Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

leaphaze

blueberrypie wrote: »

Unless A&L have changed their policy very recently, their FP limit is £250 - this appears to be per account per day. If you send £1000 it will go by BACS. Halifax also has a limit, but it is higher, and they do tell you beforehand whether your transfer will be FP or BACS. A&L do not tell you.

Just checked my statements Blue and you're right: 2 days from A&L to Halifax; Halifax to A&L transferred the same day. Still better than I originally thought.

It's really useful to know the limit. My aim is to save £500 per month into A&L, going from a third a/c via Halifax, so I'm actually only transferring £500 from A&L into Halifax and transferring £1000 back from Halifax to A&L. Therefore it makes sense to transfer £250 back and forth between A&L and Halifax on two subsequent days.:T

Niemand

fullstop wrote: »

I have just down loaded an application form from Julian Hodge Bank for a cash ISA fixed for 1 year at 3.15%, while it was printing I rang up and asked if I can deposit the extra £1500 in October and was told yes.

I clicked the 'Thanks' button on your message a week or so ago, so thanks for your response.

Re-reading your message it occurred to me that you may want to get some written proof that you can deposit the extra £1500 in October, or in the absence of that, get a Julian Hodge representative to point out where in the Terms and Conditions it allows you to do so.

You don't want to try and deposit the extra £1500 and be told you can't. Saying you were told you could do so in a phone conversation may be hard to prove.

Niemand

As an adjunct to the issue of saving the extra £1500 in October, I spoke to someone on customer services at Nationwide a short time ago and she told me that because it's a 2 year Fixed Rate ISA Bond (my emphasis) I can add the £1500 as a separate account. That is, have £3600 in the ISA Bond now, then place the £1500 in a new ISA Bond in October. I questioned this because with a cash ISA you can't do that, but she checked with a colleague and told me because it's a Bond it can be done.

Does that sound correct?

fullstop

Niemand wrote: »

I clicked the 'Thanks' button on your message a week or so ago, so thanks for your response.

Re-reading your message it occurred to me that you may want to get some written proof that you can deposit the extra £1500 in October, or in the absence of that, get a Julian Hodge representative to point out where in the Terms and Conditions it allows you to do so.

You don't want to try and deposit the extra £1500 and be told you can't. Saying you were told you could do so in a phone conversation may be hard to prove.

Just checked on the Julian Hodge website and it is confirmed , over 50's will be allowed to top up with the extra £1500 come October. Also noticed that the fixed rate has gone up since last week when I applied from 3.15% to 3.25%
.
Returning your thanks

Niemand

fullstop wrote: »

Also noticed that the fixed rate has gone up since last week when I applied from 3.15% to 3.25%

I noticed earlier that Julian Hodge appeared in my search results on MoneySuperMarket with a rate of 3.25% for 1 and 2 years.

leaphaze

Niemand wrote: »

As an adjunct to the issue of saving the extra £1500 in October, I spoke to someone on customer services at Nationwide a short time ago and she told me that because it's a 2 year Fixed Rate ISA Bond (my emphasis) I can add the £1500 as a separate account. That is, have £3600 in the ISA Bond now, then place the £1500 in a new ISA Bond in October. I questioned this because with a cash ISA you can't do that, but she checked with a colleague and told me because it's a Bond it can be done.

Does that sound correct?

It's an interesting question.

I have an account with Nationwide so I've sent a secure message asking about this. I'll let you know that they say in writing.

KingL

Niemand wrote: »

I questioned this because with a cash ISA you can't do that, but she checked with a colleague and told me because it's a Bond it can be done.

Does that sound correct?

This has been coming up quite a bit lately. The IFAs here advise that you can open (subscribe to) two cash ISAs in the same year, provided that they are with the same ISA Manager (i.e. HMRC deals at the 'ISA Manager' level and doesn't care if the funds are in one or two accounts within that ISA manager). ISA managers don't have to let you do this, so the "because it's a Bond...." part is concerned with Nationwide's local procedures, rather than the HMRC rules. Either way you should be fine.

leaphaze

KingL wrote: »

This has been coming up quite a bit lately. The IFAs here advise that you can open (subscribe to) two cash ISAs in the same year, provided that they are with the same ISA Manager (i.e. HMRC deals at the 'ISA Manager' level and doesn't care if the funds are in one or two accounts within that ISA manager). ISA managers don't have to let you do this, so the "because it's a Bond...." part is concerned with Nationwide's local procedures, rather than the HMRC rules. Either way you should be fine.

Just to unline what KingL has stated this is what Nationwide say:

From 6 October 2009, customers aged 50+ will be allowed to save up to £10,200 in an ISA each tax year (currently £7,200), of which up to £5,100 can be saved in a cash ISA (currently £3,600) and the rest in a stocks and shares ISA.

From 6 April 2010, these increased limits will be available to everyone

As a FRISA (Fixed Rate ISA) Bond is a one off lump sum payment account, once opened you are unable to credit further funds until its maturity.

You can either open a FRISA now and open a further Cash ISA with Nationwide when the limit increases or wait until October to utilise the total amount in a FRISA Bond.

As KingL implies, the word Bond is just the product name. The important point is that you're allowed more than one ISA from the same provider. I guess that would go for any provider offering fixed rate and variables rate ISAs, but you'd need to check with them.

renard_2

I would be grateful for advice on the following, to which I cannot find the answer elsewhere.

As recommeded by Martin, I intend transferring my cash ISA from NatWest to Intelligent Finance to take advantage of their better interest rate.

However, suppose Intelligent Finance reduce the rate during the current financial year? Would I be permitted to transfer my ISA a second time?

In other words, is there a limit on the number of times a cash ISA can be transferred in the same financial year?

KingL

You can transfer it whenever and as many times as you like.

(Some individual accounts have specific restrictions (such as needing 30 days notice), but aside from that you are as free as a bird).

You might lose a few days interest with each transfer is the main downside.