Is it possible to transfer a S&S ISA

ptkloon

Hi guys,

Might be a daft question that has probably been asked several times in the past but I've been trailing through this forum all night for the answer.

Anyway I have a S&S ISA with bank of scotland, and is currently worth approx £20k. I have read that BoS are one of the poorest performers for investments, which I have noticed that over the oast 3 years of topping up this ISA.

Is it possible and would it be worth my while transferring this S&S ISA to another better performing company or should I just leave it there for a few years and hope for the best? I know it's a tough question based on risk etc and one I will have to make myself, but I would just like to hear peoples opinions please.

Thanks

Aegis

You can alsways transfer, and you have the option with stocks and shares ISAs of transferring in specie - i.e. with all the investments lifted out of the ceding ISA and dropped as they are into the new one, allowing you to make switches as you see fit.

Watch out for exit charges when transferring.

Bear in mind that ISA providers only "perform" better when they offer a wide range of investments and a good level of support for a reasonable price. Most good ISA providers don't also supply the investments that go into their ISA. If there's a wide enough range of investments for you, this makes selecting a new provider easier - it's largely a price issue at that point.

psychic_teabag

You can only transfer in-specie if the recipient provider carries the same fund. If the poor performance is because you are invested in BoS' own funds, they might not be available on your preferred platform.

If you have to go via cash, you could phase it in a number of smaller partial transfers, so that you're not entirely out of the market at one time. (Though if you go somewhere that offers you a bung for switching to them, that might reduce the size of the bonus payment.)