Top Cash ISAs Discussion Area

isasmurf

Probably because Kaupthing Edge don't have an ISA, never mind one offering 6.5%

Tyx

I know these are incredibly stupid questions for you experts, but I want to clarify this once and for all. So I'm going to ask simple yes or no questions, which have been bugging me regarding ISAs.

1) I know you can open a new ISA if you're not in the same tax year in which you opened your first one. If you do that, can you then put 3600 in each one, i.e. a total of 7200?

2) If you transfer your old ISA money to another provider, does this count as opening a new ISA? I mean, say you open an ISA with provider A and deposit 3600 in it. Can you then, in the same tax year, move that money to provider B? Or do you, in order to move it, need to first open an ISA account with provider B, which counts as opening a second ISA, and thus is forbidden?

3) If you close your ISA, move your money to your current account, then open another ISA, do you lose more than that month's interest?

I know I had more questions, but it's late and I can't think of more. Thanks for all the answers in advance

Lokolo

You can only deposit £3600 each tax year. Each tax year you can only contribute to one ISA.

i.e. last year I have an Egg ISA which i put £3000 in. this year I have opened a Barclays ISA and have put £500 in. I can only put another £3100 in the Barclays ISA.

It is not forbidden to open 2 ISAs. It is only forbidden to open 2 ISAs and contribute new money to them. i.e. I have opened a Barclays ISA this tax year. I can open a HSBC ISA but put no money in it (i.e. nill balance) as I have already contributed to the Barclays ISA. However, using an ISA transfer form I can transfer my old egg ISA to the HSBC ISA (not by BACS or online transfer etc.).

If you move money out of the ISA you cannot reenter it. i.e. I take £3000 out of my Egg ISA and put in in Egg Current Account. I cannot put the £3000 back. (I have already contributed £500 to the Barclays ISA, so I can only put £3000 into my Barclays ISA and then only have £100 left for the rest of the tax year).

Hope this helps, any questions?

Tyx

Thanks for the quick reply, Lokolo. My questions:

Can you not put the remaining £3100 in your Egg ISA?

I saw some ISAs will not let you open them unless you deposit money, that's why I asked. Maybe HSBC doesn't require a minimum deposit in which case, fine.
Btw, if you did that transfer, what happens to your Egg ISA?

And I get the point of not re-entering, thanks.

Lokolo

HSBC was first bank in my head so not sure about the minimum deposit, but yes, its a pain in the a*se with these initial deposits.

Because this tax year I put money in Barclays ISA I have to stick with this one. What I can choose to do is ISA transfer (fill an ISA transfer form) and transfer it to say, Alliance and Leciester, at which point, my contributions would then be made to A&L. So I have my £500 in Barclays, I then ISA transfer it to A&L. I then can put £3100 in A&L (Barclays ISA would be closed as I transferred it elsewhere). The only way I can put the £3100 in my Egg ISA is to transfer the Barclays ISA over to the Egg one, and my contributions would carry on from there into my Egg ISA.

If you transfer the ISA from A to B, A is likely just to be closed.

Tyx

Great. This was very helpful, thanks.

One last question. If you have the £3100 lying in your bank, is there any difference between filling up your Barclays ISA first and then moving it to A&L, and doing what you said? I guess not..

Lokolo

No there isn't a difference.

Hope you understood everything

Tyx

Yes I think I did, thank you very much

One more question that popped up, and I promise it's the last one. All this transfering, can be done with more than £3600, right? If you had, say, £6000 in your Egg account (your only account), and this year you put £500, you'd have £6500 in there. If you now decide to move this to Barclays, you can, even if it's not below 3600, and then proceed to add another £3100 this tax year in the Barclays account. Correct? (A total of £9600 in your account)

JimmyTheWig

Tyx wrote: »

All this transfering, can be done with more than £3600, right? If you had, say, £6000 in your Egg account (your only account), and this year you put £500, you'd have £6500 in there. If you now decide to move this to Barclays, you can, even if it's not below 3600, and then proceed to add another £3100 this tax year in the Barclays account. Correct? (A total of £9600 in your account)

Yes, correct.
The annual limits are only for "new money" going into ISAs. Transfers are not new money.

itsamee

Stupid is my middle name....I have an ISA, taken out with Barclays last year. Do I now transfer this same ISA to a better rate offer or keep the ISA with Barclays and just buy another £3000 ISA for the current years tax saving, please?[[/quote]