ISA coming to an end - want to transfer

kalsha

My ISA with Halifax is coming to an end next week. They are only offering 1.5%.
Would I be able to transfer to Virgin (their rate is is 1.81 for 1year or 2.06 for 2years) but I don't want to put in any new money?

I am only looking at Virgin as I already have an account with them. Ideally I would like to put all my accounts in one place as I can't be bothered with passwords for diff accounts etc.

Or has anyone any alternative suggestions?

I have looked at ISAs for nearly 2years now so am rusty on the rules.

Thank you.

molerat

Providing the Virgin accepts transfers in then no problem - you must open the new ISA and ask them to transfer in the funds to maintain the tax free status. For the majority ISAs are not very efficient as the interest is low and many current accounts pay more interest even after taking 40% tax - not being bothered will lose you money.

kalsha

Thank you molerat.
I have looked at Virgin and it does allow transfers in. What I want to know is say I have £5000 in Halifax and I transfer all of that to the new Virgin one that I will be opening, is it OK if I don't put in any new money in for the rest of the term? You are right, ISAs are not paying good rates, that is why I don't want to put in any more new money in.

molerat

It is up to you if you add more funds or not. Some fixed ISAs have a deposit window after which you cannot add extra. If you open this one and fund with only the transfer (assuming there are no current year contributions in it) then you are free to open another elsewhere if you wish to use this year's allowance.

Eco_Miser

kalsha wrote: »

T You are right, ISAs are not paying good rates, that is why I don't want to put in any more new money in.

So why do you want to keep the existing £5000 in a new ISA? You could get 4% from a Lloyds Club current account.

kalsha

Eco_Miser wrote: »

So why do you want to keep the existing £5000 in a new ISA? You could get 4% from a Lloyds Club current account.

I did look at the Lloyds account. It needs monthly income of something like £1500. I have no income. I am looking for somewhere to deposit for a fixed term and then forget about it till the term ends. I want less hassle!

jimjames

kalsha wrote: »

I did look at the Lloyds account. It needs monthly income of something like £1500. I have no income. I am looking for somewhere to deposit for a fixed term and then forget about it till the term ends. I want less hassle!

Less hassle is fine if you want a poor return. If you want to make the most of your money then there are plenty of options - and they don't need you to have any income as you already have £5000. I get 5% on £10,000 of savings with current accounts, none of which have any income paid into them.