Big mistake with ISA. How do I sort out this mess?

Damage

Hello Everyone

As a complete novice I am in the middle of learning about how and where to invest my money, and I have ended up in a bit of a mess that (possibly/probably) isn't my fault.

The first thing I wanted to do was open a stocks and shares ISA with M&G investments, as another family member has one of those and I had access to the paperwork to see its previous performance, which looked okay to me.

To cut a long story short, I went through the application process on the M&G website, which (after a lot of very slow-loading pages) at the final stage of submission, kept failing and doing nothing, leaving me sitting there for several minutes each time, with no information whatsoever as to what was happening. I kept trying and eventually I got to the stage of the process failing and giving me a red error message. I tried a few more times, and then gave up. I received no e-mails or anything to do with M&G, so presumed that nothing had happened (I expect at this stage you know what I'm going to say in a minute).

I then started looking for an alternative to M&G, and ended up with Hargreaves Lansdown, where I applied for a stocks and shares ISA, which went through straight away. I got e-mail confirmations along the way, plus an envelope arriving next morning, so all is well with that and I now have my ISA.

Now, today, I received unexpectedly an envelope from M&G with all the paperwork for my stocks and shares ISA - the one that apparently didn't happen on their stupid website! Now what?

I know I'm not allowed to have two ISAs as I have used up my allowance with the one I opened successfully with Hargreaves Lansdown. Am I in trouble now? Can I cancel my M&G ISA? I don't think this is my fault as I got nothing but problems with the application process on the M&G website, plus no indication whatsoever that anything had gone through (no e-mails etc).

Thanks very much if anyone can advise the best way to sort this out without getting into trouble.

Archi_Bald

[STRIKE][/STRIKE][STRIKE]No need to worry as you haven't paid any money into the M&G ISA.

Just ignore the M&G ISA completely.[/STRIKE]

EDIT: Ignore what I said there - I had wrongly assumed you had not made any deposit.

alanq

"You can put money into one cash ISA and one stocks and shares ISA each tax year." I believe that, provided you didn't invest any money in the M&G ISA that you opened, there isn't a problem.
https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/overview

Damage

Thank you for your replies.

That's a relief if the M&G ISA hasn't happened. The paperwork they sent me is a letter thanking me for my subscription to their Stocks and Shares ISA, with a summary and welcome brochure. I has the full amount (£15,240), plus a details sheet, showing the transaction date, description ('sale') and how many shares it includes (21,656.957). There is also a declaration sheet with my name, address, national insurance number and M&G client reference. It tells me what I declared when I applied etc.

It says at the top of the declaration that I have to check the details and notify them of any corrections within 30 days of 3rd June, so does this mean that the ISA won't exist until I have confirmed that the declaration is correct, and if I don't contact them within 30 days then they'll cancel it? I suppose I could ask them that, but it's the middle of the night at the moment, so I may as well ask here, in case it's of any help to anyone else in the same situation.

What worries me is that it appears from that paperwork that something has actually happened. Is it normal for them to have sent that paperwork out anyway, if the website application submission had failed?

Thanks again.

Damage

EDIT:

I've just checked my bank account and it appears that M&G have taken £15,240, so I appear to have paid for it, despite what their website submission process told me.

I've got one debit for the M&G and one for the Hargreaves Lansdown, so it looks as if I need to cancel the M&G one and get my money back.

I think that it's pretty outrageous that their website could be so useless as to leave me in this situation. Surely it's not unreasonable for one to expect that their online application system will provide some information indicating what has actually happened, rather than suggesting that the application had failed.

Eco_Miser

That sounds as though they have received the payment - have you checked your bank balance?

A long time ago, I got an ISA with M&G, and something crashed before the final screen. I contacted them immediately, and they confirmed the transaction had been actioned.

If you have now subscribed to two ISAs in the same year, the M&G one is valid, and HL's is invalid.
I don't think simply not responding will cancel the ISA, but I've no idea what you should do, confirm the M&G one and cancel HL perhaps?

Wait for morning and see what others suggest.

Damage

Yes, it appears that the M&G one has been paid for. I don't want that one now as I gave up on it when their website kept failing. I want the Lansdown Hargreaves one because that all worked when I applied for it and I can access it in my HL account and see it right now.

redux

Maybe one route would be to keep the M&G subscription, tell them you now want to transfer your scheme from them to HL, and tell HL that the money you sent them was an error but you will be transferring a scheme in to them shortly.

But asking them both on the phone should get some advice about the legalities and niceties. If M&G are able and allowed to do a straight cancellation that would be simpler.

Damage

Thank you, I'll have a word with M&G later when their Customer Relations department opens.

Whatever happens I don't want to remain with M&G now as I have zero faith in their system after it let me down like that. If they won't cancel it I'll look into transferring to Hargreaves Lansdown as you suggest.

I have a lot of other money I want to invest, which having discovered Hargreaves Lansdown, looks as if I'll be able to do all in one place from my HL account.

EDIT:

Just to add, I'm worried about inadvertently losing my ISA allowance for this financial year, if by any chance that anything I do in order to sort out the above is treated as equivalent to removing money from an ISA rather than transferring it (which as I understand, is the wrong thing to do).

redux

There must be other cases of people inadvertently or mistakenly opening more than one in a year, so there will be some kind of rules laid down that either the first application has priority or whether the customer may or may not choose which to cancel.

Damage

M&G's phone lines open in four minutes, and I'm on the starting blocks at the moment, so I'll report back with what I find out!