help i have two isa accounts

KingL

EmeraldEncrusted wrote: »

Pardon me for my ignorance, but it's news to me that you're only allowed 1 cash ISA a year. I always assumed you could have as many as you wanted providing the sum total of all of them didn't exceed the allowance for the year?

In fact I remember a financial adviser once asked me whether or not I was using my full allowance for that year (after I told him I already had one), in order to sell me their own ISA. Surely he wouldn't have asked this if you're not allowed to keep it in more than one place?

The reason I ask this is because I was going to hedge my bets this year and go for splitting the money with half in a fixed term higher rate ISA and the half in an easy access one. Is this allowed?

All help appreciated... Thanks

If you are talking about cash ISAs, then you can only pay new money into one a year.

There is a slight variation in that you could pay new money into one and then transfer the ISA into a second (new, empty) one and pay more of this years allowance into the new one (leaving the old one dead, and effectively, non-existent). Perhaps the salesman was going to try and persuade you into doing this, or maybe he didn't know what he was on about :cool:

There are some advanced techhniques (such as paying into a cash ISA, then turning that into a Stocks and Shares ISA, leaving the cash allowance available again or Self-transfers), but to all intents and purposes, no you can't pay new money into a variable rate and also a fixed rate cash ISA in the same year.

Transferring old (previous years') ISAs is a different story. You can move old ones around pretty much as often as you like.

xrjtg

EmeraldEncrusted wrote: »

In fact I remember a financial adviser once asked me whether or not I was using my full allowance for that year (after I told him I already had one), in order to sell me their own ISA.

You can put up to £5100 into a Cash ISA, and the balance up to £10200 into a Stocks and Shares ISA, which is the kind more likely to be offered by an IFA. Could this be what happened?

EmeraldEncrusted

@ King and xrj

Thanks for your help.

The salesman was definitely talking about cash isas because I'd already ruled out the "risky" stuff and was just looking for a savings account with the best rate. It's possible he didn't know what he was talking about or perhaps he was just having a "blonde moment" :rotfl:.

xrjtg

For future reference, if you haven't decided this already, it isn't worth paying anybody for advice about the best savings accounts. The main site covers the basics, and finesses like Lloyds Vantage are covered well here on the forums.