Isa transfers

Jellyprint

Quick isa related question, and pardon my ignorance but as with all of these things the depth of the jargon and subterfuge can cloud what it means to the most erudite of individuals at times!

Obviously an isa that allows transfers means you can transfer any of your old isa's from previous tax years into it.

All I am looking to do is transfer an old isa which had a big bonus which has expired and is now down to 0.5% to another more acceptable rated account and have no intention of adding new money to.

When you get into the applying stage, all the ones I have looked at seem to mention that you are applying for this as your ISA for the 2013/14 year. Now technically I'm not, if I just proceed on and don't add any new money, am I breaking any rules that will see me be penalised elsewhere?

Obviously I understand the financial institutions are trying to gain new money so they will phrase it towards the new isa year customers, but surely there are thousands who are doing such a thing, and it doesn't seem to be clear to me, even anywhere on MSE I'm sad to say whether this is OK?

david78

All applications have this clause as standard, even for pure transfers. Just ignore it, that's what I always do.

The problem is the application forms are pretty generic and are geared towards people who are making new contributions rather then transfers.

If you are transfering a current year's ISA, the account does become your cash ISA for subsequent contributions, so the wording makes sense in this cas.

RoxRoxBling

You can open a isa, sounds like you have an intention of transferring money, but not putting new money in. This is ok and you will not be penalised.