ISA Confusion

scottyb84

I opened an ISA for the tax year 2014-2015 with Halifax and have recently contributed to this in this current tax year 2015-2016.
I wanted to transfer to another provider and have filled in a transfer request form.

Am I ok do transfer even if contributed this year and just continue to pay in to my Halifax ISA?

I know you can't pay in to two ISA's in one tax year but will this cause an issue?

Thanks

masonic

If you are transferring only the subscriptions from the previous tax year and leaving your current year subscriptions at Halifax, then you can continue to pay into the Halifax ISA after the transfer.

If you are transferring the whole ISA including the money from the current tax year, then you can only add to the transferred ISA.

scottyb84

It didn't give me an option on the new transfer request form to how much etc.

If I now just paid in to the new ISA, wouldn't that count as paying in to two within a tax year though?

masonic

No, because when current year ISA subscriptions are transferred, they are treated as having been made to the new ISA. If the ISA hasn't transferred yet, I'd wait until it does and just top up the new one. Adding while a transfer is in progress could have unintended consequences.

scottyb84

I have a direct debit set up for payments in to my old ISA and is now too late to cancel this.
I would like to really just transfer my old ISA to new one and continue to pay in to my old one as instant access.
Have I completely messed up and should just cancel new one or can I contact them to just transfer the balance before the new tax year?

masonic

You will need to check with your new provider whether they will accept partial transfers. If so, cancel the current transfer and submit a new one to transfer only the previous years subscriptions. That way you can continue to pay into the Halifax ISA.

scottyb84

I have just emailed them to contact me so hopefully can be resolved

scottyb84

I have now canceled the transfer request.

What can I do now to get a better rate?
Can I transfer anything to another provider and just continue to pay in to my halfiax ISA?
Or am I stuck now because I have paid in to the ISA this tax year?

I'm a little confused with how things work so sorry if questions seem silly.

How should I go about this in the future? Should I make sure another payment isn't made going in to the next tax year and then transfer balance in to a better rated ISA and then I can open an instant access ISA in case I need to dip in to the money? Then at the end, consolidate these two in to another ISA and so on?

badger09

scottyb84 exactly what are you trying to achieve here?

Do you want to keep paying into your Halifax ISA?

Do you want to pay into a different ISA?

You say the transfer form didn't give you an option to specify how much to transfer. I think you may have misread it

You also say you have a direct debit set up to pay into your old (Halifax?) ISA. I think you mean standing order, which you can cancel at any time.

masonic

scottyb84 wrote: »

What can I do now to get a better rate?
Can I transfer anything to another provider and just continue to pay in to my halfiax ISA?
Or am I stuck now because I have paid in to the ISA this tax year?

Option 1: Set up a transfer, specifying previous tax years subscriptions only, and then keep paying into the Halifax ISA.
Option 2: Two transfers, one specifying previous tax years subscriptions only, the other for your current year subscriptions. Pay new money into the new ISA containing your current year subscriptions.

In future, it is best to decide on an ISA you are going to use for the next tax year before you start paying money in during that tax year.

scottyb84

Thanks for the reply. Sort of cleared it up for me now.
I will request two transfers. A lump sum in to one fixed long term ISA and continue to psy in to an instant access ISA.

I know that I should sort this before tax year starts in future. Just need to cancel standing order straight away in future.

Thanks for info 👍