Cash ISAs: The Best Currently Available List

10_66

Should funds from a transferred out Cash ISA be credited to a new transferred in Cash ISA showing the same date that funds left the old transferred out Cash ISA, or is it only if the transfer takes more than 15 days that you should be compensated for loss of interest during a transfer please?

Steve_xx

If you transferred into Metro Bank it could be a month difference. Mine was!

gwapenut

Usually funds are backdated to the date that the funds left the donor account, whether by electronic transfer or by cheque.

But there are a few exceptions to this, for example:

1. Nationwide will pay you interest from the date you request your ISA transfer
2. Chorley (and maybe some others?) word their T&Cs to greedily allow them to sit on your money for a few days after receipt before paying interest
3. If the ISA transfer is by cheque, and the cheque becomes lost in the post and is reissued after a period of several weeks, then the interest is only backdated to the date of the second cheque. While this means you still don't lose any interest in the donor account, it could be frustrating if that account is a maturity one paying you virtually no interest. If it turns out that the first cheque was merely delayed, throwing a cancelled cheque into the mix complicates the situation further. 

With the state of the royal mail these days, I'm limiting my ISA search to (a) electronic only, (b) Not Virgin or Natwest, to save myself a world of pain and (c) preferably flexible. Not many of the top 10 ISAs satisfy all of these criteria, but Zopa does. A few banks have PDF lists of electronic ISA providers, but these are out of date (eg Zopa is not listed). An up-to-date list can often be seen when trying a dummy transfer in to providers such as Skipton, Yorkshire and Coventry, who will tell you for certain providers that you need to complete a paper form.

I will elaborate on the "world of pain" comments. I've had a few issues with Barclays over the years, but complaints have always been resolved within a week or two at most, intelligently and with suitable compensation. I therefore still feel in control. Both Virgin and Natwest have messed up big time, not just for me, and the complaints process has been frustrating, unintelligent, and slow. In the case of Virgin 18 months ago, they took a full 6 months to even allocate my complaint to a handler, meaning my money could have been left in limbo for that entire time. This makes me feel powerless and not in control of my own money, which is a shame because their rates are consistently table topping.

Aidanmc

10_66 said:

Should funds from a transferred out Cash ISA be credited to a new transferred in Cash ISA showing the same date that funds left the old transferred out Cash ISA, or is it only if the transfer takes more than 15 days that you should be compensated for loss of interest during a transfer please?

I transferred an ISA from YBS to WestBrom, the payment left YBS on Friday 8th and showing/dated on West Brom Monday 11th. Would most find this acceptable or maybe should be queried?

duckson

Does anyone know if the Chip Cash ISA allows for a direct monthly payment via Standing Order or similar or is funding only a manual operation?

10_66

gwapenut said:

Usually funds are backdated to the date that the funds left the donor account, whether by electronic transfer or by cheque.

But there are a few exceptions to this, for example:

1. Nationwide will pay you interest from the date you request your ISA transfer
2. Chorley (and maybe some others?) word their T&Cs to greedily allow them to sit on your money for a few days after receipt before paying interest
3. If the ISA transfer is by cheque, and the cheque becomes lost in the post and is reissued after a period of several weeks, then the interest is only backdated to the date of the second cheque. While this means you still don't lose any interest in the donor account, it could be frustrating if that account is a maturity one paying you virtually no interest. If it turns out that the first cheque was merely delayed, throwing a cancelled cheque into the mix complicates the situation further. 

With the state of the royal mail these days, I'm limiting my ISA search to (a) electronic only, (b) Not Virgin or Natwest, to save myself a world of pain and (c) preferably flexible. Not many of the top 10 ISAs satisfy all of these criteria, but Zopa does. A few banks have PDF lists of electronic ISA providers, but these are out of date (eg Zopa is not listed). An up-to-date list can often be seen when trying a dummy transfer in to providers such as Skipton, Yorkshire and Coventry, who will tell you for certain providers that you need to complete a paper form.

I will elaborate on the "world of pain" comments. I've had a few issues with Barclays over the years, but complaints have always been resolved within a week or two at most, intelligently and with suitable compensation. I therefore still feel in control. Both Virgin and Natwest have messed up big time, not just for me, and the complaints process has been frustrating, unintelligent, and slow. In the case of Virgin 18 months ago, they took a full 6 months to even allocate my complaint to a handler, meaning my money could have been left in limbo for that entire time. This makes me feel powerless and not in control of my own money, which is a shame because their rates are consistently table topping.

Thank you for all this information @gwapenut, it was a transfer from YBS to Zopa.  I had expected the dates to match, but Zopa credited a different date. 

gwapenut

@10_66
Thank you for the information - could you keep us informed if you investigate with Zopa. It is worth knowing if they are up to funny business with incoming transfers. If so I will just fund them with this and next year's allowance.

10_66

gwapenut said:

@10_66
Thank you for the information - could you keep us informed if you investigate with Zopa. It is worth knowing if they are up to funny business with incoming transfers. If so I will just fund them with this and next year's allowance.

Ok, will do.

10_66

10_66 said:

gwapenut said:

@10_66
Thank you for the information - could you keep us informed if you investigate with Zopa. It is worth knowing if they are up to funny business with incoming transfers. If so I will just fund them with this and next year's allowance.

Ok, will do.

Well, I have used Zopa in the past, but the experience has certainly changed since I last had anything to do with them.  I tried to contact them via chat this morning, the person didn't read my message as their reply was not relevant to my query, so I asked for a phone number, they confirmed open at 9am.  I rang, not taking calls.  I got back to chat, and this time they didn't even ask what my query was, and said they understood that I want to close my account (which, of course, I had not mentioned).   Absolutely hopeless.

harz99

10_66 said:

10_66 said:

gwapenut said:

@10_66
Thank you for the information - could you keep us informed if you investigate with Zopa. It is worth knowing if they are up to funny business with incoming transfers. If so I will just fund them with this and next year's allowance.

Ok, will do.

Well, I have used Zopa in the past, but the experience has certainly changed since I last had anything to do with them.  I tried to contact them via chat this morning, the person didn't read my message as their reply was not relevant to my query, so I asked for a phone number, they confirmed open at 9am.  I rang, not taking calls.  I got back to chat, and this time they didn't even ask what my query was, and said they understood that I want to close my account (which, of course, I had not mentioned).   Absolutely hopeless.

Sounds like the chat is with a chat bot not a real live person...