Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

gndalph

I have an existing ISA with Santander, for the purposes of opening a new ISA for 2011/12 do I count as an existing customer entitled to the 3.5% rate?

Having said all that I've just had my statement for the last year and they appear to have paid me less than the 3.5% rate I took out What's that all about? :question:

shyguy44

currently have a First Direct ISA and wanting to transfer funds to a new one then possibly start depositing monthly. I have already used up the allowance so is their stil a hurry.

unsure If I need to open an account immediately or as I've already reached the limit, can I wait till next week and possibly alot later.

I'm assuming if I dont do anything at the moment the only thing I'll lose is the initial interest?

Lokolo_2

gndalph wrote: »

I have an existing ISA with Santander, for the purposes of opening a new ISA for 2011/12 do I count as an existing customer entitled to the 3.5% rate?

Having said all that I've just had my statement for the last year and they appear to have paid me less than the 3.5% rate I took out What's that all about? :question:

Here's what it says on the Santander site regarding the Loyalty ISA @ 3.5%

Santander wrote:

Who can apply?*


You already qualify for this great rate if your current account is with us and you pay in at least £1,000 a month, or you have a Santander mortgage or investment subject to the qualifying criteria below
You switch your current account to Santander using our dedicated switching service and agree to pay £1,000 each month
Our Loyalty Flexible ISA does not allow cash ISA transfers in

So I would say that you aren't eligible for that ISA based on what you said.


Regarding the rate you got on your current Santander ISA, do you have a deposit confirmation or something like that? Otherwise you'd be best off calling them to query the rate.

Lokolo_2

shyguy44 wrote: »

currently have a First Direct ISA and wanting to transfer funds to a new one then possibly start depositing monthly. I have already used up the allowance so is their stil a hurry.

unsure If I need to open an account immediately or as I've already reached the limit, can I wait till next week and possibly alot later.

I'm assuming if I dont do anything at the moment the only thing I'll lose is the initial interest?

Precisely, if your First Direct ISA has a rate of below 3% then you should consider transfering it to Halifax @ 3%, there is no logical reason to leave your ISA sitting around if the rate has dropped to a pittance.

Regarding opening a new ISA, you can do this now but you'll have to wait until the next tax year (April 6th) to fund it. Some people on here reckon that rates might drop as we hit the new tax year so it might be worth opening an ISA now and just waiting, such as the Santander 3.3% ISA or The AA's 3.35% ISA (this one won't let you open it until the new tax year anyway) Both these ISA's are instant access so you can deposit monthly as you mentioned.

jicms

bill86 wrote: »

Hey, yeah I had exactly the same problem... initially tried to do it online, and then I phoned up to check and they said the application had been abandoned but couldn't explain why and agreed with me that I should have been able to open one and fund it in a couple weeks after April 6th. I then re-applied for one over the phone and that has all gone through fine... so I'd phone them ASAP to apply.

I've abandoned my application with the intention of funding it after 6 April, as the site clearly states -

"Your opening balance will be at least £1
You haven't paid into a cash ISA in the current Tax year"

As they have my bank details from the current year's ISA I was concerned that if I stated I would be funding it with either £1 or £5340 they would debit my account immediately and take me over my allowance.

KTF

I just applied for the Santander ISA and selected the 'No new cash' (or similar) when it asked how it was to be funded and it went through fine.

Handy to have as a fall back plan unless anything better appears in the new tax year as I have already used this years allowance.

lea123e

Can I ask a silly question please?!

Have just confudled myself(which admittedly is not hard at all) reading the ISA guide!

Ok so I have a cash ISA with company A which pays 2.75% for this Tax year, which has around 3k in it. Have just set up, for the new tax year, a cash ISA with company B which pays 3.5% but does not accept direct transfers.

What is OR is there a problem with me manually shifting the balance from the now crappy rate ISA to the new higher interest rate ISA?

Many thanks

blueberrypie

lea123e wrote: »

Can I ask a silly question please?!

Have just confudled myself(which admittedly is not hard at all) reading the ISA guide!

Ok so I have a cash ISA with company A which pays 2.75% for this Tax year, which has around 3k in it. Have just set up, for the new tax year, a cash ISA with company B which pays 3.5% but does not accept direct transfers.

What is OR is there a problem with me manually shifting the balance from the now crappy rate ISA to the new higher interest rate ISA?

When you say "manually", I assume you mean "withdrawing and redepositing the money". The problem with this is that you are only allowed to fund one cash ISA in each tax year. As you have already funded an ISA with Company A for 2010/11, you are now not allowed to fund another ISA until the 2011/12 tax year.

It would be possible to withdraw the funds and deposit them as "new money" into the ISA with Company B *after April 5th* - but it will reduce your 2011/12 ISA allowance by that amount.

lea123e

blueberrypie wrote: »

It would be possible to withdraw the funds and deposit them as "new money" into the ISA with Company B *after April 5th* - but it will reduce your 2011/12 ISA allowance by that amount.

Yes Blueberrypie, this is what I meant! So thats ok then?
Many thanks for your help

gallygirl

Yes Blueberrypie, this is what I meant! So thats ok then?
Many thanks for your help

No it's not - if you were to withdraw the cash and pay it into your new ISA that would count as your ISA contribution for 11/12 and you would not be able to pay any more in (or only pay up to the annual limit if you have paid less than that in).

What you need to do is find a new ISA (ISA C) paying a decent interest rate which does accept transfers in. Open an account and give them your old account details - they will transfer over ISA A for you.

You can then fund ISA B with your full allowance for 11/12, but cannot pay any more into ISA C.

You can OPEN as many ISA's as you like in any year - but only pay new money into one.

HTH.