rates about, so am I right to think that:
1) I now have to wait for the new tax year in April to open a new cash ISA.
2) When I do open a new cash ISA, I can still keep this Halifax one and am allowed to "partly transfer" my funds (however much I want) from the Halifax ISA saver online, to the new one.
3) I can't close this Halifax one without penalty until Dec 2012 (or maybe I am wrong here)
4) I can pay into both ISA's, if I do choose to open a new one and also keep my Halifax one open - so long as I don't go over the deposit limit for the tax year 2012-2013. My question here is - how then do I know/monitor how much left I can deposit into each (simply half what I see on the screen for each)?

Sorry for the waffle, but I had to rush this post - any advice on the above would be great

xylophone

You have to wait until the new tax year to open an ISA for 2012-2013.
You can keep your old isas but whether you are allowed a partial transfer of previous years' subscriptions depends on the Halifax rules but a current year transfer must be made in full.
You can't pay into your old isas from previous years.
Whether you can close the old ISA without penalty depends on the T&Cs of the product.

Lokolo

superman909 wrote: »

Anyway, I am getting 2.6% on this Online cash ISA with the Halifax, and obviously there are some better rates about, so am I right to think that:
1) I now have to wait for the new tax year in April to open a new cash ISA.

No, you can open as many Cash ISAs as you want, but you can only deposit into 1 (which is your 2.6% account). So effectively you will open an ISA and keep it at £0 (which is pointless), or you open to transfer the old one into it.

2) When I do open a new cash ISA, I can still keep this Halifax one and am allowed to "partly transfer" my funds (however much I want) from the Halifax ISA saver online, to the new one.

Yes thats fine.

3) I can't close this Halifax one without penalty until Dec 2012 (or maybe I am wrong here)

That ISA does not have any closure penalties I believe.

4) I can pay into both ISA's, if I do choose to open a new one and also keep my Halifax one open - so long as I don't go over the deposit limit for the tax year 2012-2013. My question here is - how then do I know/monitor how much left I can deposit into each (simply half what I see on the screen for each)?

That's only fine if the ISAs are with the same provider. And that's only if the provider allows it. Some will only allow you to deposit into 1.

me_again_3

In answer to your question 4, I don't think you can do this. You can only pay into ONE isa per tax year