HELP! I may have made an ISA Boo Boo!

Needamiracle_2

I posted this earlier! "Hi I am recently retired and have received my lump sum pension. I had an ISA from 2012/13 with only £9 in it and I opened a Fixed Rate ISA with the Halifax prior to the tax year ending 2013/14 with the full allowance. Today I have transferred more money into both. I forgot the new ISA amount had gone up so did not quite put all my allowance into the Fixed Rate one. I also have not quite got the full allowance in the other."

I have just been advised I should not have made the payment today and should try and correct it! Is this right and please How do I correct this? :eek:

innovate

I don't know who advised you to correct it - HMRC advise to leave things well alone until they contact people who made a mistake.

If I were you, I would ring the HMRC ISA helpline and ask their advice. http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/contactus/view.page?record=agUO91tWzfU

Needamiracle_2

Hi just to let you know how I resolved this! I went to see both Santander and the Halifax. I had 14 days to change my mind about the Halifax Account so I have closed that account and had my money back. It was the simpler of the options. I may still get a letter from HMRC but I have rang them anyway and "confessed"! I am now still a bit at a loss as to what to do with my money as ISA's weren't the answer but I will keep on looking! So much for my momentary pride in being a financial wiz! Lol

innovate

Sounds excellent news!

How much do you have to put away, and for how long? TSB and Lloyds current accounts can take care of £9K, and there are several interesting regular savers as well.

Needamiracle_2

Well now I have about £17000 to invest somewhere as I had to have my money back! The Halifax suggested that I transfer the Santander ISA to their fixed rate one and then add to it in July. This seemed like a reasonable suggestion but I am still unsure! Dizzy blonde comes to mind after today!

innovate

I bet Halifax suggested you should transfer. Which one of their ISAs did they suggest? None of the Halifax rates strike me as superior to the Santander 2.3% fixed rate for 2 years.

So you have £17K of new money, after you put £5,940 into a new cash ISA already? And you want to max your £15K ISA allowance this year? Where is the £17K now? Santander 123? How long do you want to put your money away for? How many TSB Plus do you have, have you got a Club Lloyds, and a Club Lloyds monthly saver? A First Direct regular saver?

Needamiracle_2

I've put £8000 into my Santander Easy Access Account. My Halifax Account was the Fixed Rate 2 year which I'm sure is 2.05% and I had £11,520 which they are returning to me tomorrow. The Halifax suggested I transfer my Santander ISA to the Halifax and top it up and in July top it up to the £15,000 (?) limit. Also to open a Halifax saving account and put the rest in there. I have another amount of money in my RBS Savings account of which I would like to move some. Thought of buying Premium Bonds but ........ ! It seems like a minefield and I am confused.com!

innovate

You could put the lot into a Santander 123 account which will pay you more interest than any ISA.

You could also consider 2 TSB Plus accounts, they would take £2,000 each. Then look at a Club Lloyds, £5,000 at 4%. This will also give you access to a Monthly Saver, which runs for a year and takes £400 a month, 4%.
All current account have monthly funding requirements but you can easily meet those since you can just shuttle money between them. You also need some Direct Denits for some, which again can be easily set up. There are threads about all those accounts an the forum.

If you have to have a cash ISA, look at the 2 year Santander ISA.

Don't bother with anything at Halifax. Their rates are even more dire than what you can get elsewhere.

Are you a tax payer? If you are not, you can ask banks to pay you gross interest - fill in an R85.

Needamiracle_2

I am a tax payer as I have three pensions - 2 private and state pension which is about to start. I am also going to be self employed (in a small way) but do not expect to pay much in the way of tax - well yet anyway! Thank you - I will look at the Santander 2 year and consider the rest . Thanks very much for taking the time to help me.