Can't transfer ISA??

datlex

I'm guessing this may have already been answered but there are too many posts to trawl through.

I have a tiny cash ISA with Smile. I have made one payment of £4.62 to it last Thursday. They told me I could transfer to another provider. However, when I asked Barclays about setting up a new ISA they said I could only transfer the existing funds, I couldn't add to them. A quick enquiry in Santander gave the same answer.

So what are the transfer rules- can you can who you have your ISA through for the current year? I realise it is the banks that have to do the transfer so have not closed the original ISA.

HMRC is suggesting on their website that there might be a way but am guessing the banks will go with their own rules?

innovate

I reckon you could benefit form reading through this: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/cash-isa-transfers

Also, don't consider a cash ISA a place where you save pennies. A bottle could be a better place if your savings are in pennies.

datlex

Thanks, it isn't clear from that so am ringing HMRC for advise. Though will have to ring back tomorrow now been on hold 27mins- good job get 0845 allowance in my mobile calls!

innovate

Are you for real?

Wanting to transfer an ISA worth £4.62? That you only deposited less than a week ago?

Looking at your sig, you might do a lot better, anyway, putting your £4.62 towards your Smile loan. What interest rate are you paying on that?

psychic_teabag

innovate wrote: »

Are you for real?

Wanting to transfer an ISA worth £4.62? That you only deposited less than a week ago?

Looking at your sig, you might do a lot better, anyway, putting your £4.62 towards your Smile loan. What interest rate are you paying on that?

£4.62 is peanuts, but if OP wants to use ISA allowance elsewhere, they have no choice but to transfer it. Withdrawing the money and closing the account means they can't open an ISA elsewhere and use their allowance.

OP: the simplest expression of the rule is that all the subscriptions for the current year must stay together. So you can transfer the ISA and continue paying into it after the transfer. Well, those are the ISA rules : the providers account rules are in addition to that, so if you transfer to a fixed-term account, you can't add any more to it.

datlex

I did not come here to be insulted!!! I have a weekly payment to my ISA for an annual bill!!! Earning a little bit of interest on it over the year.

beecher2

datlex wrote: »

I did not come here to be insulted!!! I have a weekly payment to my ISA for an annual bill!!! Earning a little bit of interest on it over the year.

It probably isn't worth having an ISA if you intend taking the money out at the end of the year. You'd get a better rate with Lloyds Vantage or Santander 123. I have a monthly saver at 4% so you could look to see if something similar is still available - plenty of information in the savings section.

saintalan

datlex wrote: »

I did not come here to be insulted!!! I have a weekly payment to my ISA for an annual bill!!! Earning a little bit of interest on it over the year.

You are quite right there was no need for insult, elsewhere this forum is full of ideas to save small amounts when buying stuff and plenty take advantage.

Now you have the ISA, you could just leave it and as said above use a non ISA regular saver. It may be possible at the end of March 2014 you have a little more saved which you could then transfer to your ISA to gain the future tax protection.

Good Luck with your savings

Alan

innovate

datlex wrote: »

I did not come here to be insulted!!! I have a weekly payment to my ISA for an annual bill!!! Earning a little bit of interest on it over the year.

Nobody is insulting you - - just asking what you are up to.

Firstly, if you opened an ISA last Thursday, why are you looking at transferring it already?

Secondly, why don't you just fill in a transfer request form and get it done?

Thirdly, what are you hoping to achieve with a transfer? If you pay £4.62 a week into your ISA, you can save £244.86 a year. 0.5% interest on that will pay you 15p a year. If you paid the same amount into a 2% ISA, you would make 62p over a year. 92p if the ISA pays 3% AER.

How much interest (%APR) are you paying on your Smile loan, and can you pay it off faster by putting your £4.62 a week against the loan?

innovate

beecher2 wrote: »

You'd get a better rate with Lloyds Vantage or Santander 123.

Only if you are able to keep above £3K in the account permanently. Which doesn't appear to be an option for the OP (now I am probably going to get accused of insulting the OP again, just for being realistic and sticking to facts).

datlex

Facts - actual not imagined or supposed: I have been using an ISA for years to save up for annual bill. So not a new account. Weekly SO into it. Might not seem like much to some- but for me it allows me to budget with out having to fork out. I did recently get a small pay rise, so was considering adding that to an ISA as well as the £4.62 each week as there are a few things I need to save up for including a lump sum for loan- any extra interest even tiny amount will be handy. However, rate of bank ISA only 0.5% so wanted to look at a better rate. I was unaware that a cash transfer did not apply to current year. I still need to speak to HMRC to check what options are legally including whether just best to wait until next year. Ref loan- not in default or dmp. Insult= are you for real btw.

Clearly my actual question cannot be answered here as it was not about best interest rates but changing provider in current year.