Transfering between ISAs

racheljane87

Hi

I have two Santander cash ISAs that have been sitting accruing only the minimum interest for the last year or two. At the very end of 2014/15 I opened up a Save to Buy ISA with Nationwide and have been paying in to that regularly. I'd like to transfer my Santander balances over, but the Save to Buy T&Cs don't allow transfers from external providers. Should I just take the money out, put it in my current account, and then pay it in instead? I'm not in danger of hitting the maximum allowance so it wouldn't impact that, but are there any other disadvantages? I'd just rather it was earning a better rate of interest that at present!

Thanks

colsten

Almost certainly your best course of action is to open one or two interest paying current accounts and put all your funds from your Santander ISA into these. Then feed your STB ISA as required.

Are you aware that you can also have a Help To Buy ISA at Nationwide (and at Nationwide only) alongside your STB one? That HTB one can also be fed from the current account(s) you have emptied your Santander ISA into.

Best non-ISA accounts:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5374614

racheljane87

Re the Help to Buy ISA, yes I am! However my very generous parents have offered to contribute the maximum towards one of those (I guess given how many parents end up helping out with deposits nowadays, this way at least my parents can get the government to chip in too), so I'm looking for something to do with the money I've saved, and will continue to save, myself.

I'm going to keep my STB open, and continue to pay into that though. After transferring my Santander amounts into a current account, would transferring them into the STB in one go be a good idea, or would I be better off doing it incrementally?

colsten

racheljane87 wrote: »

After transferring my Santander amounts into a current account, would transferring them into the STB in one go be a good idea, or would I be better off doing it incrementally?

There is probably very little point in transferring any further money into the STB ISA, as you can get a lot more in the other accounts than the 2% the STB ISA pays.

The only reason for making further deposits into the STB ISA I can think of is that your combined STB/HTB balance could be lower than the minimum required for the Nationwide STB bonus.

racheljane87

I'm going to play dumb here, but could you give me an example of another account? I'd looked at savings accounts and they didn't seem any better than 2%, and I once looked at Santander's 123 but realised I'd be spending £24 a year to save £48 and thought it wasn't worth the hassle of switching banks and changing all my DDs and SOs for that (that and I wouldn't be keeping £1k in the account all month so wouldn't get the interest, whereas with my BoS account I get £5 for paying in £1k regardless of whether it stays there).

I've been paying in for longer than the STB bonus requires, so that wouldn't be a problem, I just was having difficulty finding anything better than 2%.

Eco_Miser

Colsten gave you the list in post 2.
Santander is the worst current account paying reasonable interest: they charge a fee, and you need at least £3000 to get 3%.

You can have as many current accounts as the banks are willing to give you, and you don't need to switch at all.

racheljane87

Sorry, I didn't see the link originally. I've read it all, and it's food for thought and I like the idea of transferring it into a current account and then drip feeding it into a savings account, but it seems that current accounts that pay any interest also require a monthly credit whereas I'd really rather just transfer it all from the old ISAs in one go. I've got about £7.5k in them, which is either too much for some accounts, or would require transferring over several months.

I also don't want to switch my current account, I just want to open an additional one, so assume I'd miss out on some of the bonuses.

Eco_Miser

Ignore the transfer bonuses - they're just the icing on the cake if your choices happen to offer one.
Open two or more new current accounts, don't switch anything.
Fund them from your ISA with lump sums equal to their interest limit (or move all your ISA money to your existing current account, and fund everything else from there.
Set up any required DDs.
Also open the Regular Savers and fund them with one month's money.
The following month and each month thereafter move sufficient money between accounts that each satisfies the funding requirement, and ends up with exactly the maximum that will earn interest. (One account at the lowest rate will usually have less than the maximum, because you haven't enough money to fill it. That's OK).
Net result each month: you move money from your lowest paying current account to your Regular Saver Accounts, satisfying the funding requirements of all your accounts on the way.

Archi_Bald

racheljane87 wrote: »

I've got about £7.5k in them, which is either too much for some accounts, or would require transferring over several months.

You haven't quite got it, it's not how it works.

One simple solution for £7.5K:

1. open a TSB Plus, put £1,900 from your ISA into it
2. open 2 Tesco current accounts, put £3,000 from your ISA into one (Tesco A), and the rest into the other (Tesco
3. swap £500 each month by SO between your existing current account and the TSB Plus. Can be done by SO on the same day
4. open a TSB Plus Monthly Saver and send £250 in it each month from your Tesco A
5. upon maturity of the TSB Monthly Saver, put £3,000 into your then empty Tesco A, and the extra into your Tesco B. Then start another TSB Monthly Saver, feed it same way

That will pay you much more than you'd ever get in your Santander ISA.

You can add a Nationwide current account that qualifies for the Nationwide FlexClusive Saver to the mix, so you have a place for another £500 a month @ 5% AER. I know you said you don't want to give up your existing current account, and you don't have to, but you can easily earn £100 extra by switching to Nationwide. All you need is find an existing Nationwide account holder who refers you.

There's money staring at you all over, you just need to go and get it.