ISA rules HELP

venderqueen

Hi do not know who to ask about this but maybe you can put me straight.
I had a Halifax 3 year fixed rate ISA that matured on 28th March 15, I transferred the £20k + it had in it to Santander in a 2 year fixed. I had already got from last year and am currently paying into a Santander easy access Isa. When with a friend in Nat west today who was asking whether she could transfer her Santander easy access ISA into a forgotten Nat west ISA and get the 1.25% they were offering they told her yes but it would count as this years contribution? So I asked about what I had done and they said they could not speak for Santander but what they had done was illegal and the tax man would contact me. So what I want to know is 2 things please A, why when my money was in the ISA world is it wrong for Santander to do what they have done and B, why cannot my friend transfer her ISA from one provider into another without it being classed as this years contribution. (am I being thick) thanks

badger09

venderqueen wrote: »

Hi do not know who to ask about this but maybe you can put me straight.
I had a Halifax 3 year fixed rate ISA that matured on 28th March 15, I transferred the £20k + it had in it to Santander in a 2 year fixed. I had already got from last year and am currently paying into a Santander easy access Isa. When with a friend in Nat west today who was asking whether she could transfer her Santander easy access ISA into a forgotten Nat west ISA and get the 1.25% they were offering they told her yes but it would count as this years contribution? So I asked about what I had done and they said they could not speak for Santander but what they had done was illegal and the tax man would contact me. So what I want to know is 2 things please A, why when my money was in the ISA world is it wrong for Santander to do what they have done and B, why cannot my friend transfer her ISA from one provider into another without it being classed as this years contribution. (am I being thick) thanks

You're not being thick, but not very clear

When you transferred your matured fixed rate Halifax ISA into another fixed rate ISA at Santander, exactly how did you do the transfer?

If you asked Santander to arrange the ISA transfer for you, that's fine. That must be what you did, as you wouldn't have been able to pay £20k into a Santander ISA all at once. So what NatWest said about your case is wrong, or you misunderstood them :cool:.

Does the particular Natwest ISA into which your friend wants to transfer from Santander, allow transfers in? If it doesn't, then the only way she could move her Santander ISA money into the Natwest ISA, would be to withdraw it from Santander and pay it in to Natwest. In which case, what Natwest said (or what you thought they said), would be correct.

Of course it might just be that the Natwest person was talking complete rubbish

TCA

badger09 wrote: »

Of course it might just be that the Natwest person was talking complete rubbish

I'd have my money on that option! As badger said, transferring previous years ISA contributions assuming transfers-in allowed by the new account (as opposed to closing an account yourself and using the cash) does not count in any way towards the annual ISA allowance.

venderqueen

Forgot a bit yes they do allow transfers in?

badger09 wrote: »

You're not being thick, but not very clear

When you transferred your matured fixed rate Halifax ISA into another fixed rate ISA at Santander, exactly how did you do the transfer?

If you asked Santander to arrange the ISA transfer for you, that's fine. That must be what you did, as you wouldn't have been able to pay £20k into a Santander ISA all at once. So what NatWest said about your case is wrong, or you misunderstood them :cool:.

Does the particular Natwest ISA into which your friend wants to transfer from Santander, allow transfers in? If it doesn't, then the only way she could move her Santander ISA money into the Natwest ISA, would be to withdraw it from Santander and pay it in to Natwest. In which case, what Natwest said (or what you thought they said), would be correct.

Of course it might just be that the Natwest person was talking complete rubbish

Hi thanks for the replies, yes Santander did the transfer for me and it has all been done and got the confirmation back. I thought nat west were wrong but as that's her job??? Regarding my friend she wanted to just transfer from 1 bank to the other to get better interest and then add to it this financial year but nat west said they could do it for her but it would be counted as this years payments meaning that she wouldn't be able to save into one this year as she would of used her allowance but that seems wrong.

Westie983

hello,

hopefully I can help,

If you have a previous years isa 2014/2015 and its transferred into a new isa, this is classed as last years allowance so you can still fund the account with this years 2015/2016 allowance (15240) this sounds like what you did, as Santander did the transfer as they contacted the halifax asking for the money to be transferred out....

the lady in Natwest may have misunderstood what your friend was asking to do, if she was to close her current isa (with last years allowance in it) from Santander to Natwest in cash then it would count as this years funding and come off the allowance for this year, but if Natwest asks Santander for a transfer in then this like yours will count as last years or previous years allowances so this won't count...

the issue may come from Natwest side as they may not accept transfers in for their new isa so you wouldn't be able to do a transfer in and would have to fund the isa with "new money"...

hope this makes sense.... (Coming from someone who works in a bank but not the one mentioned)

venderqueen

Hi just wanted to let you all know that on contacting Nat west we were told the adviser was wrong! The ISA has now been transferred and my friend is happy.
So thanks for taking the time to help x:T