Transferring money out of NSI Cash ISA

badger09

Cyril392 wrote: »

Hi,

Did a quick search on the MSE forum, but couldn't find anything specifically about this item (happy to be told different/redirected); so... with the introduction of the latest rubbish rate on its Direct ISA, I looked to "ditch 'n' switch" NS&I for the current best rate. However, it seems as though the transfer system is not quite as transparent as I was led to believe, certainly in the case of NS&I. Having selected Virgin (ISAs from other financial institutions are available) as the preferred destination for my hard-earned, I had to go a long way down the sign-up road before being told by Virgin's web-site that "NS&I wasn't on its list (?) of financial institutions from which it could accept transfers in"! Not wanting to spend an inordinate amount of time going through the same tortuous process over and over with other money-houses, only to discover the same response at the end of it all, and knowing what a miserly bunch of skin-flinting gits make up Treasury Island policy, I am beginning to wonder if ANYONE has EVER successfully managed to transfer money FROM an NS&I ISA directly (somewhat ironic) to an external one; or is the inability to transfer ISA funds out of NS&I an across-the-board policy/ruse to prevent investors exiting en-masse after the interest-rate reduction of 24 September 2018? Any advice/help/guidance/offers of free cash welcomed.

Could you link to where Virgin says this? What does it actually say about the institutions on that list?

To transfer any ISA to Virgin, you first have to have an ISA open with them. Then you can either use Virgin's online transfer process, or if the sending institution (eg NS&I) isn't able to transfer electronically, you can use the postal form here

https://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/savings/learn/isas/transfer-your-isa/

Albermarle

You could leave it with NS&I but transfer it to premium bonds . 1.4% average payout and tax free.

colsten

NS&I don't preclude ISA transfers out, they simply can't participate in doing it electronically. All you need to do, after you opened your Virgin ISA, is fill in their paper transfer request form and post it off to them, or hand it into one of their stores. It's all described on the Virgin Money website.

colsten

Albermarle wrote: »

You could leave it with NS&I but transfer it to premium bonds . 1.4% average payout and tax free.

You could, provided the ISA is less than £50k, but it would be a daft move if you want to keep your money in an ISA wrapper. There is also zero guarantee that you would achieve the average interest rate. You might strike lucky and get more but most people get below the average - - after all, it takes many people to finance the above average "wins".

eskbanker

Albermarle wrote: »

You could leave it with NS&I but transfer it to premium bonds . 1.4% average payout and tax free.

As above, 1.4% is only the average in the sense of the mean, i.e. total prizes versus total bonds, but a more realistic expectation, i.e. the median, is around 1.2-1.26%, reflecting the distorting effect of a very small number of very large prizes.

You can play with the numbers via https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/premium-bonds-calculator/ to see the effect of this for different holdings over different periods....

Albermarle

As above, 1.4% is only the average in the sense of the mean, i.e. total prizes versus total bonds, but a more realistic expectation, i.e. the median, is around 1.2-1.26%, reflecting the distorting effect of a very small number of very large prizes.

I understand that, but still at the end of the day the average payout is 1.4% and you never know …. . Not that bad for a easy access , tax free account . Better than the NS&I direct ISA which pays 0.75%