Consolidate Old ISAs

Nednats

I have a few old ISA I was think of transfering them all into one account with this years allowance. But I'm worried about if I need access to my savings. Can I withdraw a small amount without affecting all my previous ISAs or would it better to keep them all individual and close the one with the worse rate when i need moeny?

McKneff

You can consolidate all your ISAs into one. No problem.

As long as you do this to an ISA that allows transfers in and you choose an easy access ISA then there is no compromise to your 'old' ISAs, it would only come out of 'this years' allowance.

jennifernil

If you consolidate to an instant access one then you can easily take cash out. The only restriction is on the amount of new money you can deposit in the year.

Does your present ISA allow transfers in? If not, then you can transfer everything to one that does at the best rate you can find. 3.1% is easily achievable with instant access.

Nednats

jennifernil wrote: »

If you consolidate to an instant access one then you can easily take cash out. The only restriction is on the amount of new money you can deposit in the year.

Does your present ISA allow transfers in? If not, then you can transfer everything to one that does at the best rate you can find. 3.1% is easily achievable with instant access.

I Don't have a current ISA this year. Looking for something now but worried about taking money out

Consumerist

A possible problem which occurs to me is that if you consolidate a current-year ISA with previous years' ISAs and you make a withdrawal, which ISA funds are you withdrawing from?

If the withdrawal comes from the previous-years' ISA(s) then that will not affect the total deposit you can make in the current year. If, however, the withdrawal comes from the current-year ISA then that will reduce the amount you can add in the current year.

Nednats

Consumerist wrote: »

A possible problem which occurs to me is that if you consolidate a current-year ISA with previous years' ISAs and you make a withdrawal, which ISA funds are you withdrawing from?

If the withdrawal comes from the previous-years' ISA(s) then that will not affect the total deposit you can make in the current year. If, however, the withdrawal comes from the current-year ISA then that will reduce the amount you can add in the current year.

With consolidated ISAs how do you know which year you are withdrawing from?

Would it therefore be safer to consolidate all old ISAs in one account and start another for the current year?

Consumerist

Nednats wrote: »

With consolidated ISAs how do you know which year you are withdrawing from?

That's a good question.

Would it therefore be safer to consolidate all old ISAs in one account and start another for the current year?

That would be my advice, unless someone in the know could explain how banks make the distinction.

Consumerist

Ok. I think I've got this one sorted.

The bank only counts money going into the ISA up to the current year's allowance and then prohibits further deposits, no matter what is withdrawn.

So, withdrawals are made from the total amount in the account and your current year's allowance won't be affected by withdrawals.

Sorry, I should have thought this through before my earlier post. .

jennifernil

You've got it now!

Only what you put in each year matters, a limit is set each year by the Government.

If you want to move money to a new account, be sure to get the new provider to transfer it, do not think of withdrawing it yourself.

If you need to withdraw some money to use, that's fine, it still will not affect what you can deposit in the current year. You cannot replace anything withdrawn though, you can only deposit up to your allowance.

nednats.....if looking for an account to open, I can suggest the Nationwide 3.1% instant access one. You need to have some other account with them too, look on the website for details, but it seems easy to organise. I have just opened one myself.

Once the account is open you can fill in a transfer form for each of your old ISAs and they will move them over for you. They start paying interest on the money in the old ISAs as soon as you give them the transfer forms.

You can also deposit up to this year's allowance before 5th April, then you can start using next year's allowance.

If a better rate appears elsewhere, you can easily transfer again as it is instant access.

If you are happy to tie up some money for a year or 2 there are higher, fixed rate accounts around. You could transfer some to a fixed one and some to instant access, that is what I have done. Money in "old" ISAs can be split between different accounts, current year ISAs must be transferred complete.