Two existing ISA'. Can I pay into both?

DaftMule

Hi,

Quick question (and I suspect the answer is no) but, I have two existing ISA's from previous years with Barclays. Can I pay money into both in the same year? The reason I ask is I have just added a few thousand into the one I opened last year but, I have just realised the other one from a 2 or 3 years ago has a better interest rate than the one I opened up last year! As I still have about £10k of my ISA allowance to play with this year, could I put any future savings this year into the second ISA with a better rate?

Obviously I can only pay up to the ISA limit into any ISA and I know that you can only open 1 ISA and pay into that each year, but in my case I am not opening a new one. I also know you can transfer the contents of a previous years ISA into a new one. What I can't seem to find anywhere is some advice for my particular situation where these are two existing ISA.

Now I have paid a bit of money into the newer of the two, I guess I cannot transfer all that into the older of the two which has the better rate? Actually, on thinking about it, I suppose you can only transfer into a brand new ISA, not an existing into another existing one?

Thanks.

bigadaj

You can't pay any new money into any old is a, so that answers your first and main question.

You can transfer isas so in theory the newer is a could be transferred into the older isa, though it's likely that Barclays won pet new money into that product.

The obvious question as you seem to be talking a bit cash isas is why you have been paying into these at presumably a very low interest rate, have a look at the 5% savings loop hole and thread to see more lucrative ways of saving your money.

colsten

You can pay money into old ISAs but you are not allowed to put new money into more than one cash ISA in any financial year.

AnotherJoe

bigadaj wrote: »

You can't pay any new money into any old is a, so that answers your first and main question.

If answers it incorrectly unfortunately :eek:

You most definitely can pay into an old ISA. Just not two in the same tax year.

DaftMule

Have to say, I'm not sure of the logic behind only being able to pay into one ISA a year. An ISA is just a type of savings account after all. Surely the only real restriction should be the overall ISA limit?

worn_out

DaftMule wrote: »

Have to say, I'm not sure of the logic behind only being able to pay into one ISA a year. An ISA is just a type of savings account after all. Surely the only real restriction should be the overall ISA limit?

Seems odd to me too..Surely if you happened to have paid into several different ISA's over a few years and one old one is paying a bit more than the new ones - you can't pay in to it ? Why would this be ?

colsten

DaftMule wrote: »

Have to say, I'm not sure of the logic behind only being able to pay into one ISA a year. An ISA is just a type of savings account after all. Surely the only real restriction should be the overall ISA limit?

It is not logic that's behind it. It is the law. It's always been the law ever since ISAs became available in 1999.

I don't understand why anyone would want to pay into both, an old and into a new cash ISA anyway. Invariably, the old ISA will have a much worse interest rate than the new one. And if it doesn't, then what would be the point in paying anything into a new one?

DaftMule

colsten wrote: »

It is not logic that's behind it. It is the law. It's always been the law ever since ISAs became available in 1999.

I don't understand why anyone would want to pay into both, an old and into a new cash ISA anyway. Invariably, the old ISA will have a much worse interest rate than the new one. And if it doesn't, then what would be the point in paying anything into a new one?

Oh, agreed. The only sane reason you take out a new one is to get a better rate in which case you would only want to pay into that one.

My situation is probably a little bit of an "edge" case as I put a bit into last years ISA a few days ago then realised I had about 59p in another ISA from 2 or 3 years ago which, for some reason, has a better rate so I'd like to put any further savings this year into that one obviously.

jimjames

DaftMule wrote: »

Oh, agreed. The only sane reason you take out a new one is to get a better rate in which case you would only want to pay into that one.

My situation is probably a little bit of an "edge" case as I put a bit into last years ISA a few days ago then realised I had about 59p in another ISA from 2 or 3 years ago which, for some reason, has a better rate so I'd like to put any further savings this year into that one obviously.

Presumably you already have the 5% non ISA accounts? Or have you got a cash ISA paying more than 5%?

bigadaj

AnotherJoe wrote: »

If answers it incorrectly unfortunately :eek:

You most definitely can pay into an old ISA. Just not two in the same tax year.

Yes, but the OP states that they had already paid into one so couldnt pay into a second.

DaftMule

jimjames wrote: »

Presumably you already have the 5% non ISA accounts? Or have you got a cash ISA paying more than 5%?

Getting slightly off topic but...you have to go back to about the time of the dinosaurs to get an instant cash ISA that would pay 5%+....

As to the 5% loophole, well, lets just say I would probably get black-balled from the Moneysavingexpert society. The small gains I'd make on my limited savings would easily be cancelled out by the effort of administration :-)