A&L Direct ISA 2 Acc Holders - What are you planning when bonus expires?

masonic

humfer wrote: »

then at the end of April move my eixsting A&L to Abbey (or whoever is the leading rate allowing transfers in at that date).

Are you really going to wait until the end of April? A&L could be totally swamped by that point.

Just checking this is allowed (I am easily confused;) ) - i.e. open a new ISA and put in £3k AND transfer my existing ISA to another provider in the same tax year?

It's allowed.

humfer

masonic wrote: »

Are you really going to wait until the end of April? A&L could be totally swamped by that point.


It's allowed.

Fair point. I'll make sure the A&L Direct Issue 3 is off no use tomorrow (i.e. there are no surprise bonus' etc) and then start the transfer to Abbey I reckon, which I have just discovered "Rates are guaranteed to match any increase in the Bank of England base rate until 1 May 2008".

lisyloo

I switched to Ruffler.
My documents were returned to me by special delivery in less than 48 hours.
A&L took verbal instructions and took about a week to transfer it.

Pretty good service on both sides.
It doesn't bother that they are small. I think will remain competitive and I rarely need any customer service on my ISA.
Personally I'd rather have 2 knowledgeable people to speak to than go through an Indian call center.

YorkshireBoy

lisyloo wrote: »

A&L took verbal instructions and took about a week to transfer it.

I too have jumped ship before the rush.

Could I ask how long it took for Ruffler to get the funds after A&L showed your ISA as "unavailable" when viewing online?

lisyloo

Could I ask how long it took for Ruffler to get the funds after A&L showed your ISA as "unavailable" when viewing online?

A&L was closed on Weds 7th March.
Ruffler was opened on Friday 9th.

Of course it coud be worse if it just happens to get posted at the end of the week and then goes over a weekend.

YorkshireBoy

lisyloo wrote: »

A&L was closed on Weds 7th March.
Ruffler was opened on Friday 9th.

Of course it coud be worse if it just happens to get posted at the end of the week and then goes over a weekend.

I thought I was being smart, requesting the transfer with A&L last Monday morning at 9am. :rolleyes:

My ISA only became "unavailable" when I viewed my account on Saturday morning, meaning it looks like I've spanned a weekend and lost two more days interest. :mad:

lisyloo

Well at least you've avoided the Easter bank holiday and you've avoided the rush.

stphnstevey

I have to say, in defence of Ruffler Bank, they have been nothing but professional with me. I invested before they changed to 15K minimum investment. It was a sign of their poupularity that they introduced this. At the time they were the highest Min Cash ISA and still remain high at 5.8ish %. I would recommend them to a friend and have no worries about my money. I am going to top it up with the 3K this year.

They are small, but I like that 'local branch' feel. At least they know what their talking about as well, instead of some call centre bod with the mental age of a teenager.

They are regulated by the FSA, which I think means if they go t*ts up, you are covered for compensation. I think the Banking Code just refers to a code of practice, which doesn't bother me much.

At the end of the day it's your choice and there are some slightly higher ISA's out there that you should go with if you don't feel confident with them.

lisyloo

and still remain high at 5.8ish %

Just to clarify it's 5.8% gross paid quarterly.
Because it's paid quarterly there is some compounding.
So the Annual Equivalent Rate (AER) is 5.93%.

You should compare the AER when comparing accounts.
Some accounts pay annually so there is no compounding and Gross is the same as AER.