Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

Crabman

Hey topbuzz - the same happened to me - despite providing ID which was checked and copied during the appointment they sent my deposit cheques back claiming I hadn't done so.

At the appointment this weekend you should consider asking for a goodwill gesture to cover any expenses you incur in travelling to the second appointment as a direct consequence of their incompetence.

It's disappointing that Barclays haven't got their act together after the chaos last year, though as someone else pointed out they're returning cheques a lot quicker this year :rolleyes:

sheashea1

Hi

I would like to open a Barclays ISA before the 5th April, I have an account with them already so it would not be a problem to do a transfer.

What I don't understand is how the interest works. Martin and indeed the banks themselves say invest befre the tax year ends or lose it.

Does this mean that if I put my £2000 in on the 4th April this year I get all the interest I would have accrued had I put it in at the beginning of this financial year.

If this is not the case please explain what I'd be losing by not investing before the 5th.

Thank you.

10_66

You will only earn interest for the amount of time that your funds are put into the ISA, the interest won't be backdated to the beginning of the financial year.

What is meant by "losing it" is that, once your funds are in an ISA, they will go on earning tax free interest as long as the funds are kept in one. So, if you opened an ISA before 5 April 2008, and then opened another or added to the existing one after 6 April 2008, you have (potentially) the ability to earn tax free interest on £6,600 in future years, instead of £3,600 which is what would be the case if one wasn't opened this tax year. This example is using the maximum contributions permissible.

JimmyTheWig

10_66 is right. All you will lose is the right to earn interest tax free.
I note that you mention £2000 rather than the maximum £3000 for this year and assume that you (like most of us) don't have thousands and thousands in spare cash.
If you don't think you will have more than an extra £1600 to put into this account in the next 12 months then I'd say there's no rush to meet the deadline. The £2000 that you have can quite happily go into a cash ISA after the deadline and you shouldn't need to go past the £3600 limit for next year.

katies_mum

Went into Britannia yesterday to put some money into our cash ISA`s after doing this I happened to ask about the rate 4.8% (I assumed it was a lot ore than this) Have just looked at Alliance and Leicester site and 6.25% makes a lot of differene over 12months.
This is where I need a little hlep please, it says accounts opened are for tax year 08-09, so if I open the account with say £100 then do I do a transfer in from the Britannia for the money in their ISA`s approx £7000 and hubbys £5000 (anyone know if they would charge me anything) I assume I have to ring All & L for them to do this - then can just pay in to A & L as and when upto £3000. I can`t believe I have left this to the last minute but was gob smaked at the rubbish rate.
Also would it be a good idea to put some more money into Britannia tomorrow to use up some more of this years allowance so I don`t loose out and knowing it won`t be there long.
Hope someone can make sense of this? Many thanks for any help and advice you can offer.

Crabman

katies_mum wrote: »

Went into Britannia yesterday to put some money into our cash ISA`s after doing this I happened to ask about the rate 4.8% (I assumed it was a lot ore than this) Have just looked at Alliance and Leicester site and 6.25% makes a lot of differene over 12months.
This is where I need a little hlep please, it says accounts opened are for tax year 08-09, so if I open the account with say £100 then do I do a transfer in from the Britannia for the money in their ISA`s approx £7000 and hubbys £5000 (anyone know if they would charge me anything) I assume I have to ring All & L for them to do this - then can just pay in to A & L as and when upto £3000. I can`t believe I have left this to the last minute but was gob smaked at the rubbish rate.
Also would it be a good idea to put some more money into Britannia tomorrow to use up some more of this years allowance so I don`t loose out and knowing it won`t be there long.
Hope someone can make sense of this? Many thanks for any help and advice you can offer.

As you've already paid into this year's allowance at Brittania, you'd have to put any remaining money into that same account to use up this year's allowance. Be quick - only one day remaining

You don't have to pay any new money into the A&L Direct ISA account though you can do so if you wish - up to £3,600 from 6th April 2008.

When you apply for the A&L account and are accepted, they'll send you a tranfer form to send to your old provider who then transfers your ISA directly into your A&L account. The transfer has no effect on any allowance and it doesn't matter which tax year the transfer occurs.

katies_mum

Thank you Crabman, could I just ask - in 12 months can I tranfer again if necessary because of rubbish rates, is there any limit on the number of times you can transfer and are there ever any charges? Would you know if Britannia charge or All & L?
Think I have got my head round all of this, only negative side for me is I pay in odd cheques etc to Britannia and won`t be able to do this A & L as its transfers from bank account. Don`t think you can pay in at a branch but I may be wrong.

katies_mum

Another quick Q please - does the A & L pay this rate 6.25 throughout including the extra 1% bonus or do you only get 5.25 and the 1% added on at the end of May 09. Many thanks again.

Crabman

You'll need to look at the account terms to find out whether they charge - for future reference, when opening an account to transfer into you should always make sure they don't charge to transfer and don't have any penalties etc.

ISAs can be transferred whenever you like although not all providers will backdate interest to the date of transfer so be aware of that - no point moving too often if you lose more interest during the transfer period.

A&L won't allow any branch transactions for this account once the account is seven days old. All transactions will need to go via the nominated current account.

About the interest bonus - I'm not absolutely sure but it looks to me this is paid until May 2009 as they say "Includes a 1.00% bonus payable to 31.05.09".

katies_mum

Thanks advice much appreciated.