Cash ISA question

telsco

Due to my lateness and Natwest's shoddy online ISA application system, I applied for a Natwest 2014/15 Cash ISA transferring £5000 from my Natwest current account 2 days before the April 6th deadline only to find later that no money was ever transferred and the empty account didn't show up online until the 8th. I accept that the bank holiday weekend may have stuffed up the money transferring in time, but now I'm a little confused about the new ISA I've got. If it didn't activate until the 8th, does that mean I can't open a new ISA with a better rate for 2015/16, even though no money has gone into the 2014/15 (April 8th) ISA?

masonic

If no money has gone into this Nawest ISA, then you would be free to open a new ISA for 2015/16. However, if the money that you transferred simply turned up in the ISA too late for the 2014/15 tax year, it would count towards your 2015/16 allowance and you would need to transfer the balance in full to any other cash ISA you were planning to contribute to this tax year.

telsco

Cool. Thanks for your help.

jimjames

How much more money is in your current account after the £5k transferred?

If you are routinely keeping large amounts of cash in a current account you can get far better current accounts paying up to 5% on balances up to certain amounts.

telsco

No money was transferred. It was a combination of a couple of late payments and current work that boosted my account. I don't normally keep much in it. Hence the last minute attempt to get the isa.

ScottyLP

It may also be worth phoning natwest and simply asking how much you have subscribed in each of the tax years mentioned.

gt94sss2

telsco wrote: »

Due to my lateness and Natwest's shoddy online ISA application system, I applied for a Natwest 2014/15 Cash ISA transferring £5000 from my Natwest current account 2 days before the April 6th deadline only to find later that no money was ever transferred and the empty account didn't show up online until the 8th. I accept that the bank holiday weekend may have stuffed up the money transferring in time, but now I'm a little confused about the new ISA I've got. If it didn't activate until the 8th, does that mean I can't open a new ISA with a better rate for 2015/16, even though no money has gone into the 2014/15 (April 8th) ISA?

The deadline to open an ISA each year is 5 April not the 6th. However, I think Natwest were advertising applications online until the very last day.

If you opened it on the 4th and that's when you transferred the funds and Natwest say that the money transferred to late to count for your 2014/15 allowance, I would be asking them for an explanation why this occured. If its their fault, you would be entitled to compensation for loss of your 14/15 ISA allowance (if they can't fix/'repair' the problem and backdate it to 14/15 if necessary) and messing up your 15/16 one (though you can transfer to another provider or you should be able to close it and open a new one).

It might be worth looking at HMRC's rules for ISA firms

Even if Natwest's systems only operate on working days, the transfer should have happened on 7th April, not the 8th.

Regards,
Sunil